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.
