Magic of Italo disco |2| Den Harrow
This is part 2 of my Italo Disco articles, check also part 1.
Start of Den Harrow project
Probably the most popular Italo disco project, Den Harrow, started 1982. The face of the project was Stefano Zandri (born 4 June 1962), the production and composing of songs was done by professional DJs Miki Chieregato and Roberto Turatti. It was long believed that Zandri did most of the singing, however after years of fame and popularity it was revealed that this was not the case. Vocals were done by a professional singers (other artists) and Zandri did lip syncing in live appearances.
First Den Harrow’s release was To Meet Me appearing very early in italo disco scene, year 1982.
This and the following Den Harrow’s release A Taste Of Love (1983) were sang by Chuck Rolando.
Later on, Silver Pozzoli was chosen to provide vocals for the single Mad Desire (1984).
Baby Records releases
Year 1985 was published single Bad Boy, vocals provided by american singer/artist Tom Hooker. This was also opening single for the forthcoming album Overpower (1985). All songs in the album were sang by Tom Hooker, including also previously mentioned Bad Desire. Most tracks from the album were available as 12″ vinyl singles. Record label/company was now Baby Records, which then published the majority of Den Harrow’s singles and albums.
Den Harrow played a small part in finnish ice hockey: Catch The Fox was used as goal anthem for Ilves (ice hockey team in Tampere) 2018-2019. Ilves changed after that to their current anthem, We Are The Kings (by Costello Hautamäki & Ilves All Stars).
SAIFAM time
After the time as Baby Records biggest artist name, somewhat darker period from year 1991 to 1993 followed. Only very few new releases were published, no big hits among them. Help was provided from year 1996 by Mauro Farina and his record company SAIFAM. Den Harrow project was transformed into eurodance style, a very popular music style of the 90s. Number of releases wasn’t high during SAIFAM period, but musically tracks sounded superb. To be honest, I’m not sure who provides vocals for SAIFAM releases, an educated guess is either Vince Lancini or Vittorio Fraja, who did vocals for SAIFAM projects (like Orlando) during same time period.
Other releases
After SAIFAM period Stefano Zandri and Silvio ”Silver” Pozzoli combined their talents into an excellent compact disc album Back From The Future (1999), published by Do It Yourself S.r.l., under their main label Do It Yourself. The album includes new versions of Den Harrow’s big hits and some new songs. It was later also published by Hungarian record company Hargent Media (2009), probably since there were many potential buyers for it and DIY S.r.l. did not sell it anymore.
Dispute with Tom Hooker (2010)
Tom Hooker together with co-producer/composer Miki Chieregato published on YouTube a press conference-style video where he states and demonstrates that he was the vocalist on most of the Den Harrow records. Hooker accuses Zandri of continuing to publicly lip synch to the recordings. Hooker states that Zandri made threats and insults against Hooker and his family on Facebook for exposing the vocal in authenticity of the Den Harrow recordings. (Partly) because of this, Hooker asserts that Zandri no longer has permission to publicly lip sync to Den Harrow recordings that use Hooker’s voice. In 2015 Hooker begins a new music project Tam Harrow which kinda mimics Den Harrow as seen from Hooker’s viewpoint.
List of singles
| Year | Title | Record label | Vocals by |
| 1982 | To Meet Me | Hole Records | Chuck Rolando |
| 1983 | A Taste Of Love | Hole Records | Chuck Rolando |
| 1984 | Mad Desire | Gong Records | Silvio Pozzoli |
| 1985 | Bad Boy | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1985 | Future Brain | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1986 | Overpower / Bad Boy (remix) | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1986 | Charleston | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1986 | Catch The Fox | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1987 | Day By Day (remix) | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1987 | Tell Me Why | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1987 | Don’t Break My Heart | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1987 | Energy Rain | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1988 | Lies / I Wanna Go | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1988 | Born To Love | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1988 | My Time / You Have A Way | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1989 | Take Me Back | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1989 | Holiday Night | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1991 | Ocean | Discomagic | Stefano Zandri |
| 1992 | All I Want Is You | Polydor | Stefano Zandri |
| 1992 | Real Big Love | Polydor | ? |
| 1993 | You And The Sunshine | JDM Records | ? |
| 1993 | Take Me | One Way Records (SAIFAM) | Vince Lancini? Vittorio Fraja? |
| 1994 | The Universe Of Love | One Way Records (SAIFAM) | Vince Lancini? Vittorio Fraja? |
| 1996 | I Feel You | One Way Records (SAIFAM) | Vince Lancini? Vittorio Fraja? |
| 1999 | Go Away | Do It Yourself | Stefano Zandri, Silvio Pozzoli |
| 2021 | Always | JB Production | Stefano Zandri |
List of albums
| Year | Album title | Record label | Vocals by |
| 1985 | Overpower | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1987 | Day By Day | Baby Records | Tom Hooker |
| 1988 | Lies | Baby Records | Anthony James |
| 1996 | I, Den | One Way Records (SAIFAM) | Vince Lancini? Vittorio Fraja? |
| 1999 | Back From The Future | Do It Yourself | Stefano Zandri, SIlvio Pozzoli |
| 1999 | Mad Desire – I Successi | D.V. More Records | Stefano Zandri |
Brando