Musicians on General Hospital

Sep 30

6 min read

Between 1963 and the late 1970s, General Hospital didn't really do music. It was a medical drama and most of the story stayed inside the hospital. That started to change under executive producer Gloria Monty, and the first big sign was a song nobody even sang on screen. In October 1979 the show used Herb Alpert's instrumental "Rise" as background music in a Luke and Laura scene, and the song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for two weeks.

Actors Who Could Sing

Rick Moses played Jefferson Smith Hutchins, better known as Hitman Hutch, from 1979 to 1980. He was a singer and songwriter with an album already out, and he was the start of GH hiring actors who could double as music heartthrobs.

Rick Springfield was on as Dr. Noah Drake starting in 1981. A lot of people assume he was already famous when he got there, but "Jessie's Girl" didn't hit number one until that summer, after he'd already started. Noah never sang on the show. The producers back then didn't think it fit the character. Rick came back as Noah in 2005, and in 2007 the writers created a second character for him, a rock star named Eli Love who was based on Rick's real career. That was the first time he sang on GH, and Anna Devane was a huge Eli Love fan.

John Stamos played Blackie Parrish from 1982 to 1984. Blackie was a drummer in a band, and John went on to tour with the Beach Boys. That connection came from John, not from Full House. He played on "Kokomo."

Jack Wagner played Frisco Jones, and Frisco's storylines worked in Jack's singing. That led to his real hit single "All I Need," which got to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. When Jack came back in 2013, Frisco sang it to Felicia at the Nurses Ball.

Ricky Martin played Miguel Morez from 1994 to 1996. Miguel was a bartender and an aspiring singer. Ricky wasn't new to music. He was in Menudo from 1984 to 1989 and had solo albums out in 1991 and 1993. "Livin' La Vida Loca" came later, in 1999. On the show, Lois Cerullo and Brenda Barrett discovered Miguel and signed him to L&B Records. L&B stood for Lois and Brenda.

Ned Quartermaine recorded for L&B too, under his alter ego Eddie Maine, a leather jacket rock star. Lois didn't know at first that Eddie was Ned. Wally Kurth sang the tracks himself and performed live for fans.

Jonathan Jackson is a singer and songwriter and the frontman of his band Enation. His music was written into Lucky's story, and he later starred in Nashville. He also wrote the song "Elizabeth." It's short because he wrote it in a notebook, his mom cleaned his room, and he never could remember the rest.

Jacob Young played Lucky from 2000 to 2003. He released a self-titled album in 2001 and later played Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

Adrianne León played Brook Lynn from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2011. She was hired to write songs for GH before she ever acted on it, and she's the lead singer of the rock band Caught Crimson. Briana Lane, who filled in as Brook Lynn in 2020, is half of the indie duo Winslow.

William Lipton, who played Cameron Webber, brought his real band The Runarounds on the show in September 2022 for a party for Trina at The Savoy.

Coltin Scott, one of the actors who played Nikolas Cassadine, records country music under his birth name Stephen Martines, including "Like Father, Like Son." Chad Duell, who played Michael Corinthos, released his first single, the dance track "If You Need Me," in June 2026 under the name Duelly.

Scott Reeves, who plays Steven Lars Webber, was half of the country duo Blue County, which had four singles on the Billboard country chart. He also co-wrote Toby Keith's number one hit "Made in America."

James Patrick Stuart plays Valentin Cassadine, who sits down at the piano and sings every chance he gets. James comes from a music family. His dad is Chad Stuart of the 1960s British Invasion duo Chad and Jeremy, and his mom, Jill Gibson, recorded with Chad.

Ryan Carnes, who played Lucas Jones, makes music as half of the alt pop duo LOVECOLOR, and two of their songs are in The Last Tenant, a 2025 film he also stars in. Paige Herschell, who played Jacinda, never got to sing at the open mic night at Charlie's, but in real life she sings with the band San Lyon.

Giovanni Mazza plays Gio Palmieri. He started playing violin at age three and has played at more than 100 NBA games. Gio plays too, and he used to be a violinist in the orchestra pit for Aladdin on Broadway. On September 1, 2026, Gio and Trina Robinson performed "Pray" together at the Cat's Eye. Tabyana Ali wrote that song herself, and the music video just came out.

Port Chuck and the Day Players

Port Chuck was a real band made up entirely of GH cast members: Steve Burton, Bradford Anderson, Brandon Barash, and Scott Reeves. They toured around the country playing for soap fans. The Day Players is another soap actor band. Scott Reeves and Brandon Barash play in it with Eric Martsolf and Carson Boatman from Days of Our Lives, and they're still touring.

Guest Stars

Sammy Davis Jr. was a big soap fan, and in 1982 he spent a week on GH as Eddie Phillips, who put on a charity performance on the Haunted Star with help from Luke and Blackie.

B.B. King played himself in 1995 and brought his guitar Lucille to the grand opening of Luke's.

All-4-One, the group behind "I Swear," sang "I Turn to You" at Luke's club for a Ward House benefit.

Boyzone played Luke's club in 1999 and sang "No Matter What." It was their first American TV appearance, and it's said to have happened because Amber Tamblyn, who played Emily Quartermaine, was a fan. SHeDAISY played Luke's the same year.

Chikezie Eze, who finished tenth on American Idol in 2008, showed up in October 2009 as a bartender who bet his boss he could get the crowd going with karaoke. He sang "Against All Odds."

In 2020, gospel duo David and Tiffany Spencer sang backup when Valentin performed "Can You Feel Me," a song by James Patrick Stuart.

In November 2021, GH director Phideaux Xavier, whose name fans know from the credits, sang his own song "Do What You Will" at Curtis Ashford's club The Savoy.

YDE (Breanna Yde) sang her original song "Old Her" at the 2025 Nurses Ball.

In spring 2026, Michael James Scott, the longtime Genie in Aladdin on Broadway, stopped by The Savoy as Gio's old friend and sang "Friend Like Me."

Shannon and Amanda play clips from a lot of these, plus STOMP and a couple of fun facts about Anthony Geary and Finola Hughes. They still need a clip of Rick Moses as Hitman Hutch, so if you have one on an old VHS tape, send it to hello@pier54podcast.com.

We'll meet you at the pier.

We'll be back Monday with a recap of this week's episodes.

Sources

Finola Hughes, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finola_Hughes

Musicians on General Hospital

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