Throwback: Mr. Fingers-Children At Play

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Larry Heard is a Chicago house music pioneer known for his genre-defining work from the ’80’s as a solo artist and with the seminal group Fingers, Inc. He started his musical endeavors as a drummer but eventually started working with drum machines and synthesizers. His early singles “Mystery Of Love,”“Can You Feel It” and “Bring Down The Walls” appeared on the Fingers, Inc. album Another Side. The group consisted of Heard, Ron Wilson and vocalist Robert Owens. After the release of their full-length they broke-up so Heard could focus on his solo output which later included foundational songs like “Beyond The Clouds” and “Washing Machine.”These songs established the Roland TR 707 drum machine as a linchpin of house. He has also recorded under the aliases of Mr.Fingers, Loose Fingers, Gherkin Jerks, Trio Zero, Fingers and the Kriss Coleman single “Shine.” The initial harder sounds and the smoother futuristic jazz/R&B ideas of “What About This Love” and “Closer” are the archetypes for deep house. “Children At Play” is from the 1992 MCA album Introduction.In ’97 he recorded the highly influential Calm and Chaos EP for Guidance Recordings and reached another creative apex with the song “Freaky.” Heard’s lengthy catalog is comprised of 14 albums and over 20 singles which is atypical of most dance-oriented artists. Earlier this year he re-released the Gherkin Jerks Stomp The Beat and 1990 EPS on his Alleviated Recordings label. Heard currently resides in Memphis, Tennesse and has not released anything new since 2008’s “25 Years From Alpha” even though he admits to having enough material to complete up to 40 new projects.

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