Henry Small (singer)

Henry Small
Small in 2015
Background information
Born	(1948-02-29) February 29, 1948 Beacon, New York, U.S.
Genres	Rock pop rock soft rock glam metal
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter multi-instrumentalist record producer
Instruments	Vocals keyboards bass guitar brass mandolin violin
Years active	1960s–present
Associated acts	Prism John Entwistle Scrubbaloe Caine Small Wonder
Website	smallworldstudios.com

Henry Small (born February 29, 1948) is an American-born Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and radio personality.^[1] In a career spanning more than 40 years, Small has been a member of three rock bands: Prism, Scrubbaloe Caine, and Small Wonder.

With Prism, Small enjoyed great success and recognition in the early 1980s. His first album with the band was Small Change. It was the band's most commercially successful studio album on the Billboard 200, and it was their first and only album to the make the top 100. The lead single, "Don't Let Him Know", inspired by the Kim Carnes song "Bette Davis Eyes",^[2] and written by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams, became Prism's first and only Top 40 hit in the US. It went on to peak at Number 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1982, and stayed in the charts for just over four months.^[3] Their follow up, Beat Street, however, was more of a solo album by Small than a Prism album as it features no other members of the band, apart from guitarist Paul Warren, and it relied heavily on session musicians. After Prism broke up in 1984, Small worked with The Who's bassist John Entwistle, singing the lead vocals on his sixth solo album The Rock. He has also worked with Eddie Money, Doug Cox and Richie Zito.

Small pursued a solo career and released his debut album Time in 2002.

Early life

Henry Small was born and raised in Beacon, New York. He learned to play violin at an early age, but in high school discovered other kinds of music. He was bullied as a child about his height, but quickly learned to take care of himself.^[4]

Musical career

1970–1975: Scrubbaloe Caine

From 1970–1975, Small was a member of the band Scrubbaloe Caine. Other members included Paul Dean of Loverboy, and the band was produced by David Kershenbaum from RCA Records. The band released one album, Round One in 1973. It dissolved 1975 after being unable to find a record deal.^[5]

1976–1977: Small Wonder

In 1976, Small formed the band Small Wonder with James Phillips, Jerry Morin, and William King. They released their debut album, Small Wonder, in the same year. In 1977 they released the album Growin'.^[6] Small Wonder brought Small a three year writers deal with Irving Almo Music. During this period, he made an appearance on Burt Sugarman's "Midnight Special".

1981–1984: Prism

From 1981–84, Small was a member of the band Prism. As the band was preparing to record their next album in the summer of 1981, Ron Tabak was fired. Various reasons cited were his conflicts with other band members, several run-ins with the law and lack of songwriting ability. Around the same time, keyboardist John Hall left the band. Small was brought in, and the new four-piece line-up (Small/Mitchell/Harlow/Norton) recorded the album Small Change, which was released later in 1981. The lead track "Don't Let Him Know", written by Jim Vallance (using his real name) and Bryan Adams, became Prism's first top 40 hit in the US and a #1 single on Billboard's new Rock Tracks chart.^[3] The follow-up single "Turn on Your Radar" also charted, becoming their fifth and final American hit.

By the end of the tour for Small Change, Mitchell, Harlow and Norton had individually left Prism. With Mitchell's departure, Prism now had no original members left.

In 1982, the band's touring line up was Small, guitarist Paul Warren, bassist John Trivers, keyboardist Robyn Robbins and Doug Maddick on drums. Although the band had essentially broken up by the end of 1982, Small decided to continue recording as a solo artist but using the Prism name. He assembled a group of session musicians including Bill Champlin, Richie Zito, Mike Baird, and backup vocalists Bobby Kimball (Toto) and Alan Pasqua to assist him. Together, this ad hoc line-up released the album Beat Street under the Prism name in 1983. The album was not a commercial success, and failed to spin off any charting singles in Canada. Small, by now the group's only member, essentially retired from using the Prism name in early 1984, and the 'group' became defunct.

1985–present

In 1996, John Entwistle, bassist for The Who, released his sixth solo album titled The Rock. This was his only solo album on which he did not sing lead vocals, a role filled instead by Henry Small. The album was actually recorded over an 18-month period in 1985 at Entwistle's Hammerhead Studios in England and was meant to be released by his own label, WEA Records. Legal issues kept it in the vaults for ten years, and the album was then released in four different editions between 1996 and 2005, with separate covers for each. AllMusic wrote about the album "There's no questioning the technical skill of the performances -- this band sounds tight and expert throughout, and Entwistle and Starkey are a mighty rhythm section.^[7]

Discography

Prism

• Small Change (1981)
• Beat Street (1983)

Solo

• Time (2002)

References

External links

• Official website
• Henry Small discography at Discogs
• Henry Small (singer) at AllMusic