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| Tim Hauser, Manhattan Transfer - A Memorial |
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 by: iradiotom - Philadelphia, PA
started: 10/22/14 6:48 pm | updated: 10/22/14 6:48 pm |
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Tim Hauser, founder of internationally acclaimed recording group, Manhattan Transfer passed away suddenly on October 16, 2014. Tim Hauser was forever connected to Philadelphia via Villanova University during his college days here from 1959 to 1963. Very special friend of iRadioPhilly and Tim Hauser, Paula Iacovelli Wholey remembers the man and his career.
Tim Hauser - (December 12, 1941 - October 16, 2014)
By Paula Iacovelli Wholey
What defines a legend in the music business? A versatile performer, who could sing in any style, and appeal to audiences of all ages? Someone who can create new music, as well as arrange and produce it? A singer who’d go out every night and perform at 110%, no matter how many gigs were lined up that week - the exhausting travel involved - the sound checks - and loved every minute of his life in music? A man whose body of work is timeless?
That describes my friend, Tim Hauser – founder and the only original member of The MANHATTAN TRANSFER – whom we lost on Thursday, October 16, 2014. The man with the big heart succumbed to cardiac arrest after a bout with pneumonia (he was only 72) but his heart and soul will live on in the music itself, which has delighted global audiences for more than 40 years. The music world was stunned at his sudden loss.
Born December 12th 1941 in Troy NY (sharing the same birthday as Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis and Dionne Warwick), young Tim moved with his parents and sister Fayette to North Jersey when he was 7 years old. He later went on to St. Rose High School in the shore town of Belmar, in Ocean County. He was attending his first rock and roll concert held in nearby Asbury Park, when a chance meeting became the turning point in his young life. It was 1956, and one of Tim’s favorite singing groups, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, was set to perform. On their way to the show, Frankie saw Tim on the street and asked for directions to the dressing room, Tim showed them the way and was thrilled to be invited in to the backstage area as the group warmed up for their show. Tim sat in awe of these kids – Frankie and Tim were just months apart and such young teenagers – and realized that this was the life for him! It was the turning point in another sense as well – the love of what we now call “Doo-Wop†singing was in his blood to stay. And it wasn’t long before he took the big leap into music – as a performer himself.
When he was only 15 years old, Tim Hauser reached out to some close buddies at St. Rose’s to form a group called The Criterions. The selection was easy, as he explained to me a few years back. “Simply put,†Tim went on, “I knew these guys could sing. They loved the same music I did. And we were close friends already. It was meant to be, you might say.†The Criterions recorded a pair of singles (45s, as we called them then) called “Don’t Say Goodbyeâ€, and “I Remain Truly Yours.†They attracted the attention of the now- legendary Alan Freed, who played their songs on-air. This created opportunities for the Criterions to play at local record hops and be on the bill with popular groups of the time, such as Dion and the Belmonts. Tim told me a few years ago that it always fascinated him to hear from a friend or a fan that they had come across an old Criterions recording.
Tim was a 1963 graduate (with a B.S in Economics) of Villanova University just outside of Philadelphia. As he told me himself, he headed straight for the college radio station (WVIL – at the time, currently WXVU) during his very first week on campus in 1959. He hung out at the station around the clock, until they gave him the chance to do a show of his own. He had such fond memories of his four years at Villanova radio that he spoke of it often; referring to it on TMT’s website and any time the subject came up. Even back then, the variety of his future repertoire with The Manhattan Transfer was apparent in the music he might play. Unlike other students who picked a single music format to play on-air, Tim continued to show his versatility by continually changing the different types of music he played during those 4 years. He had a folk music program at one point, a Top 40 show at another, and a program devoted to Standards as well. Tim would not be tied down to a single music format.
Villanova was a hotbed for singing at the time – Tim performed with the a folk music trio called The Troubadours Three (the other two guys had been members of The Criterions) as well as with campus groups The Villanova Singers and the Spires. It’s hard to imagine, but in the early ‘60s Tim Hauser was on campus at the same time as singers Jim Croce and Don McLean.
After stints in the US Air Force and New Jersey’s Air National Guard, Tim did market research in the Advertising world. By 1969, the first group to be known by the name we all know – The Manhattan Transfer - was formed. They used the name of a book title from a John DosPassos novel(1925) that had been a reading assignment of Tim’s back in school. Tim and his new band members recorded only one album, called “Jukinâ€, for Capitol Records, The group had an R&B sound, with some country thrown in. The original Manhattan Transfer dissolved because of creative differences, as Tim wanted to expand into other areas of music, such as swing and jazz, and the others did not.
While driving a taxi in New York City, Tim discovered the first member of (what would become) the second iteration of The Manhattan Transfer - Laurel Masse’, a waitress and an aspiring singer. Next was Janis Siegel, whom he met at a party, and then Alan Paul, who had recently appeared on Broadway in “Grease.†The Manhattan Transfer was officially reborn on the first of October 1972. Laurel had to leave the group due to a car accident and was replaced in 1978 by singer Cheryl Bentyne. With the exception of a member having to step aside here and there for medical reasons, and being replaced temporarily, this foursome – Tim, Janis, Cheryl, and Alan – had remained intact for decades.
“Birdlandâ€, the group’s signature tune and a song the audience would shout for near the end of each performance, was included in their first album, “Extensionsâ€, in 1979. In 1981, they were the first group – in the same year – to win Grammy awards in two categories: Pop and Jazz. “Vocalese†was honored with so many Grammy nominations, that it is often compared with those for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller†LP. The Manhattan Transfer has taken home over 10 Grammy Awards over the years – and they’ve been honored in many unique ways that only they might inspire. All through the ‘80s they won the Downbeat Reader’s Poll as Best Vocal Group, and received the same honor from the JazzTimes. They have many Gold and Platinum records to their credit, and have continued to record and tour worldwide over the years.
I got to know Tim in 2007, when his solo album, “Love Storiesâ€, was released. Martini Lounge Radio, where I worked at the time, was (and still is) the only radio station in Philadelphia that plays music by The Manhattan Transfer continually. (Martini Lounge Radio can be found at Iradiophilly.com) He was very enthused that his music had found a long-term home in Philly.
In June of 2008, the Villanova Campus was set to celebrate their annual Reunion, honoring classes that ended in 3 and 8. I called Tim in L.A and told him this would be his 45th Reunion, and that the Saturday picnic at Villanova would be the afternoon of a performance he and the group were giving later that night at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. (He told me that, although he had stopped by the campus a few times to buy a sweatshirt or something, but in all of those years, he had never been able to come back for a Reunion.) He did an interview on Martini Lounge Radio
promoting his 2008 House of Blues concert. That Saturday, I brought him out to the campus for the picnic, where he was honored by the University in front of the cheering crowd. He spent a bit of time with his own classmates, of course, but spent the rest of the day with the Radio Alums. When my husband and I visited him backstage after the concert in Atlantic City later that evening, he said it had been a precious moment for him. As it turned out, it was the only Reunion he could ever attend.
Tim was blessed with two children – son Basie and daughter Lily. He and his wife Barbara had recently launched a specialty tomato sauce – and the title sounded just the way his friends’mothers in North Jersey would have called out - “I MADE SAUCE!†It’s available online and I’ll have to order a jar this week – Tim would have loved that we were promoting it for him!
The group will continue on, along with their solo efforts – in fact, they had gigs scheduled for just a week after they lost Tim. But it won’t be the same. As his bandmates said on the web when they shared the devastating news, “Tim was the visionary behind The Manhattan Transfer. We spent more than 40 years together singing and making music, traveling the world and sharing so many special moments throughout our lives.†Memories of special moments are what we’ll treasure. Decades later, whenever I play “Birdlandâ€, it still grabs me physically the same way it did in 1979 – and I go around singing it for days.
The music is your legacy, Tim - and the Manhattan Transfer was your gift to the world, for all time.
Paula Iacovelli Wholey, October 20, 2014
Listen to iradiophilly's Martini Lounge Radio for Adult Standards
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