Henry Gross (born April 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his association with the group

Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll doo-wop group. Formed in 1969, but performing a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs, it simultaneously revived and parodied the music and the New York street culture of the 1950s. After g ...

and for his

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

song, " Shannon". Gross is considered a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

artist; none of his other songs reached the Top 10 on the ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

''.

Early years

Gross was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City. At age 13 he performed at the New Jersey Pavilion at the World's Fair in Flushing, New York with his first band, The Auroras. By age 14, he was playing regularly in local clubs in the New York area, and spending his summers playing at

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

resort hotels. At age 18, while a student at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, Gross became a founding member of 1950's Rock & Roll revival group,

, playing guitar and wearing the greaser clothes he wore while a student at

Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ionic co ...

Going solo

Gross left Sha Na Na to become a solo singer-songwriter in 1970. He signed a recording contract with ABC Dunhill Records in 1971. While there, he did some session work for producers Tommy West and Terry Cashman. He played electric lead guitar on the

Jim Croce James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pa ...

album, ''

I Got a Name ''I Got a Name'' is the fifth and final studio album and first posthumous release by American singer-songwriter, Jim Croce, released on December 1, 1973. It features the ballad " I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song", which reached number 9 in t ...

''. His own debut album had little commercial success. He continued to play at clubs and colleges until 1973, when he signed with

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. His first self-titled A&M album included several regional hits including "Simone", "Come On Say It", "Skin King", and a cover version of Lindisfarne's European hit, "Meet Me on the Corner". With Gross' second A&M album, ''Plug Me into Something'', he began to achieve national recognition in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

"Shannon"

Gross moved on to Lifesong Records to make his next album. He produced a single, " Shannon", a song written about the death of former

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

member

Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...

's dog, who was named Shannon. The single went

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in the U.S. and became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 6 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 5 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' Top 100 in 1976. In Canada it reached No. 1 in May of the same year. "Shannon" also reached No. 1 in New Zealand, but peaked only at No. 32 in the UK. After this single's success, Gross released the album, ''Release''. His second single, "Springtime Mama", reached No. 37 in the US, selling nearly a million copies, and reaching No. 18 in Canada. On his next album, ''Show Me to the Stage'', Gross mixed

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

songs with

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

and

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

influences. While the album sold well, it provided no hit singles. He also recorded

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

song "

Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles "Help! ( ...

" for the documentary, ''

All This and World War II ''All This and World War II'' is a 1976 musical documentary directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films, in a manner meant by the filmma ...

''; both occurred in 1976. Gross' recording career slowed, but with

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

he made "Love Is the Stuff" and with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, in 1981, along with

Bobby Colomby Robert Wayne Colomby (born 20 December 1944) is a jazz-rock fusion drummer, record producer and television presenter. He is best known as an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which he co-founded in 1967. He has also played wit ...

, produced the ''What's in a Name'' album. As a session guitarist Henry performed on many records by other artists including Jim Croce (I Got A Name, ABC Records 1973) Judy Collins (Home Again, Elektra/ Asylum 1984), and Andy Kim (

Baby, I Love You "Baby, I Love You" is a song originally recorded by the Ronettes in 1963 and released on their debut album '' Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes'' (1964). The song was written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, and produced by Spec ...

, Steed/Dot Records 1970). His songs have been recorded by a variety of artists including Judy Collins, Mary Travers, Cyndi Lauper, Jonathan Edwards, Henry Paul, Blackhawk, Southside Johnny, Garry Tallent and Rob Stoner. In the 1980s, Gross performed in the road company production of ''

Pump Boys and Dinettes ''Pump Boys and Dinettes'' is a musical written by a performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members directed and star ...

'' with a cast featuring Jonathan Edwards (Sunshine) and Nicolette Larson (Lotta Love). Gross moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

in 1986 and signed a publishing deal with Pic-A-Lic Music, a company owned by songwriters Roger Cook and Ralph Murphy.

1990–present

Gross continued his songwriting and recording career in Nashville. In 1993, he released the album ''Nothing But Dreams'' on his own Zelda Records label, named after his mother. He had a Top 40 Country Radio hit, "Big Guitar" with Arista recording group Blackhawk, written with his good friend, Henry Paul.the group's lead singer. Gross released ''I'm Hearing Things'' on Zelda Records in 2001, his first self engineered CD. He currently performs an autobiographical one-man show called "One Hit Wanderer", chronicling the highlights, lowlights and funniest moments of his life in and out of the entertainment business. He continues to write new songs while regularly recording in Fort Myers, Florida with multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer John McLane, having produced eight albums with #9 nearly completed. ''One Hit Wanderer'' (2006), ''Foreverland'' (2007), ''Rhymes and Misdemeanors'' and ''Right as Rain'' (2011). A single was released, "What a Christmas", the same year. In 2011 he also collaborated with Henry Paul, (Outlaws, Blackhawk, Henry Paul Band) and Jonathan (Sunshine) Edwards on a trio album called "Edwards, Gross and Pau", AKA "The Vereens". In 2016 Henry traveled to the UK to support long time friend Joe Brown on his "Just Joe" UK tour. Joe and Henry played a selection of hits from Joe and Henry's discography as well as a selection of popular rock and roll and country hits. The tour was a resounding success with near constant sellouts. In early 2017 before leaving for the UK, Henry released two new CD's of original songs on Zelda Records: "Mixed Messages" and "Stories I've Lived To Tell" along with "New Orleans, New Orleans" – a collection of songs from a new musical comedy play of the same name, songs written by Henry and the libretto in collaboration with playwright Ed Greenberg. In October 2017, Joe and Henry went back on tour in the UK with a live album, produced by Henry, recorded at the previous tour's first few shows, The tour ran through October and November 2017 before breaking for Christmas and continuing in January through March 2018. In 2019, while doing many shows celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, Henry continued his recording journey with multi instrumentalist/ engineer, John Mclane, completing and releasing the new 17 song CD, Too Clever (For My Own Good) in February 2020 on Zelda Records.

Discography

Albums

* ''Sha Na Na'' Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay (1969) Buddha/ Kama Sutra Records * ''Woodstock'' Soundtrack LP (1970) Cotillion/ Atlantic Records * ''Henry Gross'' (1972) ABC Dunhill Records * ''Henry Gross'' (1973) A&M Records (a.k.a. ''The Yellow Album''), US BB # 204 * ''Plug Me into Something'' (1975) A&M Records, US BB # 26 * ''Release'' (1976) Lifesong Records, US BB # 64 * ''All This and World War II'' (1976) 20th Century Records * ''Show Me to the Stage'' (1977) Lifesong Records, US BB # 176 * ''Love Is the Stuff'' (1978) Lifesong Records * ''What's in a Name'' (1981) Capitol Records * ''I Keep on Rockin' ''(1987) Sonet Records (currently available on Zelda Records) * ''She's My Baby'' (1989) Sonet Records (currently available on Zelda Records) * ''Nothing But Dreams'' (1992) Zelda Records * " Plug Me Into Something" Pony Canyon Records, Japan (Best of A&M series) * " Release/ Show Me to The Stage" Double CD (1992) Chiswick/ Lifelong Records UK * ''One More Tomorrow: The Best of Henry Gross'' (1996) Varese Sarabande Records * ''I'm Hearing Things'' (2000/2001) Zelda Records * " Henry Gross" (Yellow Album)/ "Plug Me Into Something" double CD Zelda Records * ''One Hit Wanderer'' (2006) Zelda Records * ''Foreverland'' (2007) Zelda Records * ''Rhymes and Misdemeanors'' (2011) Zelda Records * ''Right as Rain'' (2011) Zelda Records * ''Edwards, Gross & Paul'' (2011) Zelda Records. Trio with Jonathan Edwards (Sunshine) and Henry Paul (Outlaws, Blackhawk) * " Release/ Show Me To The Stage" Double CD (2014) RE Release Chiswick/ Lifelong Records UK * ''Mixed Messages'' (2017) Zelda Records * ''Stories I've Lived To Tell'' (2017) Zelda Records * ''New Orleans, New Orleans'' (2017) Zelda Records Songs from the new musical written and performed by Henry Gross. Libretto by Henry Gross and Ed Greenberg * "Just Joe" Performed live on tour in UK 2017/18 by Joe Brown accompanied by Henry Gross. double CD produced by Henry Gross for Joe Brown Productions, UK * "Too Clever (For My Own Good)" (2020) Zelda Records * ''Release'' (2021) (Vinyl Reissue) Renaissance Records

Singles

* ''Simone'' (1974) US CB # 94 * ''Come On and Say It'' (1974) US BB # 109 * ''Meet Me On the Corner'' (1974) US RW # 122 * ''One More Tomorrow'' (1975) US BB # 93 * ''Shannon'' (1976) US BB # 6 US AC # 13,

RIAA certification In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets.

Gold * ''Springtime Mama'' (1976) US BB # 37 * ''Someday (I Don't Want to Have to be The One)'' (1976) US BB # 85 * ''Painting My Love Song'' (1977) US BB # 110 * ''What a Sound'' (1977) US BB # 110

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Henry Living people 1951 births Jewish American musicians American rock singers American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters Singers from New York City Musicians from Brooklyn Sha Na Na members Jewish rock musicians Midwood High School alumni Brooklyn College alumni 21st-century American Jews Singer-songwriters from New York (state)