User:Lamonteddy

Harry Finfer "The Old Fox"
"It's got it in the grooves, man; that's a hit!" - Harry Finfer. I came to Nashville in 1989 to help Dan Hoffman who was a well known disk jockey in the fifties known as one of "The Good Guys" "D.J. Dan" on WKDA in Nashville. Tenn.. Dan was like a father to me. He was a great man in the music industry I am writing about him next. I was helping him with some Tax Work. When Harry Finfer came to Nashville in 1994 to open an office on Music Row looking for new talent, he was 88 years old and walked using two canes as support, but he had a sharp mind, and he knew a hit song. He needed a driver and I needed a job so I started driving him around and after a while I was in charge of his business in Nashville when he was out of town. He was in town for two weeks at a time then out for two weeks. Harry and I would hit all the big talent shows and songwriters nights in town signing new talent and songwriters at night, and pitching songs during the day. Sometime in May of 1995. I arrived at the office early in the morning and Harry was on the phone with RCA records on music row about bringing down some demos, when he hung up the phone he said we're going down to RCA when we arrived we approached the receptionist and Harry asked to speak to the person in charge "I got some demos I want him to hear" he said. I think we had 2 or 3 cassettes with 2 songs each on them. The lady replied " you must have an appointment we don't accept outside material you can mail it in to the A&R department" Harry said "No I want to talk to the head man tell him Harry Finfer is here." She became angry and told Harry he can't see him. Harry was real angry and turned to me muttering and said lets go. We returned to the office and Harry grabbed the phone and ranted and raved about that RCA crew. After about 15 minutes Harry slammed the phone down and started loading boxes with tapes and videos crappie stuff and all and said we're going back down there. We pulled up out front the dude in charge, and the receptionist were standing at the door with open arms anxiously waiting, They were treating us like royalty as they ushered us into his office me carrying 2 big boxes full of tapes and videos Harry with his canes and all. We entered a big fancy office with a big fancy desk in the center of the room. Harry told me to set the boxes next to him and started unloading them asking the guy to listen to this one and watch that one after about an hour Harry said ok that's it the guy said Ill be in touch thank you and apologized several times and we left. When we got in the car I asked Harry "what the hell was that?" that's when he told me that he talked to Danny Glass President of EMI on the east coast, Danny called RCA in Nashville and told them if they don't want to be on the street pitching songs then they better listen to Harry's demos. That was just one of the highlights of my time with the "old Fox" That's when I realized how he acquired that handle.

Harry Finfer was an important record man working out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Partners with Dick Clark in the Arlen and Jamie Labels, Finfer lost his partners after the payola scandals of 1959 made Clark give up his involvement. Finfer a witness in the payola scandals was still active in all phases of the record industry and was the archetypical 1950s independent record man. Called the "Old Fox," Harry was known for his style and flair and had an ear for hits. When an employee at Bell Sound got finfer to listen to the tapes of the Northern Lights, Finfer kept coming back to Typhoid as an instrumental with hit potential. Though the golden age of the rock instrumental was just about over in 1963, Typhoid was exceptional. It rocked from beginning to end taking no time at all to build. Because of this instant excitement, it was the perfect song for jocks to play as the lead in to the news on Top 40 radio.

Finfer heard all this and wanted the song released on his own Arlen label. He bought the rights to it form the employee at Bell Sound who claimed to own those rights. Thinking the title was ill chosen, Finfer released the master as Bust Out in the summer of 1963 and put the Busters as the group simply because it fit! He didn't know who had actually done the song and didn't care, since he thought he had bought the rights lock, stock and barrel. The publishing rights went to his own company and a fictitious name, Dave Benjamin was put down as the song's writer. Finfer felt if the song became a hit, he could get a bunch of musicians together in a hurry to be the Busters for the appearances that would then come. Jamie Records Bust Out broke out as a hit recording in late August, 1963. WKNR in Detroit, WKBW Buffalo, and WBZ Boston gave it heavy airplay. The song entered the Billboard chart on September 7, 1963. Harry Finfer had started Jamie Records, named after his daughter. One of his signings was my cousin guitarist Duane Eddy. Playing his Grestch guitar through an echo box Eddy had created a unique sound. So Finfer and Eddy hit the road to promote Eddy's first single "Movin' 'n' Groovin'." It didn't do much but lay the groundwork for his smash, "Rebel Rouser." He got on American Bandstand where his good looks translated well. Having paid his dues Eddy eventually left Jamie Records for a better deal. More singles hit the charts with "Because They're Young," the title theme from a movie starring James Darren and Tuesday Weld and featuring Bandstand host Dick Clark as a high school teacher, was a worldwide hit. By: --Lamonteddy (talk) 10:24, 8 January 2008 (UTC)Lamont Eddy

Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess