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Den Harrow

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Den Harrow is an Italian new wave project which was especially popular in the '80s. Stefano Zandri (born on June 4, 1962 in Nova Milanese, Italy) a fashion model from Milan, Italy was chosen to be the frontman of Den Harrow.

Career

Den Harrow was a popular project in the 1980s and reached the top ten in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden with hits like Future Brain, Mad Desire, Bad Boy, Don't Break My Heart, Day by Day, and Catch the Fox, all from the first two albums Overpower and Day by Day. The name "Den Harrow" was invented by the producers of the project, which according to them is based on the Italian word "Denaro" (money).

Revealing the Truth

After years of fame and popularity, it was revealed both by the frontman of Den Harrow Stefano Zandri and the producers that Stefano Zandri did not actually sing his own songs; he was essentially a character who lip-synched to vocals produced by a number of other Italo singers. And since they did not consider Zandri's name and origin to be trendy enough, the producers R. Turatti and M. Chieregato concealed Zandri's true Italian origins by inventing a fictitious English based last name Manuel Stefano Carry as well as U.S. based birth place Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. to be able for Polydor Records to market him more easily in English speaking world where Italian produced music was, at the time, viewed with skepticism.[1]

Most of the songs for Den Harrow project were sung by an American vocalist Tom Hooker (aka Thomas Barbey, who was residing in Italy during the Italo-Disco era), including Europe-wide 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 released in 1988, who 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 a more developed sense in humans than hearing. People tend to buy and listen what they like to see.[2]

Also according to Tom Hooker, in the very beginning Chuck Rolando's voice was used in the singles "To Meet Me" and "A Taste of Love". Later on, Silver Pozzoli was chosen to do the single "Mad Desire"; however, Hooker also provided the vocals for the album releases of "Mad Desire". Even though, Tom Hooker continued co-writing tracks for Den Harrow project, producers felt to bring in another vocalist into the studio with a much higher voice than that of Hooker's for the 1988 album called Lies. According to Tom Hooker; however, Stefano Zandri has sung on his 1991 single Ocean.[2]

Den Harrow now

Currently, Stefano Zandri continues to do live performances while still using Tom Hooker's playbacks, especially in eastern Europe, still under the name of Den Harrow, allegedly claiming that he has learned to sing himself.

In 1997 Stefano Zandri moved to California to take part in the TV serial Sunset Beach.

In 2005 hosted the TV show "Radio HARROW" on the satellite TV channel "Match Music".

In 2006 Stefano Zandri took part in a reality show: the Italian version of "Celebrity Survivor" broadcast on Rai Due.

In 2007 Stefano Zandri released a new song "FEDEN - Lo so", written and sung by him and his wife, only available on his web site that reportedly sold already 16.000 copies, he is also planning to sell his autobiographical book entitled "Segreti e bugie" (Secrets and Lies) also available on his website.

Tom Hooker's response to Den Harrow's threats and official disclosure about Den Harrow's voice

Stefano Zandri, in recent years, resorted to numerous insults and even threats aimed at Tom Hooker and his family via Facebook, in 2010, for the latter exposing the facts concerning the vocal authenticity of Den Harrow's recordings, which prompted Hooker to release an official video footage on YouTube.[3] In the footage, Hooker, discloses that he's been insulted by Den Harrow's fans on Facebook for claiming to be the real singer behind all Den Harrow project's hits.[3] In the video, Tom Hooker demonstrates the similarity between his voice and the original recordings of Den Harrow by first playing an excerpt from the single "Future Brain" on the laptop and immediately after singing an A cappella for the same part of the song.[3] Hooker then officially declares that Stefano Zandri no longer has his permission to lip sync to Den Harrow's songs recorded with Tom Hooker's voice.[3]

Albums (3)
Songs (28)
# Song
Hits 10979
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