Sunday, October 21, 2012
Tom Hooker
Continuing on the Italo Funk theme with one of my favorites, Tom Hooker. Tom was an American who happened to grow up in central Europe, he was discovered in Italy in the early 80's by some record producers who aided him in forming a career in Italian pop music that lasted until the early 90's, when he eventually returned to the US, got married and changed his name so that his wife could avoid being called 'Mrs. Hooker'. Those in the LA abstract photography scene may know him better as Tom Barbey, you can see some of his work here.
Tom is also somewhat of a champ, and if I by some divine grace or good fortune I live to see my middle age, I wish to be just like him. He's looking great, and has decided to revive his italo pop career, has a couple of new videos, and whats more has kicked off a beef with Italo contemporary Den Harrow, a bozo that to this day still lip syncs over the legend Tom Hooker's songs in eastern European shopping malls and claims them as his own. Check Tom calling homey out in this video..
Tom Hooker - Come Back Home (Vocal)
Tom Hooker - Come Back Home (Instrumental)
Tom Hooker - Talk With Your Body (Vocal)
Tom Hooker - Talk With Your Body (Instrumental)
Tom Hooker - Indian Girl
Posted by Black Shag | 3 comments
October 21, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Wow, I just saw a Thomas Barbey photography calendar in my local shopping mall, and thought "why does that name sound so familiar?" LOL... I'm tempted to buy it just for the novelty.
That video is quite the production: a totally fake press conference, recorded in his home in 3 languages, to declare that Zandri doesn't have his permission to lip-synch to his voice (as if permission is needed) and to declare how he is in fact the authentic singer on those hit Den Harrow records, as if anyone with ears actually believes Zandri was singing.
...this in retaliation for Zandri's posturing on Facebook. The dude is not exactly a superstar these days; he's singing in a mall to a crowd of like 50 people tops, and they're adults who very likely know it's fake but are enjoying a good show. Even if they are fooled, who cares? Hooker certainly isn't performing, so what's the harm?
They both were party to the "Den Harrow" fraud, so it's not like either one of them has clean hands, and the contracts expiring means no one has any kind of authority. He needs to let it go and not let his fragile ego be so easily wounded over inane music made 25+ years ago that he had very little control over in the first place; he's just making himself look unprofessional. Just my personal opinion here.
November 1, 2012 at 1:55 AM
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March 17, 2013 at 6:19 PM
Love Tom Hooker's music. Easy to hear that central European influence in his music as a whole. Good post.