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Mon: 6AM // /Thu: 6PM (EST) - The Tea Dance Show
As a Disc Jockey:
From March of 1983 till November of 1991 Harry was a working disc jockey. He worked an average of two nights a week and with the exception of the month of January 1989, was never out of work. Some of the clubs he spun at included The China Club in Manhattan, Abracadabra in Staten Island, Excuses in Yonkers, Casablanca in New Jersey and the Spectrum in Brooklyn, (a.k.a. 2001 where Saturday Night Fever was filmed). Highlights of his DJing career included being one of the very first disc jockeys in New York to play House music, programming Soca & Dancehall music to a largely non-Caribbean clientele & breaking Euro Dance music. In 1992 he gave up a regular spinning schedule but continues to spin at special events all over the United States. Most notable of which were guest spots at the Sound Factory in San Francisco, (during the Billboard Dance Music Summit), the Oz nightclub on Bourbon Street in New Orleans (for Memorial Day Weekend festivities), the Paragon in Miami (for the Winter Music Conference), at the Déjà vu nightclub in Atlantic City (for the DJ Times Convention), Cherry's on Fire Island, The Stonewall in Manhattan and Club Deco in Philadelphia, Krash @ Deep in Manhattan and The End Up in San Francisco. In the last few years Harry has explored Hot Mixing on the radio. His first mix show was on The Buzz outta Atlantic City back in the day but here in New York was heard on Saturday nights on Mix 102.7. Harry is now a featured Hot Mixer on on 10 radio stations, 8 on the Internet of which the most prominent is iDance Radio.com as well as two terrestrial stations, WMPH in Wilmington, Delaware and KVBE in Las Vegas, Nevada. His most exciting mix show moments were when he had the chance of presenting his spinning abilities live on the radio, at WKIE in Chicago live from the Circuit Nightclub and then in Nashville spinning live for an outdoor festival called Riverfest based in Clarkesville on their local top 40 station. Harry also had the pleasure of mixing two compilations while he was at Popular Records. He mixed the second installment of the Gold compilation series "Dance Hits Supermix" as well as "Disco Dance Hits." In September 2004 he released a compilation entitled "Mix Show Hits One" on TVI Records and Filmworks. That compilation did incredibly well in Miami in particular. Harry is looking forward to a new compilation coming out on Sirenia In the Spring of 2009! As for Live gigs, he rarely accepts them but he did very much enjoy an awesome evening at The End Up in San Francisco where the club sang back to him Sylvester's "I Need You!"
As a Retailer
From September of 1983 till December of 1991 Harry was the buyer and Billboard Reporter for Our Music Center on Staten Island. That experience gave him terrific insight on what is really selling and what direction the public's taste was heading in. The highlight of his retail career was becoming a Billboard Reporter. Other highlights was being one of the very first retailers to sell House music in New York and he personally helped break many import singles that ended up becoming huge domestically. For example, singles such as "Boom Boom" by Paul Lekakis, "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S & "High Energy" by Evelyn Thomas would have a line of people outside Our Music Center as virtually no other store was carrying them in any quantity, when they were first released overseas. Acts such as, Soul II Soul, Swing Out Sister & Bizarre, Inc. was first mentioned to their respective American labels, by Harry during their promotional calls to the store. Harry was even awarded a gold record for "Gypsy Woman" by Crystal Waters to commemorate his efforts on behalf of that single!
As a Writer:
From January of 1988 through February 1990, he was the music reviewer for "On The Town" magazine. It was an entertainment and leisure guide for Staten Island. During his time at Our Music Center he put out a D.J. tip sheet called "Beat Dis". It consisted of record reviews; the stores top 50 12" singles and a club chart for Staten Island. He collected the top 20 play lists of the 5 top jox on the Island and combined it with his own, to make up this chart. For the last year of it's existence, he also wrote record reviews for "Dance Music Report" magazine. He wrote the first reviews on "Finally" by Ce Ce Peniston, "The Whistle Song" by Frankie Knuckles, "My Family Depends On Me" by Simone and spotlighted the first Eightball Records release. Harry also contributed reviews to The Underground News, S.I.N. Magazine and Dance Music Authority Magazine. He currently provides the One Nation Under A Groove Hot Mix Show 100 for Music & Media in Europe. Harry is currently writing his first book entitled, "Abracadabra."
On Television:
From 1989 through 1991 Harry was the music coordinator and on screen D.J. for "Staten Island Dance Party". It was a show that spotlighted a different high school each week and had their pupils as the dancers. Harry enjoyed the distinction of playing techno on T.V. before the general public embraced it. Videos by acts such as 2 Unlimited were featured way in advance of their pop music success here in the states. Back in 1978 Harry was a regular on Soul Alive. It was an American Bandstand type of program on WPIX in New York. He was a dancer on the show. He also danced for artists such as Sister Sledge, Tony Valor, Keith Barrow, Tasha Thomas & Phyllis Hyman for the Arthritis Telethon telecast on WPIX in 1979. Harry also danced for Karen Young for a short time during her personal appearances as her "Hot Shot."
As a Record Promoter:
In 1989 along with business partner Mike Ruocco, Harry started his own record label called Deet Records. They only released one single called "Lover" by Hint Of Grey, but he turned that experience into landing a job as Director of Promotion for ZYX Music - U.S.A. in 1992. From January of 1992 through December of 1995 Harry had the pleasure of promoting such acts as Double You, Twenty 4 Seven, Interactive, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Dare 2 B Dif'rent, Abigail and D.J. Miko. He also handled the A&R responsibilities for the U.S. end of ZYX as he picked the music ZYX released in America and suggested some of the ones they picked up internationally. From the acts he signed to ZYX internationally Gillette was perhaps the biggest. Her hit "Short Dick Man" went on to sell over 7 million copies for ZYX worldwide. His greatest chart success in America came when "What's Up" by D.J. Miko had a 20-week chart run on the Billboard Hot 100 with a peak of 58. He was also involved with German boy band Caught In The Act. While at ZYX, Harry was awarded "Best Promoter For An Independent Label" at the Winter Music Conference. Harry would receive this award for 6 years in a row, and secure a total of 20 nominations (twice in the same year, a feat never matched by any other promoter). This makes him the most awarded and nominated record promoter of all time at the Winter Music Conference! During his time with ZYX Music, the label was also nominated for "Best Independent Label" but unfortunately lost each year to Strictly Rhythm.
From December of 1995 till 1998 he was at Popular Records. In this short period of time Harry had the pleasure of working on projects by N-Trance, 2 Unlimited, Lost, Judy Cheeks, Gloria Gaynor, The Trammps, Playahitty, Dolce & Gabbana and France Joli. Popular also won Best Independent Label Distributed by a Major at the Winter Music Conference in 1996. His biggest success at Popular was "Staying Alive" by N-Trance, which peaked on the US pop charts at 62 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks.
Next he joined P.P.I. Entertainment till 1999. His biggest success there was "Hooked On A Feeling" by Baby Talk (the dancing baby made popular on the Ally McBeal show). It ultimately sold 300,000 copies and peaked on the pop chart at number 71 remaining on the chart for a total of 6 weeks.
He then started his own promotion company Deet Promotions whose first clients included Jellybean, Strictly Rhythm, Rampage & ZYX. He was made an offer to fold his fledgling company into the larger Promo Only and he accepted in April of 2000. Projects he was involved with there included "The Hamster Dance" by Hampton the Hamster (Koch), Kristine W. (RCA), La Rissa (Aureus), Delerium (Arista), Azul Azul (Sony), Veronica (Jellybean), Angel Clivilles (Jellybean), Georgie Porgie (Music Plant) & Daft Punk, Melanie C., Yanni & Janet Jackson (Virgin).
In April of 2001 he left Promo Only. He joined Xtreme Records and formed Xtreme Promotions with Xtreme Records owner Dave Mondo. Highlights of that time included working projects such as The Digital Allies, Absolom & Ariel (Xtreme). Ricky Martin (Columbia), Soul Du Jour (Strictly Rhythm), Nicole J. McCloud & Fiori (24/7), Cher (Warner Brothers), Dee Robert (Oh), La Bouche (RCA), Crystal Waters & The Scumfrog (Effin) & Papo Sanchez & Georgie Porgie (Music Plant), Anna Vissi (Vanilla/Moda), Pepper MaShay (Cetacean), The Benassi Bros. (ZYX) & In-Grid (ZYX).
Needing a creative outlet, Harry along with partners Guiseppe D., Scott Mahia & Paulie D. formed Cetacean Records and had tremendous success with the Britallics "La Vida Es Un Carnival", Boulevard East "Let Me Feel Your Arms Around Me" (top ten mix show and dance radio hit in the US, pop hit in Spain, Greece and Poland), Dare 2B Dif'rnt "A World Of Love" (top 15 mix show hit) and Pepper Mashay "I Can't Stop" which was a top 15 mix show hit as well. The last single on Cetacean was "I'm Alive" by Austalian blood brothers, Said which was a top 40 mix show hit. In the spring of 2004 Scott Mahia left Cetacean and was replaced by Jimmy Smith. Together they decided to make Cetacean an imprint for full length CD's and started up Sirenia for singles relases. Sirenia was initially distributed through ZYX/ Waako but now Sirenia and Cetacean is part of the TVI Records family with distribution through FHT Distribution outta Miami. Sirenia survives today with a roster of artists that include Dare 2B Dif'rnt, Pepper MaShay, Paul Lekakis and Nancy Yvonne (former lead vocalist for Boulevard East and one time member of Platinum Recording Artist Seduction). Future projects include singles and full-length albums from Dare 2B Dif'rnt as well as Pepper Mashay, Nancy Yvonne and Paul Lekakis, Jason Antone and a retrospective compilation entitled The First Wave!
That brings us to the present and Deet Promotions. Harry moved his offices from New Jersey to a home office and reactivated the Deet name for this promotion company. The business and clients haven't changed much between Xtreme and Deet as the emphasis remains the same. Setting records up for Crossover success using Hot Mixers at Radio as the foundation to build that house. While called Deet Promotions the company has also become the only Dance Promotion Company to set up showcases for their artists during all the major dance music events as well as one offs in markets where dance music is being supported by an influential Hot Mixer or Radio Station. Aside from the showcases at the Winter Music Conference and Billboard Dance Music Summit, Deet Promotions has sponsored showcases in Seattle, Washington for KNHC, San Francisco, California for KNGY, Wilmington, Delaware for WMPH as well as a showcase in Palm Springs, California in celebration of the 8 year anniversary of the dance show on KKUU with Eric Ornelas. Deet was also involved with Boston Pride Lights and had a float for the New York Gay Pride Parade where 9 artist performed for 500,000 spectators and was a life altering experience for all involved. Deet Promotions also provided the Entertainment for the Stage at Staten Island's second Gay Pride Parade and Harry spun live for that as well. It poured that day but for those who stayed they got a chance to enjoy International Recording artists Georgie Porgie, Dare 2B Dif'rnt and Fredrick Ford! The standout success stories over this time has been with artists such as Georgie Porgie (Live), Rachel Panay (Act 2), Ohsha Kai (Act 2), Taborah (Catz), Dare 2B Dif'rnt (Sirenia), Liquid 360 (Liquid 360 Music), New Kids On The Block (Columbia), Charo (Universal Wave), Barcera (Marion) Fredrick Ford (OMC), Helena Paparizou (Moda) & The John Kano Project (Live). Deet is also sponsoring a set of Mix Show Hits compilations with various Hot Mixers throughout the country. The first one was handled by Harry himself and the second one mixed by KPMW in Maui's MD and Hot Mix Co-Ordinator Fat Jo who himself appeared on Rachel Ray's TV program in a spotlight on a company called "Ugly Models!". We have DJ Skinny Guy (KPMW), Darryl "Awesome" Owens (WCRX) and Richard J. Dalton (US Dance Radio) as the next three slated for release throughout '09.
Deet Promotions with Harry Frank Towers at its helm continues on its mission to keep Dance Music Alive here in the U.S. Our battle cry is ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE. Our mission statement is as follows. "Dance Music provides the best way to bridge the gaps between peoples. Red, Yellow, Black, White and Brown, Jew, Gentile and Muslim, Gay, Straight, Old or Young, Democrat or Republican, when we share a great time on a Dance Floor side by side our differences are replaced by that common experience which becomes a great big step that leads to mutual respect and understanding!"
HARRY TOWERS:
Tel: (718)227-3250
E-Mail:
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