Den Harrow | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Stefano Zandri |
Born | Nova Milanese, Italy | 4 June 1962
Genres | Italo disco [1] [2] |
Years active | 1983–present |
Labels |
Stefano Zandri (born 4 June 1962), known by his stage name Den Harrow, is an Italian singer and model. The name Den Harrow was conceived by producers Roberto Turatti and Miki Chieregato, who based it on the Italian word denaro (money). [3] [4]
Den Harrow became popular in the late 1980s at the height of the Italo disco genre. He scored several hits during that period; one of his best known songs is "Don't Break My Heart" from 1987.
After years of fame and popularity, it was revealed by frontman Stefano Zandri and his producers that Zandri did not actually sing any of the songs credited to Den Harrow; he was essentially a character who lip-synched to vocals recorded by a number of other singers. Furthermore, since they did not consider Zandri's name and origin to be "trendy" enough, producers Turatti and Chieregato concealed Zandri's Italian origin, marketing him as having been born Manuel Stefano Curry in Boston, Massachusetts. This was done so that Polydor Records could market him more easily in the English-speaking world, where Italian-produced music was, at the time, viewed with skepticism. [5]
American vocalist Tom Hooker, also known as Thomas Barbey, who was residing in Italy during the Italo disco era, sang most of the songs for the Den Harrow project, [3] including the 1985–1986 European hit singles "Don't Break My Heart", "Bad Boy", "Catch the Fox", and "Future Brain". Another vocalist, Anthony James from England, was contracted to sing the lead vocals on the Lies album (1988), and also provided the lead vocals on songs like "Holiday Night", "My Time", "You Have a Way". During an interview, Tom Hooker explains why it was decided to be done this way:
There was a small problem, however. 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-existent. 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 far more developed in humans than hearing. People tend to buy and listen to what they like to see. [6]
Also according to Tom Hooker, Chuck Rolando's voice was used in the early singles "To Meet Me" and "A Taste of Love". Later on, Silver Pozzoli was chosen to do the single "Mad Desire"; however, Hooker provided the vocals for the album releases of "Mad Desire". Although Hooker continued co-writing tracks for Den Harrow project, the producers wanted to use a higher-voiced vocalist for the 1988 album Lies. Hooker says that Zandri did sing on the 1991 Den Harrow single "Ocean". [6]
The 2018 documentary Dons of Disco addresses the controversy surrounding Den Harrow's identity and specifically Tom Hooker's involvement. Through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the "creation" of Den Harrow, both Zandri and Hooker's claims to Den Harrow's authorship are represented.
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(November 2014) |
In 1997, Zandri moved to California to take part in the TV series Sunset Beach . In 2005, he hosted the Italian-language TV show Radio Harrow on the satellite TV channel Match Music. In 2006 and in 2012, he took part in a reality show, the Italian version of Celebrity Survivor which broadcast on Rai 2. In 2007, via his website, Zandri released a new song, "FEDEN - Lo so", written and sung by Zandri and his wife.
In 2010, Tom Hooker recorded and published on YouTube a press conference-style video in which Hooker, flanked by the co-producer/composer Miki Chieregato, states and demonstrates that he was the vocalist on most of the Den Harrow records, and in which he accuses Zandri of continuing to publicly lip synch to those recordings. [7] He also states that Zandri made threats and insults against Hooker and his family on Facebook for exposing the vocal inauthenticity of the Den Harrow recordings. Hooker asserts that Zandri no longer has permission to publicly lip sync to Den Harrow recordings that use Hooker's voice. [7]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GER [8] | SWE [9] | SWI [10] | |||||||
Overpower |
| — | 29 | 20 | |||||
Day by Day |
| 13 | 25 | 4 | |||||
Lies |
| 63 | — | — | |||||
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GER [8] | |||||||||
The Best Of |
| 18 | |||||||
I Successi |
| — | |||||||
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. |
Title | Album details |
---|---|
I, Den |
|
Back from the Future |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ITA [11] | FRA [12] | GER [8] | SPA [13] | SWE [9] | SWI [10] | ||||||||||||
"To Meet Me" | 1983 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||
"A Taste of Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"Mad Desire" | 1984 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | Overpower | |||||||||
"Bad Boy" | 1985 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 10 | — | 11 | ||||||||||
"Future Brain" | 9 | 17 | — | 6 | — | 6 | |||||||||||
"Overpower" / "Broken Radio" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"Charleston" | 1986 | 8 | 27 | 18 | — | — | 17 | ||||||||||
"Catch the Fox (Caccia Alla Volpe)" | 7 | — | 27 | 12 | 16 | 8 | Day by Day | ||||||||||
"Day by Day Remix" | 1987 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"Don't Break My Heart" | 8 | — | 4 | — | — | 6 | |||||||||||
"Tell Me Why" | 15 | — | 22 | — | — | 12 | |||||||||||
"Energy Rain" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
"You Have a Way" | 1988 | 10 | — | 56 | — | — | — | Lies | |||||||||
"Born to Love" | 13 | — | 45 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"Lies" / "I Wanna Go" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"My Time" / "You Have a Way" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"Holiday Night" | 1989 | — | — | 38 | — | — | — | The Best Of | |||||||||
"Take Me Back" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||
"Ocean" | 1991 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"All I Want Is You" | 1992 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"Real Big Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"You and the Sunshine" | 1993 | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | ||||||||||
"Take Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | I, Den | ||||||||||
"The Universe of Love" | 1994 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"I Need a Lover" | 1995 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||
"Tomorrow Is Another Day" | — | — | — | — | — | — | I, Den | ||||||||||
"I Feel You" | 1996 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"Future Brain '98" | 1998 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Back from the Future | |||||||||
"Go Away" | 1999 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
"Don't Break My Heart (2001 Remixes)" | 2001 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
"Push Push" | 2006 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||||
"—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory, or chart-peaks are not available. |
Lip sync or lip synch is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
Baltimora was an Italian music project from Milan, active from 1984 to 1987. They are best known for their 1985 single "Tarzan Boy" and are often considered a one-hit wonder in the United Kingdom and the United States. In other European countries, including their native Italy, Baltimora scored a follow-up hit.
Change is an Italian-American post-disco group formed in Bologna, Italy, in 1979 by businessman and executive producer Jacques Fred Petrus (1948–1987) and Mauro Malavasi. They were heavily influenced by the disco band Chic. The current incarnation of the group formed in 2018.
Paul Lekakis is an American actor, model, filmmaker and club music / Hi-NRG singer, who was discovered for his musical and dancing skills at a nightclub while on assignment as a model in Italy.
Scotch were an Italian Italo disco band, formed in Bergamo in 1982, that comprised Vince Lancini, Fabio Margutti, Franz Rome, Franz Felleti and Manlio Cangelli.
Silvio Pozzoli, known by his stage name Silver Pozzoli, is an Italian singer, songwriter and musician.
Tom Hooker or Thomas Barbey is an American singer and photographer. He was the voice and one of the songwriters behind most songs for popular Italo disco artist Den Harrow. The 2018 documentary Dons of Disco covers Hooker's involvement in the Den Harrow project.
Baby Records is an Italian record label which was founded in 1974 by Freddy Naggiar.
Baby's Gang were an Italian teen pop band formed in Italy in 1983. The group comprised thirteen teenagers fronted by future italo disco star Ivana Spagna. They are mostly known for their hit single "Happy Song".
Time Records is an Italian record company and label from Brescia founded by Giacomo Maiolini in the fall of 1984, teaming up with the duo Farina-Crivellente as the art producers. Except for a few of the early releases, it became a label distributed by Disco Magic and also a partner, until 1996, when Maiolini moved to start Self Distribuzione. Time Records rose to become one of the most prominent Italo labels from the middle of the eighties to the end of the decade.
Alberto Carpani was an Italian singer, best known for his Italo disco releases in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Albert One, and his Eurodance release "Sing a Song Now Now" in 1999 as A.C. One. He was also a DJ and music producer.
Topo & Roby was a 1980s Italian Italo disco duo consisting of Roby, the stage name of American-Italian vocalist Simona Zanini, and Topo, a robot. Zanini sang all vocal parts, including the automated voice of Topo, and the music was written, performed and produced by keyboardist Aldo Martinelli and producer Fabrizio Gatto.
My Mine is an Italo disco group formed in Terni, Italy in 1983.
The Covers EP is a Freezepop EP. The EP is available for free for those who sign up for the band's email newsletter, being a gift for this action. After signing up for the band's email newsletter, a link is sent to the subscriber email that gives access to the EP download.
Miming in instrumental performance or finger-synching is the act of musicians pretending to play their instruments in a live show, audiovisual recording or broadcast. Miming instrument playing is the musical instrument equivalent of lip-syncing in singing performances, the action of pretending to sing while a prerecorded track of the singing is sounding over a PA system or on a TV broadcast or in a movie. In some cases, instrumentalists will mime playing their instruments, but the singing will be live. In some cases, the instrumentalists are miming playing their instruments and the singers are lip-synching while a backing track plays. As with lip-synching, miming instrument playing has been criticized by some music industry professionals and it is a controversial practice.
"U.S.S.R." is the debut single by the English singer Eddy Huntington, released in 1986.
"Up & Down" is a song by English singer Eddy Huntington from his debut studio album, Bang Bang Baby (1989).
Dons of Disco is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Jonathan Sutak. It details the career of the Italo disco musical artist Den Harrow and controversy surrounding his identity. Tom Hooker, who provided vocals for a number of Den Harrow recordings, seeks credit for his vocal performances attributed to Den Harrow. Through interviews with the producers and performers who created Den Harrow, the history of the musical project is detailed.
"Charleston" is a song by Italian singer Den Harrow, released in 1986 as the fourth single from his 1985 debut studio album Overpower. The song was written by Tom Hooker, and produced by Roberto Turatti and Michele Chieregato. It peaked at No. 8 in his native Italy. The song also charted in West Germany and France, peaking at No. 18 and No. 27, respectively. In Switzerland, the song reached No. 17.