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by Zeljko Vujkovic

Tom Hooker (his real name is said to be Thomas Beecher Hooker) was born on November, 18th 1959 in Greenwich (Connecticut). He started his musical carreer as a drummer. He studied languages in Switzerland and was discovered by Italian producers. He had his first success in 1985 with Looking for Love. He also gave his voice for the first Den Harrow hits (such as Future Brain), co-wrote many of his songs (under the name of T. Beecher), and was given the credits for background vocals. In the mid 90s Tom Hooker disappeared from the music scene and he changed name so after that period no one really knows anything about him.

Tom Hooker : I was born in the U.S. was brought to Europe when I was 6 months old. I lived in Milan, Dusseldorf and for the most part Geneva and Santa Barbara. I speak fluent French, Italian and English.

I started playing the drums at 10. My first band was at 13. My first concert as a drummer/singer was at 15.

The first guy was Gianni Naso. He was president of the Association Italiana of Disc Jockeys. He liked Flip Over and I got signed in 1980 because of him, but I didn't even know him. A cassette was sent to him through a publisher in Milan. I was in recording studios a lot as a drummer and produced my own record as a singer/songwiter.

Looking for Love was my first song as Tom Hooker with the Turatti/ Chieregato team. I had previously done Future Brain and a whole album for Den Harrow the previous year. Looking For Love was huge in Italy because Claudio Cecchetto liked it. He had a very important TV show at that time.

I always liked USSR for Eddie Huntington. We wrote it, Miki and I in one afternoon. Most of the songwriting was with Miki Chieregato. Turatti was more of a public relations guy. He would then "sell" the song to Freddy, the Head of the company. No matter how good a song was, if Freddy didn't like it, it would never be released. Therefore, Turatti was very important for the team, even though he didn't know how to play any instrument. I wrote so many songs with so many people under different names. I also wrote with Novecento. Dora Carofiglio/Nicolosi has a beautiful voice. I've written over a 100 songs that came out. My favorite songs are songs you probably wouldn't know. I liked Talk With Your Body. I released it with Full Time in 1981. I liked Love is Life with Elastic Band in 1995.

I've done quite a few albums you don't know of. Plus two albums under the name Den Harrow. Bad Reputation was an album that came out too late. Nearly a year after Looking For Love. This was ridiculous ! The album had some good songs. No More Heaven was a ballad. I don't remember all the songs. I don't even have a copy ! I did another rock album in L.A. in 1995 with a band called Chameleon. Two, with Elastic Band. And two other pop albums under the name Tom Hooker.

It was a lot of fun, I made money, I had cars and girls. I knew all the famous people in Italy at the time. I am so much happier now, though. I am married and incognito in California. I finally understand the value of "true" things in life. I really love my wife today. Then, like many people who don't even admit it, I was in love with myself. Like many famous people, I had a huge ego.

Freddy Naggiar the head of Baby Records, was a clever millionaire who always respected me as a good lyricist. He was a business man. Albert One was a nice Italian guy who understood good dance songs because he was a DJ but unfortunately had a heavy accent when he sang in English. It didn't bother any Europeans but it bothered me because I am American. He was limited to the European and Japanese markets because of this. Gazebo spoke good English and Giombini wrote beautiful melodies.

Yes. Trevor Horn maybe.

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.

We would sometimes work until 5 in the morning. Finally, we would say, OK, let's go home now. Going into the studio was like walking into an office for me.

This was a very easy thing for me. After years and years of performing, I really perfected my craft. I became an entertainer. Sometimes people would go crazy. Italy doesn't have enough live concerts for dance music. I was one of the rare exceptions with a handful of people who could sing live at the time. Dora of Novecento, Ivana Spagna, the voice of The Creatures (Bruno Kassar)" Maybe one day. There was an Irish guy called Malcolm who could sing. Also Linda Westley and Glenn White of Kano. We would always meet in the studio for backing vocals in English. We were the "respected" singers. Most of the rest were images or phonies. I always did shows and the agents liked me because they would always get paid because I was real. I sang live. Many other artists were in playback.

I always liked Gazebo for the melody and the piano. I also liked the earlier Kano but it sounded more American than Italo. To be honest, I never really was a great fan of Italian Dance Music. I was working and living in Italy and I liked all the music that wasn't Italian. I liked Pino Daniele because he sounded American. I really don't like the 90's house made in Italy. I always liked to sing ballads in my shows. You have to know how to sing a slow song.

I did another album called Elastic Band in the 90's it was covers made dance style. A song is important. The house stuff is a bit hard to listen to. It's for the energy and to dance to. I don't go dancing anymore. I listen to different music. I think as long as people are enjoying it, it has it's purpose. I don't listen to Heavy Metal or Rap, but I'm sure there is some good stuff out there.

Yes. I met most of them at shows. We came from different teams from all over the country. I think there was a bit of a rivalry more than a community. The plan was to get in the charts and sell records. There was only one number one spot and we would fight for it. It was like a sport.

That's great. I don't listen to it. My whole life I've been listening to different music at different times. If there was a radio station in L.A. that played Italo Dance, I would listen to it for memories and enjoy it more now than I did then. I would probably get nostalgic.

I'm not proud of that song. I don't like it at all. It was done very quickly with no record company. I did a song that I liked very much. It's called Love Is Life and it was called "Elastic Band". It was a good song with not much push. It's very melodic and catchy. Try and check it out.

Elastic Band. I released an album with Baby Records.

I'm retired and I'm rich. I know it may sound strange to you but I was also doing it for the money. It was just a job. A very fun one at times. I don't need to sing or release albums for a personal gratification. I play tennis and golf and sell my art. However I would like to contact Turatti and Chieregato to know how they are doing.

No. Sorry.

I live kind of far away and I don't really need the money. Why are they doing it ?

I'm retired. I do my baby art. I am going to do a Calendar and I'm selling posters and showing in art galleries.

I listen to New Age, Classical, Oldies, Jazz, pretty much everything except, Italo, Metal and Rap.

Nope.

Santa Monica is warm and sunny and I listen to Sarah Brightman and Emma Shapplin. Life is interesting because there are so many different things. Some people like green, others like blue. I listen to Classical music, too.

The best thing in life is love and the secret to happiness is wanting what you already have.

Thanks for being a fan.
Tom Hooker

© July 2001 Zeljko Vujkovic - All rights reserved

Recently (March 2004) i had chance to talk with Gabriele Baldazzi who was the drummer of Tom Hooker. He was very kind to me and agreed to tell me a bit about his work with Tom Hooker, how he met him and some other interesting stuff. What he told me you can read below.

I met Tom in 1983. Our tour manager, Bruno Gaggiotti, had a pretty good reputation at that time and he was in charge to put together couple of successful shows with well-known names in the industry, to go around the Italian peninsula and islands. I saw Tom in Italian TV couple of time before but I had never paid attention to his songs honestly, especially because he used to arrive on TV stages and perform his song with his roller skates (that was his business card !).

In the band we had a good structure with drums, keyboards, guitar, bass and sax. We had two background voices plus two more background voices/dancers for Tom's number. Beside the concerts we used to find each other on the road or for dinners after shows, Tom was always pretty noisy and full of energy even after the shows. We loved to work with Tom because he used to perform live, no playback what so ever. During the show he used to play guitar and percussion also. A part his most famous hits and part of the new coming album, he performed also some cover from other artists.

I remember we loved to perform a particular song that was Music by Joe Walsh (Eagles). After that experience with Tom we moved with another manager, and we didn't have opportunity to work with other Italo Disco artists. However in the same show where Tom was part of, there was another big name at that time, actually he was the big star of the shows and his name is Sterling Saint Jacques, do you remember him ? The black guy with "blue eyes". But at difference from Tom he couldn't sing so we faked playing while he was going in playback. His hit at that time was Mamalou.

I still like the Italo disco and as for Tom, if I listen to some of those tunes it brings me immediately back in time and I have to say "what a time !!!"

To these days in L.A. where I live now, I have the XM radio in my car that would be the satellite radio and I get most of the disco tunes from Europe every day, I recognize the Italian "touch" all the time and I love it. I can tell you that we had a lot of fun going around the beautiful Italian territory doing what we loved most and meet people and eat incredible food.»

© February 2004 Zeljko Vujkovic - All rights reserved
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