Den Harrow
Den Harrow was an Italo disco project from the mid 1980s, with Stefano Zandri as the face of the artist, and Tom Hooker doing most of the vocals. It was revealed many years later that Zandri did not sing on any of their hits and that most of the songs were performed and co-written by Hooker. Den Harrow was conceived by producers Roberto Turatti and Miki Chieregato, who based it on the Italian word denaro.
History
Den Harrow was formed in 1983 by Italian producers Roberto Turatti and Miki Chieregato with Stefano Zandri as the face of the project and Tom Hooker doing most of the vocals, as well as songwriting on many of their tracks.The project became popular in the 80s at the height of the Italo disco genre. They scored several hits during that period, such as "Bad Boy, "Catch The Fox," "Charleston," "Future Brain" and "Don't Break My Heart."
Revelation
After years of fame and popularity, it was revealed by frontman Stefano Zandri and his producers that Zandri did not actually sing any of the songs credited to Den Harrow ; he was essentially a character who lip-synced to vocals recorded by a number of other singers. Furthermore, since they did not consider Zandri's name and origin to be "trendy" enough, producers Turatti and Chieregato concealed Zandri's Italian origin, marketing him as having been born Manuel Stefano Curry in Boston, Massachusetts. This was done so that Polydor Records could market him more easily in the English-speaking world, where Italian-produced music was, at the time, viewed with skepticism.American vocalist Tom Hooker, also known as Thomas Barbey, who was residing in Italy during the Italo disco era and sang most of the songs for the Den Harrow project, including the 1985–1987 European 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, and 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:
Also according to Tom Hooker, Chuck Rolando's voice was used in the early singles "To Meet Me" and "A Taste of Love". Later on, Silver Pozzoli was chosen to do the single "Mad Desire"; however, Hooker provided the vocals for the album releases of "Mad Desire". Although Hooker continued co-writing tracks for Den Harrow project, the producers wanted to use a higher-voiced vocalist for the 1988 album Lies. Hooker says that Zandri did sing on the 1991 Den Harrow single "Ocean".
The 2018 documentary Dons of Disco addresses the controversy surrounding Den Harrow's identity and specifically Tom Hooker's involvement. Through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the "creation" of Den Harrow, both Zandri and Hooker's claims to Den Harrow's authorship are represented.