Tom Hooker or Thomas Barbéy (born Thomas Beecher Hooker on November 18, 1957) is an American singer and fine art photographer. He was the voice and one of the songwriters behind most songs for popular

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

artist

Den Harrow Den Harrow was an Italo disco project from the mid 1980s, with Stefano Zandri (born 4 June 1962) as the face of the artist (lip syncing), and Tom Hooker doing most of the vocals. It was revealed many years later that Zandri did not sing on any o ...

. The 2018 documentary '' Dons of Disco'' covers Hooker's involvement in the Den Harrow project.'' Dons of Disco,'' 2018 Documentary

Early life

Barbey, best known as Tom Hooker, was brought to Europe when he was six months old. At the age of ten, he started his musical career as a drummer. At 13, he created his first band. At 15, he first appeared in public at a concert as a drummer/singer. He studied languages in Switzerland.

Music career

In 1980, he moved to Italy, where he was discovered by Italian producers. His first hit was "Flip Over", b/w the track "We Can Start It All Over Again". He had his first major success in 1986 with "Looking for Love".

Den Harrow

Starting in 1985, Hooker co-wrote and sang lead vocals on the first two

albums, backing vocals on the third album and co-wrote many subsequent Den Harrow songs under the name T. Beecher. When Hooker was credited for vocals at all, it was only for background vocals, as it was the producer's intention to have the lip-synching model Stefano Zandri as the public face of the project. In 2010, Tom Hooker recorded and published on YouTube a press conference-style video in which Hooker, flanked by Den Harrow co-producer Miki Chierigato, states and demonstrates that he was the vocalist on most of the Den Harrow records, and in which he accuses Stefano Zandri of continuing to publicly lip synch to those recordings. He also states that Zandri made threats and insults against Hooker and his family on Facebook for exposing the vocal inauthenticity of the Den Harrow recordings. Hooker asserts that Zandri no longer has permission to publicly lip sync to Den Harrow recordings that use Tom Hooker's voice.

Other music endeavors

His later work included collaborations with several other artists and producers, including

Eddy Huntington Edward Huntington (born 29 October 1965) is an English pop singer who began his professional singing career in Italy. Huntington became popular in Europe and the former USSR mainly with his song "U.S.S.R." which peaked at No.6 in Switzerland and ...

, for whom he provided several lyrics and backing vocals, including those for the Europe-wide hit "

U.S.S.R. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

". In 1986 he took part in the project ''Fahrenheit 104'', a band also composed of Maurizio Vandelli , Jane Hill and Dario Farina, with which he recorded the song ''Highway To Freedom'' , composed by Vince Tempera for the musical part and by Michael Kunze for the lyrics, also published as a single by Baby Records. In 1987, he was one of the writers for the hit Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room) by

Paul Lekakis Paul Lekakis (born October 22, 1966) is an American model, actor and dance music/hi-NRG singer, who was discovered for his musical and dancing skills at an Italian nightclub while on assignment as a model. Music career His debut single, " Boom ...

, which became #1 in Australia and #43 in US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the 90s he recorded some singles under the pseudonym ''David Harleyson'', obtaining some commercial success in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. In 1994, he moved to America to marry his American girlfriend Suzanne Berquist and pursue his longtime hobby of photography. He changed his name to Thomas Barbéy, his mother's maiden name, because his wife did not want to be known as "Mrs. Hooker."

Revival

In October 2010, Hooker collaborated with his longtime musical colleague and fellow composer, Miki Chieregato, to produce and release a brand new single and video, "Change Your Mind". This collaboration marks the return to the roots of the same production team that was responsible for all of the initial Den Harrow and Tom Hooker output between 1985 and 1988. In 2011, Hooker released a new recording and music video of the Den Harrow track "Future Brain", which features himself. Since 2014, Tom Hooker and Miki Chieregato have been issuing Den Harrow parody tracks under the name of Tam Harrow. In 2017, he released the double CD ''Back in Time'' , 27 songs including the duet with Linda Jo Rizzo ''I Want You Tonight''.

Thomas Barbéy Photography

In 1994, he began a career as a visual artist under the name Thomas Barbéy, creating surreal

photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...

s. He currently exhibits in galleries around the world. Barbéy combines multiple images, with very different subjects, obtaining a result that is totally different from reality. All this is done with classic photographic techniques without the use of computer post-production. He prefers the use of 35mm cameras.

Personal life

He lives in Las Vegas with his wife Suzanne Berquist.

Discography

Albums

*1980: ''Tom Hooker'' *1986: ''Only One'' *1988: ''Bad Reputation'' *1992: ''Fighting for Our Love'' *2011: ''Unconditional Love'' *2017: ''Back in Time'' *2018: ''No Time to Say Goodbye'' *2020: ''Together'' (as Tom Hooker & Tam Harrow)

Albums as Tam Harrow

*2015: ''Incredible Idiot'' *2020: ''Together'' (as Tom Hooker & Tam Harrow)

Singles

*1980: "Flip Over"/"We Can Start It All Over Again" *1981: "Toccami"/"Go Today" *1981: "I Want to Love" *1982: "Dove Andiamo"/"Try Me" *1982: "With Your Body" *1983: "Come Back Home" *1984: "Give It to Me" *1984: "Indian Girl"/"Love Attack" *1984: "Real Men" (12") *1985: "

Cry Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state or physical pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, joy, and fear. Crying can also be caused by relief from a period o ...

"/"Don't Forget (To Buy This Record)" *1986: "Help Me" *1986: "Looking for Love" *1986: "

Swiss Boy "Swiss Boy" is a single by Italo disco singer Tom Hooker, released in 1986 under the pseudonym Lou Sern (a pun on the Swiss city of Lucerne). At the beginning and towards the end of the song, a recreation of the Westminster Quarters clock chime ...

" (under the pseudonym Lou Sern) *1986: "Help Me" *1987: "Atlantis" (12") *1988: "Feeling Okay" (12") *1988: "No More Heaven" (12") *1990: "Living in the Sunshine" (7") *1991: "Sex-O-Phone & Funk Guitar" (12") *1994: "Runaway" (12") *2010: "Change Your Mind" *2012: "No Elevation" (with Miki Chieregato) *2014: "Illusions/Nobody Loves Me" *2016: "Tell Me" *2016: "My Russian Lady Night" *2017: "I Want You Tonight" (with

Linda Jo Rizzo Linda Jo Rizzo (born 1 April 1955) is a German singer, songwriter and producer. Originally from the United States, she was a photo model and studied nutrition in New York. There she met Bobby Orlando and participated in his group, the Flirts, fr ...

) *2017: "King of the World" *2017: "Find a Way and a Time" *2017: "Rain" (with Miki Chieregato) *2020: "You And I" (with Tam Harrow) *2020: "With Our Love" (with

Bad Boys Blue Bad Boys Blue are a Pop music, pop group formed in Cologne in 1984. The group performed many international hits including "You're a Woman", "Pretty Young Girl (Bad Boys Blue song), Pretty Young Girl", "I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat (Sunday Girl) ...

and Scarlett)

Singles as Tam Harrow

*2014: "Idiot" *2014: "Incredible" *2014: "Kept Boy" *2014: "You DJ You Rock" *2014: "Fixation" *2015: "Vodka Kaboom" *2015: "Swiss Cows" (feat. Lou Sern) *2016: "Go to Mexico" *2018: "No Time to Say Goodbye" *2018: "Big Boys Don't Cry" *2019: "Dancing to the Night" *2020: "Your Love Is So Nice" *2020: "Latin Lover"

Collaborations

*2021: "A Sailor from the Moon" (feat. Lord, Begüm Günceler) *2021: "In the sign of destiny" (feat. Lord, Peter Rafelson) *2021: "Keep on rolling" (feat. Lord)

Filmography

* ''

Jocks Jock may refer to: Common meanings * Jock (stereotype), a North American term for a stereotypical male athlete * Jock, a derogatory term for Scottish people mostly used by the English * Short for jockstrap, an item of male protective undergarment ...

'' (1983) * '' Dons of Disco'' (2018)

References

External links

Tom Hooker interviewThomas Barbey official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Tom 1957 births Living people American Italo disco musicians Italian-language singers of the United States American male singers Musicians from Greenwich, Connecticut Singers from Los Angeles