HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL TODAY? Den Harrow Vs. Tom Hooker Dons of Disco

Tom Hooker Speaks about Den Harrow

A DEN HARROW ZIP

SAME DEN ZIP AS BLOG BEFORE

a few TH'S

other DH

Here's part of an interview he did with another blog.

Tom, I have one information, which came from one famous Italian female singer. I don’t know is it true or just a rumor but I heard that Den Harrow actually doesn’t exist as singer. Den Harrow is you! Please can you tell me what is the truth? 
Saying that Den Harrow doesn't exist as a singer is incorrect. He was very popular amongst the very young girls. From 12 to 15. Den Harrow became a brand name like Coca Cola. This is was the music business. There was a small problem. He couldn't sing. So the solution was to never let him sing, or to put his voice so low in the mix that it was non existant. He started as an image. He would work on his costumes and clothes and someone else would sing on the records. The truth is, vision is a more developed sense in humans than hearing. People tend to buy and listen what they like to see. I have never officially told this to anyone but this is the exact truth in chronological order:
To Meet Me and a Taste Of Love was Chuck Rolando's voice. He had a contract with Durium and had to stop. Then came Silvio Pozzuoli from Dream. He sang Mad Desire the single's version. Although a very talented singer, his English wasn't very good. I remember in Mad Desire. He sang "Ear I Ham" instead of "Here I am". Freddy bought my contract from Merak at the time and bought the whole Den Harrow project with his money, and I sang Future Brain. I don't think Den (his real name is Stefano Zandri) ever came to the studio. Future Brain was a huge hit in 1985. We had to do the album. I re-sang Mad Desire for the album. It wasn't any better than Silvio's but we wanted some continuity. It couldn't go from fluent English to an Italian accent. Too many people in Germany and Scandinavia can speak English. Then came Bad Boy and all the rest of the hits.
After two Albums of good hits, and making money, I wanted Don't Break My Heart to be a Tom Hooker song because I felt close to it. I also felt, Freddy was not pushing me because of the money machine of Den Harrow in Germany and France. We got another singer from England who had a much higher voice than mine. I can't remember his name. I still co-wrote the songs. The Album was Lies. I think, this was the end of Den Harrow's run. It was not at all what it used to be. Maybe it was the songs, maybe it was the different voice. Who really knows...
After Den Harrow left Baby Records, the records sales were small numbers. I think he sang on Ocean. He continues to make records that don't really sell to do his live shows because it's easy money. Basically, he still has a name. It's human, he wants a nice car and all that stuff. It's a shame he can't really sing, because he makes a good star. Everybody wants to make money. When I had the success of Looking For Love, my old record company called Full Time, released an unauthorised album with demos and tried to pass it as the new Tom Hooker album. This album was called Only One. This really ruined my career at that time. The distributors who bought it after the success of Looking For Love were taken aback with this crappy album that came out way before Bad Reputation. It sold crap but was easy money and ruined it for the real one, of course. But hey, you see it as music Zeljko. As a professional, I saw it as a business.

REAL MEN is by TOM HOOKER and don't ever mistake him for Den Harrow!

Refreshed Links

Tom Hooker really hates that fact that the record company used Den Harrow's picture on a lot of his releases.  Den Harrow had some success doing shows lip-synching those songs.  But who knows really why this decision was even made?  It's not like Den Harrow is all that more attractive then Tom Hooker.  Furthermore Tom Hooker's Looking for Love to me is the most famous of either of their entire discography.

But there is no doubt that here in Italy Den Harrow is the more famous of the two.  Maybe cause Den lives in Italy and has taken part in reality shows and such.  I mean do you blame him?  Why would he go around saying I didn't really sing those songs if he could make money pretending that he did?  That's just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Not only that but Tom Hooker is a successful artist living in Las Vegas.  What does Den Harrow have?  A part ownership in a gym in Brescia?  A steroidal muscle body while pushing 50?

Ironically the song I'm going to spotlight today is Tom's sublime italo disco nugget Real Men but in it's Swedish Remix version which came out on Beat Box Records in 1985.  I sold mine on ebay ages ago but luckily I still have a decent rip of it for you. 

 some Den

I can't say I have much pity for Tom though.  Turns out he's a right winger Trump fan...Yikes!

some Tom including the Looking for Love follow-up Only One (which I had a transparent vinyl back in the day)

The Sound of Spaghetti Dance, italo disco and 80's phenomenon

Today's treat is this fabulous documentary about Italo Disco featuring many of the originators.  There are subtitles but if you understand Italian you'll be able to appreciate it more.


The Sound of Spaghetti Dance Documentary

I've just started this book.  When I finish it I'll cover it, review it, and basically help translate some of it since it's only available in Italian.

Some fun facts from the beginning mentions that Gazebo has sold 12,000,000 records worldwide.

Italo Disco was primarily a male driven genre and in a sense was a response to all the female driven records of the late 70's disco music scene.

The book also mentions that Gazebo (Paul Mazzolini) along with Ryan Paris, Carrara, P.Lion, Ago, George Aaron, Savage, Linda Jo Rizzo, Martinelli, Righiera and Den Harrow are some of the most recognizable faces of Italo disco and that they are still active today.  Tom Hooker lives in Las Vegas and is a successful artist.  He has carried on a longstanding feud with Den Harrow (since he was the actual voice of most of Den's hits).  I have posted a video about this a few years back so you can check it out using the search function above.  Tom Hooker like yours truly was born in Connecticut.

Note how all the Italo Disco stars were pretty.  It appears to be a fact that they were often chosen as much for their looks as for their voices.

Nice Story on the Roots of Italo Disco

More to come.

DEN HARROW italo disco's pretty boy

Refreshed with more music.
Does it really matter that Den Harrow didn't really sing the songs he is attributed to have sung?  His image and his dancing were also a part of the magic weren't they?  I'm not gonna defend him.  This marketing tool has been used in Italy often and in other countries too.  So in a way it's not really his fault is it?   Fat Den Zip

There is no doubting that he had a long string of hits from 1983 right up to the end of the 80's.  In fact there was enough interest in him that in Germany he even had some releases into the 90's and he received the Bravo Golden Otto award in 1987.  This signified that he was Germany's favorite male vocalist, even ahead of Michael Jackson!

The first release To Meet Me in 1983 was one of many greatly produced Turatti and Chieregato tracks that propelled Italo Disco so much in the 80's.

In the 2000's he was once again in the public eye in Italy.  As a contestant on Isola dei Famosi, a strange mixture of Survivor and Celebrity Big Brother.  He often cried on air and definitely had a hard time on the island.

The zip contains most of the hits and even a few of the lesser hits.
GET SOME DEN
They are a perfect mirror of the italo disco genre because he had songs representing all of the types of  the genre.  Some better then others but in any case still a great peek into the sound.

DEN HARROW FACEBOOK PAGE

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DJ COLOURZONE MIX ITALO DISCO PART 2 featuring The Twins, Tom Hooker and P. Lion

Moving along to set 2.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6ejjx6

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Sometimes I get very emotional about 1983, Rome, Italo Disco, The Pineapples, Casco and much more

In 1983 I went on abroad program to Rome. I was a sophomore at The American University in Rome then returned to Washington, D.C.  Those four years were the best of my life.  But the time I spent in Rome was instrumental to my future.

To be a young guy partying several nights a week in the Roman discos was incredible that year. For many reasons other then the carefree attitude one has when you have no responsibilities and you are somewhere between child and adult.

1983 was also the best year for Italo Disco. It was just bursting. So many releases and so many fun records to dance too. Being in Rome I was in the middle of it all and just dancing the night away. At the time I didn't even think about the fact that these records were being produced in Italy and that in some other parts of the world they were dancing madly to these MADE IN ITALY productions too.

I fell in love with the city and told myself I'd return one day. I've been here for more then ten years now and I still get choked up when I remember 1983 and all the fun I had.

Come on Closer by Pineapples featuring Douglas Roop was released on Danse Records, Naples in 1983. It's one of those special Italo Disco songs for me. From that drum break to the deep and choclately vocal style of Mr. Roop. The story behind this one was that Douglas was a black American soldier stationed in Naples and he somehow met Roberto Ferrane who struck gold by meeting this untrained singer who really could sing. We've certainly heard our share of Italo Disco records sung by people who simply couldn't pronounce the English language or were actually just a pretty face that couldn't sing at all. Den Harrow (Manuel Stefano Zandri) being a prominent example (many of his hits were sung by Tom Hooker). Here's a recent photo of Den who owns a gym in Brescia. By the way that name Den Harrow actually comes from the Italian word for money denaro. 

CYBERNETIC LOVE by CASCO Salvatore Cusato, Italian DJ and Producer was responsible for this piece of italo disco perfection also from 1983.  Casco means helmet in Italian, by the way.

PINEAPPLES ZIP