“I’d be hangin’ out on my front stoop during seemingly endless rainy summer days in Pittsburgh, PA during the late fifties. I’d hold my prized red plastic portable radio up to my ear. I’d hear Sarah Vaughan – Rosemary Clooney – Nat King Cole. Suddenly there’d be Rock Around The Clock - Silhouettes On The Wall – Heartbreak Hotel -- Lonesome Town – Dream – all interspersed with the traditional pop. There WERE no rock & roll stations yet. Alan Freed had just started calling it rock & roll. It was mysterious – somehow threatening. Parents whispered about it, and I knew they weren’t saying how much they liked it.”
“One humid late Sunday afternoon, my whole family was sitting in the small living room: my mom and dad, my younger brother and sister – were all gathered around the black and white TV. Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey’s show, the summer replacement for Ed Sullivan, came on at 6 pm. They introduced a young, wildly good looking guy named Elvis, who proceeded to sing – and wiggle his hips. ALL of us, in unison, leaned forward, and gasped, ‘Oh my GOD!” There are certain moments when you can FEEL seismic change in the air. We ALL knew it had happened at that moment.”
“The most important social force of the last half of the twentieth century according to Time Magazine, Rock & Roll, had officially begun. Oh, there were only a handful of those magic moments for me, some coinciding with the rest of American humanity, some not: I first saw the possibility of ME becoming a rock star when girls screamed at young Ricky Nelson on his parents,’ Ozzie & Harriett’s TV show. He radiated sexuality with a simple, heavy-lidded delivery, the ‘averageness’ of his voice calling out to me, ‘you can do this TOO! – and the girls – the GIRLS!’”
“I inherited an old guitar from my uncle, when my mom found it languishing in a dusty closet. I learned a few chords from a friend who had been taking real lessons. I played those same four chords: G, Em, C and D, for two years solid. Luckily, they formed the basis of MOST of the popular songs of the day. One night circa ’59, while barely watching Perry Mason with my friends, I started noodling on a guitar, and wrote my first song in a few minutes: If I Had Three Wishes. It was ten pm, but I went down the street and knocked on Ginny’s door anyway. When she came to the door, I launched into the song. She liked it. That’s all I needed. I never even went inside, but I got the answer I wanted and needed. My ‘career’ was born.”
Since then,
Manny has enjoyed successes as a singer, writer, producer – and record marketing executive. His depth of experience in several areas of the music industry has provided him with a unique perspective and musical voice. His musical influences range from The Rolling Stones all the way to Simon & Garfunkel, touching on The Doors, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, John Mayer and Ed Sheeran along the way -- and various memorable hits from the 60’s, “you know the ones,” he smiles, “the ones that, when they come on the radio, you’re just like ‘oh my god, remember THIS ONE! It’s AMAZING!” The result is music with serious emotion meaning and depth -- AND catchy hooks, infused with a deep and honest vibe.
In ’65, Manny friend, Jerry Bruckheimer – that’s right – THAT Jerry Bruckheimer, later producer of everything from Beverly Hills Cop to Pirates Of The Caribbean to television’s CSI – yes, JERRY introduced Manny to the band in Tucson that would become The Grodes. During the period from ’65 to ‘summer of ’68, Manny wrote and the band recorded many Top Ten singles in Tucson. One of those songs, Let’s Talk About Girls, would be recorded by San Jose band The Chocolate Watchband (unbeknownst to Manny until twenty years!), and go on to become a cult classic, recognized as a pre-cursor to 80’s Punk and New Wave. Several bands have covered the song, including The Brood, a girl group from Germany who renamed it Let’s Talk About BOYS! It still receives airplay in the US, Britain, and many other countries, and has been slated for airing on the new NBC TV series Aquarius. AND The Grodes’ version of Manny’s song Cry A Little Longer is listed as the #46 single on the ALL-Time Garage Rock Singles chart.
Manny met Patti McCarron when she joined the Grodes as a featured vocalist. They left The Grodes in ’68 to explore the potential of expanding their careers in LA. They had a Billboard Hot 100 single on Mercury Records in the 70's: it was a remake of Barbara Lewis' classic, Hello Stranger. A second album on Twentieth Century Records in ’76 produced a disco single, Make Love To Me, and their unique take on the classic, Born Free, was released in conjunction with the TV series, Born Free.
Manny spent the first half of the 80’s working as record marketing exec. In ’79,’he took on the job of Executive Assistant to the President of A&M Records, working with The Police, Styx, Supertramp. In ’85, he went to work as Director of Marketing for Quincy Jones’ Qwest Records. At Qwest, Manny led a double life worthy of a mystery novel: he was record executive, Manny Freiser, by day – and mysterious English (at least that’s what we told everyone) recording artist, Ian Messenger by night. NO one – probably including Quincy himself, knew that the highly regarded Euro-sounding rock single, Livin In The Night, charting around the country on college radio and on MTV (although a hired actor played the lead, Manny – I mean IAN – can be seen in the shadows at the very end of the video). Distributing label, Warner Brothers, DEMANDED at one point to interview Ian, and only backed off when told that Ian had been in an accident and was unable to talk. To this day, Ian’s true identity remained a mystery.
Since 2004, Freiser's music has been self-recorded using Pro Tools and Mac Pro in his home studio. "Recording before ProTools was an anxious process of hurrying (because of studio cost), rushing in and out of the studio, being harried by producers, engineers and everyone else who think they know better than you did how your songs should be written, performed and recorded. You HAD to compromise in order to get along with BIG egos. The result was usually having to settle for a recording that wasn’t really what you envisioned, and then “obsessing about the inevitable imperfections in the final product.”
“Recording in my home studio is a wonderful – and entirely different process – in which I can wake up in the middle of the night, for example, fire up the equipment, and work on one guitar line of a song until I get exactly what I was envisioning. The process is more like working on a crossword puzzle: you can come back to it at any time, work on one small section, delete or change – and it doesn’t get in the way of your overall process. And time is simply no longer a factor in recording. Bottom line: despite the limits of my engineering abilities, the finished tracks are FAR more satisfying and MUCH closer to what I pictured or felt that originally inspired me to write the song. Finally, I have a modicum of control over my own musical destiny.”
His new CD, A Kiss For Sara was inspired by a deeply felt love and sadness for his daughter, and love of his life, Sara, who has been far away from him both physically and emotionally for several years. In this melodic, powerful, modern rock set, Freiser explores relationships, creating a mood piece with deep meaning and memorable hooks, in which one can hear the influences ranging from 60’s rock and 70’s folk rock to modern country and even rap.
Freiser wore many creative hats – ALL of the hats – in making this CD: he wrote every track, he performed all vocals AND instrumental parts – AND he engineered and produced all of the music. He notes with self-deprecation, “And on the seventh day, I rested,” dissolving into laughter.
Recommended tracks include Motel Sex, Bad Little Boys & Girls, First Thought, Learning To Let Go, The War and Beautiful Day.
--
Additional Contact:
Terrance Schemansky
3000 Records
P.O. Box 285
Fenton, MI 48430
press@3000records.com
(586) 480-3000
###
