Henry Gross | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | April 1, 1951 |
Origin | Brooklyn, New York City, United States |
Genres | Rock, pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, record label executive |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, ukulele, electric sitar, percussion |
Years active | 1964–present |
Labels | Zelda Records (presently) |
Website | http://www.henrygross.com/ |
Henry Gross (born April 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his association with the group Sha Na Na and for his hit song, "Shannon". Gross is considered a one-hit wonder artist; none of his other songs reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 . However, his single "Springtime Mama" was a top 40 hit in the summer of 1976, peaking at #37.
Gross was born in Brooklyn, New York City. At age 13 he performed at the New Jersey Pavilion at the World's Fair in Flushing, New York with his first band, The Auroras. By age 14 he was playing regularly in local clubs in the New York area, and spending his summers playing at Catskill Mountains resort hotels.
At age 18, while a student at Brooklyn College, Gross became a founding member of 1950s Rock & Roll revival group, Sha Na Na, playing guitar and wearing the greaser clothes he wore while a student at Midwood High School. The 18-year-old Gross was the youngest musician to perform at Woodstock. [1]
Gross left Sha Na Na to become a solo singer-songwriter in 1970. He signed a recording contract with ABC Dunhill Records in 1971. While there, he did some session work for producers Tommy West and Terry Cashman. He played electric lead guitar on the Jim Croce album, I Got a Name . His own debut album had little commercial success. He continued to play at clubs and colleges until 1973, when he signed with A&M Records.
His first self-titled A&M album included several regional hits including "Simone", "Come On Say It", "Skin King", and a cover version of Lindisfarne's European hit, "Meet Me on the Corner". With Gross’s second A&M album, Plug Me into Something, he began to achieve national recognition in Rolling Stone and The New York Times .[ citation needed ]
Gross moved on to Lifesong Records to make his next album. He produced a single, "Shannon", a song written about the death of the dog of Beach Boys member Carl Wilson, who was named Shannon. [2] [3] The single went gold in the U.S. [4] and became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Cash Box Top 100 in 1976. In Canada it reached No. 1 in May of the same year. [5] It also reached No. 1 in New Zealand, and No. 32 in the UK. [4] After this single's success, Gross released the album, Release. His second single, "Springtime Mama", reached No. 37 in the US, selling nearly a million copies, and reaching No. 18 in Canada. [6]
On his next album, Show Me to the Stage, Gross mixed rock and roll songs with Phil Spector and Brian Wilson influences. While the album sold well, it provided no hit singles. He also recorded The Beatles song "Help!" for the documentary, All This and World War II ; both occurred in 1976. Gross's recording career slowed, but with CBS Records he made "Love Is the Stuff", and with Capitol Records in 1981, produced the What's in a Name album with Bobby Colomby.
As a session guitarist Henry performed on many records by other artists including Jim Croce (I Got A Name, ABC Records 1973) Judy Collins (Home Again, Elektra/ Asylum 1984), and Andy Kim (Baby, I Love You, Steed/Dot Records 1970).
His songs have been recorded by a variety of artists including Judy Collins, Mary Travers, Cyndi Lauper, Jonathan Edwards, Henry Paul, Blackhawk, Southside Johnny, Garry Tallent and Rob Stoner.
In the 1980s Gross performed in the road company production of Pump Boys and Dinettes with a cast featuring Jonathan Edwards (Sunshine) and Nicolette Larson (Lotta Love). Gross moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1986 and signed a publishing deal with Pic-A-Lic Music, a company owned by songwriters Roger Cook and Ralph Murphy.
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(March 2024) |
Gross continued his songwriting and recording career in Nashville. In 1993, he released the album Nothing But Dreams on his own Zelda Records label, named after his mother. He had a Top 40 Country Radio hit, "Big Guitar" with Arista recording group Blackhawk, written with his friend Henry Paul, the group's lead singer. Gross released I'm Hearing Things on Zelda Records in 2001, his first self-engineered CD.
He currently[ when? ] performs an autobiographical one-man show called "One Hit Wanderer".
He continues to write new songs while regularly recording in Fort Myers, Florida with multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer John McLane, having produced eight albums with #9 nearly completed. One Hit Wanderer (2006), Foreverland (2007), Rhymes and Misdemeanors (2011) and Right as Rain (2011). A single, "What a Christmas", was released the same year. In 2011 he also collaborated with Henry Paul and Jonathan Edwards on a trio album called Edwards, Gross and Paul, AKA "The Vereens".
In 2016 Gross traveled to the UK to support longtime friend Joe Brown on his "Just Joe" UK tour. Brown and Gross played a selection of songs from each of their discographies, as well as a variety of popular rock & roll and country songs.
In early 2017, before leaving for the UK, Gross released two new CDs of original songs on Zelda Records: "Mixed Messages" and "Stories I've Lived To Tell" along with "New Orleans, New Orleans" – a collection of songs from a new musical comedy play of the same name, songs written by Gross and the libretto in collaboration with playwright Ed Greenberg.
In October 2017, Brown and Gross went back on tour in the UK with a live album, produced by Gross, recorded at the previous tour's first few shows. The tour ran through October and November 2017 before breaking for Christmas and continuing in January through March 2018.
In 2019, while doing many shows celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, Gross continued recording with multi-instrumentalist and engineer John McLane, completing and releasing the new 17 song CD, Too Clever (For My Own Good) in February 2020 on Zelda Records.
John Robert "Joe" Cocker was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright?" and "Unchain My Heart", were recordings of songs written by other song writers, though he composed a number of songs for most of his albums as well, often in conjunction with songwriting partner Chris Stainton.
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, John would write and sing some of the band's biggest hits such as "Do You Believe in Magic", "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind", and "Daydream". Sebastian would leave the Spoonful in 1968 after the album Everything Playing. After leaving the Spoonful, Sebastian would focus on a solo career, releasing his first solo album in 1970 titled John B. Sebastian. Sebastian would continue on recording solo albums.
Charles Weedon Westover, better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one Billboard hit "Runaway". In 1999, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to his music career, he had minor acting roles.
Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
Carl Dean Wilson was an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's de facto leader in the early to mid-1970s. He was also the band's musical director on stage from 1965 until his death.
"Woodstock" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. At least four versions of the song were released in 1970. Mitchell's own version was first performed live in 1969 and appeared in April 1970 on her album Ladies of the Canyon and as the B-side to her single "Big Yellow Taxi". A version by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young appeared on their album Déjà Vu in March 1970 and became a staple of classic rock radio and the best-known version of the song in the United States. A third version, by the British band Matthews Southern Comfort, became the best-known version in the United Kingdom and was the highest charting version of the song in the UK, reaching the top of the Singles Chart in 1970. A fourth version by studio project the Assembled Multitude also became a chart hit.
Edwin H. Kramer is a South African-born recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Kinks, Kiss, John Mellencamp, GRODD and Carlos Santana, as well as records for other well-known artists in various genres.
"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart but the second, after "Please Please Me", on most of the other singles charts published in the UK at the time. "From Me to You" failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. Instead, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song's becoming the first Lennon–McCartney track to enter the US pop charts. The Beatles' original was re-released in the US in January 1964 as the B-side to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.
Iain Matthews is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was an original member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock". In 1979, his recording of Terence Boylan's "Shake It" reached No. 13 on the US charts.
Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll and doo-wop revival group formed in 1969. The group performed a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs that both revived and parodied the music and the New York City street culture of the 1950s. After gaining initial fame for their performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, made possible with help from their friend Jimi Hendrix, the group hosted Sha Na Na, a syndicated variety series that ran from 1977 to 1981.
Patrick Henry Travers is a Canadian rock guitarist, singer and songwriter who began his recording career in the mid-1970s.
"At the Hop" is a 1950s pop song written by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was released in the fall of 1957 and reached number one on the US charts on January 6, 1958, becoming one of the top-selling singles of 1958. "At the Hop" also hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers list. Somewhat more surprisingly, the record reached #3 on the Music Vendor country charts. It was also a big hit elsewhere, which included number 1 for 3 weeks in Canada and a number 3 placing on the UK charts.
One More Tomorrow: The Best of Henry Gross is an album released by the American singer-songwriter Henry Gross. "One More Tomorrow" is a comprehensive overview of Gross' mid-'70s recordings, containing all of his hits for both A&M and Lifesong, including "Shannon", "Springtime Mama", "Someday ", and the title track.
"Get a Job" is a song by The Silhouettes released in November 1957. It reached the number one spot on the Billboard pop and R&B singles charts in February 1958, and was later included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). The song celebrates the virtues of securing gainful employment.
"Walk, Don't Run" is an instrumental composition written and originally recorded by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith in 1954, which achieved worldwide fame when The Ventures recorded a cover version in 1960.
Thomas Picardo Jr., known professionally as Tommy West, was an American record producer and singer-songwriter.
"Shannon" is a 1976 song by Henry Gross. It became an international hit, reaching #6 and achieving gold record status in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box Top 100. The song reached #1 in Canada and New Zealand.
Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm is a six-CD live box-set album of the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York. Its release marked the 40th Anniversary of the festival.
Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive is a live album by various artists, packaged as a box set of 38 CDs. It contains nearly all of the performances from the Woodstock music festival, which took place on August 15–18, 1969, in Bethel, New York. The CDs also include many stage announcements and miscellaneous audio material. The box set also contains bonus material such as a Blu-ray copy of the director's cut of the Woodstock documentary film, a hardcover book written by concert promoter Michael Lang, and a replica of the original concert program. It was released by Rhino Records on August 2, 2019, in a limited edition of 1,969 copies.