Larry Heard (born May 31, 1960)^[1] is an American DJ, record producer, and musician^[1] who has recorded under various names, most notably Mr. Fingers. He is widely known as a pioneering figure in 1980s house music, and was leader of the influential group Fingers Inc., whose 1988 album Another Side was the first long-form house LP. He is regarded as a progenitor of the deep house subgenre,^[2] bridging the gap between the futurism of house and the lush sound of disco.^[3][4] His landmark 1986 single "Can You Feel It" would be a major influence on dance music.^[5]

Early life

Born on the South Side of Chicago, Heard grew up hearing jazz and Motown at home, and could play several instruments from a young age.^[1] Before beginning his solo musical career in 1983, he was the drummer, at the age of 17,^[6] in the band Infinity (a jazz fusion cover group that included Adonis). He is sometimes cited as having been a member of the Manhattan Transfer,^[1] but Heard has denied this, saying, "[I] filled in for somebody on one show."^[7] He also worked for the US government as a benefit authorizer, which enabled him to buy his first pieces of studio equipment.^[1]

Musical career

As a drummer with Infinity, Heard’s creativity was suppressed by the nature of his role. According to Heard, “In the last I was in…I guess it wasn’t customary for the drummer to have musical ideas…I ended up having to buy my own synthesizer and a drum machine”.^[8] Within days of purchasing his first synthesizer and drum machine, Heard had recorded three tracks that would become milestones in the deep house genre: “Can You Feel It”, “Mystery of Love,” (which would later go one to be sampled by Kanye West in the 2016 track “Fade”) and “Washing Machine”.^[9] Initially an outsider to the Chicago club scene, it wasn’t until Heard met the talented vocalist and DJ Robert Owens, who along with Ron Wilson formed the group “Fingers Inc”. Owens’s connections in the Chicago club scene enabled Heard and Fingers Inc to play clubs and introduce their music to fans of the Chicago House scene. Between 1986 and 1987, Heard released nearly a dozen singles, many receiving commercial success.^[9]

By the end of the decade, Heard had established himself as a formative pioneer of American house music. In 1989, Heard released his first album, Amnesia, with “Can You Feel It?” as the lead track. Many cite this lead track as the birthplace of deep house. As a musical genre, deep house is characterized by the blend of Chicago House and jazz-fusion or jazz-funk. Especially given his musical background in jazz-fusion, Heard played a pivotal role in shaping the sound of deep house through this blend of Chicago House and jazz-related genres. As author Richie Unterbger writes, Heard’s musical style “moved house away from its posthuman tendencies back towards the lush disco of old Philly International and Salsoul Records, connected with the garage sound of New York.^[10] “Can You Feel It” provides an excellent example of Heard’s deep house footprint, with the use of the incredibly lush Roland Juno-60 synthesizer to create a deep bassline that provides far more warmth than other frequently used house basslines such as the squelching basslines heard in acid house. Following Amnesia, in 1991 Heard released his first major-label album as a solo act. Titled Mr. Fingers’ Introduction, Heard blended Chicago garage house with more sophisticated jazz-fusion, showcasing multiple sides of his musical influences and further exemplifying his influence on the development of the deep house genre.

Heard began producing music in 1984 after purchasing a synthesizer and drum machine; after a few days with the gear, he had recorded three tracks that would later be regarded as landmarks of house music: "Can You Feel It", "Mystery of Love", and "Washing Machine."^[3] Despite initially not having a connection to Chicago's club scene, he eventually met singer and DJ Robert Owens at a party and the two formed the group Fingers Inc. along with Ron Wilson.^[3] The group would release the LP Another Side in 1988.^[3] Around this time, Heard also began releasing solo singles as Mr. Fingers on Trax Records and DJ International.^[3] At the end of the decade, Trax released Ammnesia (1989), which compiled Heard's early tracks; it was released without Heard's permission.^[3] Heard reissued the album in 2022 on his own Alleviated label, marking its first authorized release.^[11]

In 1989, Heard contributed to the debut album by producer Lil' Louis. In the early 1990s, he recorded with Harry Dennis as the It^[1] before setting out on his own, signing with MCA Records as a solo act in 1991 and releasing his first official Mr. Fingers album Introduction in 1992 to international success.^[3] After the label interfered with his Mr. Fingers follow-up, he released the less dance-oriented album Sceneries Not Songs, Vol. 1 in 1995 under his given name.^[3] He continued to record intermittently in the following years, and released the Mr. Fingers album Cerebral Hemispheres in 2018.^[12] Much of Heard's music has been released and re-released under different names, including Loosefingers, Fingers, House Factors, and Trio Zero.

Discography

References

External links

• Alleviated Records
• Larry Heard discography at Discogs