Henry Gaffney -

Henry Gaffney (March 8, 1949 — May 23, 2010) was an American singer/songwriter from Brooklyn who released the 1976 RCA album Waiting for a Wind, followed by the 1978 Manhattan release On Again Off Again.

Background

Henry Michael Gaffney was born on March 8, 1949, in Brooklyn, New York, to Mary Gross Gaffney and Henry E. Gaffney. He studied physics before he entered the New York music business. In 1971, Gaffney took a job at a high-end Italian men’s clothier in New York City.

A friend who owned the shop first placed Gaffney on the sales floor, then moved him behind the counter after he gave customers direct opinions about the merchandise. Gaffney used the counter job for schedule work, transactions, and lyric drafts in a pocket notebook. When John Lennon entered the shop for a suit fitting, Gaffney spurned his suit choice. The exchange drew a sharp reaction from the store owner, but Lennon accepted the candor and became a regular customer for Gaffney. Charles Koppelman later met Gaffney in the same clothing-store setting and brought him into The Entertainment Co.

Waiting for a Wind

Henry Gaffney released his debut album, Waiting for a Wind, in 1976 on RCA.

Gaffney performs ten originals on piano and acoustic guitar in vaudevillian art-pop settings, backed by bassist Anthony Jackson, drummer Allan Schwartzberg, keyboardist Don Grolnick, vibraphonist Dave Friedman, trumpeter Lew Soloff, and guitarists Elliott Randall and John Tropea.

Waiting for a Wind favors subdued, lyrical miniatures with close lead placement, old-city diction, and period-styled orchestral trims. “Manhattan” saunters through crisp rimshots, a slippery woodwind line, tuba shading, and high-fret banjo-like glints that set Gaffney’s city vignette inside an old-film tint. “Nightmare” lunges into a fuller band setting, with metallic percussion, a fluid bassline, talk-box coloration, and horn-line punches around the lead. Gaffney lets the quieter songs croon through neat refrains and softened strings, with the sung line held close to the front.

A1. “I’m Waiting for a Wind” (2:59)
A2. “Over My Shoulder” (3:24)
A3. “Manhattan” (3:00)
A4. “Nightmare” (3:31)
A5. “Can I Rely on You” (3:17)

B1. “If Only the Weather Would Change” (3:10)
B2. “Superstar” (2:24)
B3. “For Pete’s Sake (Julian Street)” (3:16)
B4. “Seems I’m Falling” (3:22)
B5. “Happy Birthday to Ya” (3:34)

Sessions occurred at Mediasound Studios in New York City by veteran Sixties pop producer Gary Klein. Joe Jorgenson engineered the album in sequence with 1976 titles by Esther Phillips, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Crawford, Hubert Laws, Idris Muhammad, Lalo Schifrin, Patti Austin, and Tatsuro Yamashita. Four Seasons conductor Charlie Calello arranged the horn and string parts for Gaffney and fellow newcomers Cory Braverman and Martee Lebous.

Waiting for a Wind features cover photography by Nick Sangiamo, whose dim-lit snapshot shows Gaffney in a dark jacket against a pale background. Sangiamo’s photography also graces contemporary covers for Carol Douglas, Carolyn Franklin, Lou Courtney, Susan Barlow, and the Harold Wheeler Consort.

On Again Off Again

Henry Gaffney released his second album, On Again Off Again, in March 1978 on Manhattan Records.

The album contains nine originals and the Brecht–Weill standard “Mack the Knife.” Gaffney upholds retro-pop arrangements for horns, mallets, and jazz/rock players, including reedist Michael Brecker, bassist Ron Carter, pianist Pat Rebillot, drummer Steve Jordan, percussionist Jimmy Maelen, banjoist–steel player Eric Weissberg, and returning sessionists Jackson and Tropea.

A1. “Mack the Knife” (3:32) – Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Marc Blitzstein
A2. “There’s a Train” (3:24)
A3. “City Lights” (2:51)
A4. “Mannequin” (3:08)
A5. “Happy End” (3:15)

B1. “This Is It” (4:08)
B2. “Breakout” (3:56)
B3. “There’s No Sound” (3:38)
B4. “Lady” (3:45)
B5. “On Again Off Again” (3:48)

Gaffney self-produced On Again Off Again with horn and string parts by Jack Perricone, who worked in sequence on albums by Angela Bofill, Lou Rawls, and Mike Mandel.

The cover shows a black-and-white portrait of Gaffney with a cigarette against a dark background.

Judy Collins covered “Happy End” on her 1979 Elektra release Hard Times for Lovers.

Postlude

Henry Gaffney moved from solo records into staff songwriting at Koppelman/Bandier Publishing. His initial credits include songs recorded in 1980/81 by Lynn Anderson (“Shoulder to Shoulder”), Four Tops (“From a Distance”), and Tanya Tucker (“Lucky Enough for Two”). The Marshall Tucker Band closed their 1982 album Tuckerized with “Ace High Love,” a Gaffney co-write with Andy Goldmark.

Between 1983 and 1988, Gaffney songs landed in the repertories of Stephanie Mills (“Never Get Enough of You”), Marilyn Martin (“Too Much Too Soon”), Peaches & Herb (“Come to Me”), Roberta Flack (“(His Name) Brazil”), and Earth Band singer Chris Thompson (“What a Woman Wants”).

Gaffney branched into TV soundtrack work with “There’s a Train,” sung by Debbie Allen & Albert Hague on Songs, the 1982 first installment of The Kids from Fame. Its followup, The Kids From Fame Again, includes the Gaffney co-writes “Mannequin” and “Come What May,” both sung by Gene Anthony Ray. Gaffney also worked in film around Charles Lane’s Sidewalk Stories, the 1989 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight entry that received the festival’s Prix du Public.

Gaffney joined the Berklee College of Music Songwriting Department in 1995. He taught lyric writing, demo production, song production, individual coaching, and a Paul Simon course he designed. He also served on the faculty at New York University, where he helped develop the songwriting wing of the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music. Gaffney died of lung cancer at his home in Sharon, Connecticut, on May 23, 2010, at age sixty-one.

Discography: