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A Long Bio on Henry Gross:
HENRY GROSS
I’m Hearing Things
Henry was born on April 1st, 1951 in Brooklyn, New
York. His older sister, Sarah, was a huge Rock &
Roll fan, so Henry's introduction and subsequent
addiction to it came at a very early age. His
mother Zelda's life long love of music, which
included a brief stint with the Metropolitan
Opera Chorus, encouraged his pursuit of
a performing career so strongly that by
age fourteen he was playing regularly
in local clubs all over the New York
area and spending his summers
playing at Catskill Mountain
Resort hotels.
At age eighteen, Henry was a founding member of
the world famous Rock & Roll revival group,
SHA NA NA, wearing on-stage the "Greaser"
clothes he wore in high school "because he
thought they looked good". The groups'
popularity took a giant step after
legendary performances in the
Fillmore Auditoriums, East
and West and at the Woodstock
Festival. With the groups'
appearance in the movie
"WOODSTOCK" their
popularity became a
worldwide phenomenon.
Henry left the band in 1970 to pursue a career as
a singer songwriter signing his first solo deal with
ABC DUNHILL RECORDS in 1971. The albums
lack of commercial success did not discourage
him and in 1973, after performing at colleges
and clubs all over the country, he was
signed to a production deal by
Cashman and West, legendary
producers of Jim Croce, who
almost immediately placed
Henry on A&M RECORDS.
His first A&M album, "HENRY GROSS" sold very
well and had several large regional hits including
"Simone", "Come On Say It", "Skin King"
and a near gold
cover of
Lindisfarne's
European hit
"Meet Me On
The Corner".
Henry's second A&M album "Plug Me Into
Something", sold just short of gold and
garnered him a huge following as an
exciting performer and he began to
achieve national
recognition in
publications like
Rolling Stone
Magazine and
The New York
Times as a
great Rock &
Roll guitarist.
For his next album he was moved to Cashman &
West's new label, Lifesong Records. His first
single release on the label, Shannon, a song
written about the passing of Beach Boy Carl
Wilson's Irish Setter of the same name went
gold and became
a worldwide hit.
Sales of the
album called
"Release"
were big
and the
second
single, "Springtime Mama", sold
just short of gold.
On his next album, "Show Me to the
Stage", Henry mixed Rock & Roll songs
with Phil Spector and Brian Wilson
influenced production. While the
album had strong sales it produced
no "hit" singles.
Henry's recording career continued with albums on
CBS Records with " Love is the Stuff" and on
Capitol Records in 1981 with The Bobby Colomby produced LP, "What's in a Name".
Henry feels his best work of that period, an
unreleased record wallowing in Capitol's
vaults, produced by Anthony Battaglia
(studio guitarist and re-mixer of the
latest N' SYNC single) and Ed Machal
(engineer of all the Eagles records)
will someday see the light of day.
In the Eighties Henry performed in the road company
production of "Pump Boys and Dinettes," with a cast
featuring Jonathan Edwards, and the late
Nicolette Larson.
Henry moved to NASHVILLE in 1986 and signed
a publishing deal with Pic A Lic Music, a
company owned by legendary songwriter
Roger Cook and the multi talented Ralph
Murphy. A record deal in Europe soon
followed through Murphy's efforts and
two albums, "I Keep on Rocking",
and "She's My Baby", were released
by Sonet Records all over Europe
and Japan.
Henry continues his
song writing and recording career in
Nashville.
In 1993 he released a
CD of twenty-two
songs, called Nothing But Dreams, on his
independent label, ZELDA RECORDS, about which his motto is, "Not only am I the president, I'm a client as well.".
I’m Hearing Things is Henry’s latest release on Zelda Records. Henry wrote or co-wrote all 14 songs on the CD and serves as the producer. His co-writers include Roger Cook, Clive Gregson, Sam Lorber, Garry Tallent, Henry Paul, Anthony Battaglia, Tommy Rocco and John Brannen. Musicians include Dennis Locorriere (Dr. Hook) on background vocals; Garry Tallent (E-Street Band) on bass; Clive Gregson on guitar; Philip Aaberg on keyboards and Henry Gross on vocals, guitars, ukulele, electric sitar, kazoo and percussion.
He is constantly
writing with a marvelous cast of world-renowned
songwriters.
In 1995 he and longtime friend Henry Paul, of
Blackhawk and Outlaws fame, co- wrote
Blackhawk's top fifteen country hit, Big Guitar.
With songs recorded by artists as diverse as
Judy Collins, Mary Travers, Cindy Lauper,
Sonny Burgess, Ronnie Milsap and All
The Kings Men, Henry, his wife
Marilyn, a Realtor, and their four
dogs and four cats live happily in
lovely and creative Nashville
Tennessee, pursuing their dreams. Henry is currently working on a one man show chronicling the highlights and funniest moments of his life in the entertainment business. The show is called "One Hit Wanderer" and he tells the story of his generation through his own exploits from second grade to the present. He's written what he considers the best collection of songs he's ever done mixed with some of his most popular oldies. He is currently spending a great deal of time working on a documentary of "One Hit Wanderer" with two brilliant young filmmakers, Ed Greenberg and Mick Perry, at their studio, M360, in Irvington, NY. In Addition, Henry over the past year, Henry has been recording in Ft. Myers, FL with multi-talented engineer/instumentalist John McLane, producing enough material for two new CD's.
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