As a Disc Jockey:

From March of 1983 till November of 1991 Harry was a working disc jockey. He worked an average of two nights a week and with the exception of the month of January 1989, was never out of work. Some of the clubs he spun at included The China Club in Manhattan, Abracadabra in Staten Island, Excuses in Yonkers, Casablanca in New Jersey and the Spectrum in Brooklyn, (a.k.a. 2001 where Saturday Night Fever was filmed). Highlights of his DJing career included being one of the very first disc jockeys in New York to play House music, programming Soca & Dancehall music to a largely non-Caribbean clientele & breaking Euro Dance music. In 1992 he gave up a regular spinning schedule but continues to spin at special events all over the United States. Most notable of which were guest spots at the Sound Factory in San Francisco, (during the Billboard Dance Music Summit), the Oz nightclub on Bourbon Street in New Orleans (for Memorial Day Weekend festivities), the Paragon in Miami (for the Winter Music Conference), at the Déjà vu nightclub in Atlantic City (for the DJ Times Convention), Cherry’s on Fire Island, The Stonewall in Manhattan and Club Deco in Philadelphia, Krash @ Deep in Manhattan and The End Up in San Francisco. In the last few years Harry has explored Hot Mixing on the radio. His first mix show was on The Buzz outta Atlantic City back in the day but here in New York Harry was heard on Saturday nights on Mix 102.7. It was the highest rated show on the station! Harry is now a featured Hot Mixer on 10 radio stations, including Internet powerhouse Strictly Dance Radio powered by 1 Club FM. His most exciting mix show moments were when he had the chance of presenting his spinning abilities live on the radio, at WKIE in Chicago from the Circuit Nightclub and then in Nashville spinning live for an outdoor festival called Riverfest based in Clarkesville on their local top 40 station. Harry also had the pleasure of mixing two compilations while he was at Popular Records. He mixed the second installment of the Gold compilation series “Dance Hits Supermix” as well as “Good Time Disco Dance Hits.” In September 2004 he released a compilation entitled “Mix Show Hits One” on TVI Records and Filmworks. That compilation did incredibly well in Miami in particular! As for Live gigs, he rarely accepts them but he never turns down spinning at a Charity Event or a chance to spin at a Music Conference. Every year he heads out to Chicago to spin a benefit for a battered woman’s shelter. Harry says, “It’s for a food drive and we have a packed house each year and fill an entire van full of food!” The tag line of my promotion company Deet Promotions is “Making the World a better place one beat per minute at a time, and events like this allow me to do just that in the most organic way. Special thanx to Georgie Porgie for putting together a stellar line up every year!”

As a Retailer

From September of 1983 till December of 1991 Harry was the buyer and Billboard Reporter for Our Music Center on Staten Island. That experience gave him terrific insight on what is really selling and what direction the public’s taste was heading in. The highlight of his retail career was becoming a Billboard Reporter. Other highlights was being one of the very first retailers to sell House music in New York and he personally helped break many import singles that ended up becoming huge domestically. For example, singles such as “Boom Boom” by Paul Lekakis, “Pump Up The Volume” by M/A/R/R/S & “High Energy” by Evelyn Thomas would have a line of people outside Our Music Center as virtually no other store was carrying them in any quantity, when they were first released overseas. Acts such as, Soul II Soul, Swing Out Sister & Bizarre, Inc. was first mentioned to their respective American labels, by Harry during their promotional calls to the store. Harry was even awarded a gold record for “Gypsy Woman” by Crystal Waters to commemorate his efforts on behalf of that single!

As a Writer:

From January of 1988 through February 1990, he was the music reviewer for “On The Town” magazine. It was an entertainment and leisure guide for Staten Island. During his time at Our Music Center he put out a D.J. tip sheet called “Beat Dis”. It consisted of record reviews; the stores top 50 12″ singles and a club chart for Staten Island. He collected the top 20 play lists of the 5 top jox on the Island and combined it with his own, to make up this chart. For the last year of it’s existence, he also wrote record reviews for “Dance Music Report” magazine. He wrote the first reviews on “Finally” by Ce Ce Peniston, “The Whistle Song” by Frankie Knuckles, “My Family Depends On Me” by Simone and spotlighted the first Eightball Records release. Harry also contributed reviews to The Underground News, S.I.N. Magazine and Dance Music Authority Magazine. He currently provides the One Nation Under A Groove Hot Mix Show 100 for Music & Media in Europe. Harry just finished writing his first book entitled, “Abracadabra.”

On Television:

From 1989 through 1991 Harry was the music coordinator and on screen D.J. for “Staten Island Dance Party”. It was a show that spotlighted a different high school each week and had their pupils as the dancers. Harry enjoyed the distinction of playing techno on T.V. before the general public embraced it. Videos by acts such as 2 Unlimited were featured way in advance of their pop music success here in the states. Back in 1978 Harry was a regular on Soul Alive. It was an American Bandstand type of program on WPIX in New York. He was a dancer on the show. He also danced for artists such as Sister Sledge, Tony Valor, Keith Barrow, Tasha Thomas & Phyllis Hyman for the Arthritis Telethon telecast on WPIX in 1979. Harry also danced for Karen Young for a short time during her personal appearances as her “Hot Shot.”

As a Record Promoter:

In 1989 along with business partner Mike Ruocco, Harry started his own record label called Deet Records. They only released one single called “Lover” by Hint Of Grey, but he turned that experience into landing a job as Director of Promotion for ZYX Music – U.S.A. in 1992. From January of 1992 through December of 1995 Harry had the pleasure of promoting such acts as Double You, Twenty 4 Seven, Interactive, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Dare 2 B Dif’rent, Abigail and D.J. Miko. He also handled the A&R responsibilities for the U.S. end of ZYX as he picked the music ZYX released in America and suggested some of the ones they picked up internationally. From the acts he signed to ZYX internationally Gillette was perhaps the biggest. Her hit “Short Dick Man” went on to sell over 7 million copies for ZYX worldwide. His greatest chart success in America came when “What’s Up” by D.J. Miko had a 20-week chart run on the Billboard Hot 100 with a peak of #58. He was also involved with German boy band Caught In The Act. While at ZYX, Harry was awarded “Best Promoter For An Independent Label” at the Winter Music Conference. Harry would receive this award for 6 years in a row, and secure a total of 20 nominations (twice in the same year, a feat never matched by any other promoter). This makes him the most awarded and nominated record promoter of all time at the Winter Music Conference! During his time with ZYX Music, the label was also nominated for “Best Independent Label” but unfortunately lost each year to Strictly Rhythm.

From December of 1995 till 1998 he was at Popular Records. In this short period of time Harry had the pleasure of working on projects by N-Trance, 2 Unlimited, Lost, Judy Cheeks, Gloria Gaynor, The Trammps, Playahitty, Dolce & Gabbana and France Joli. Popular also won Best Independent Label Distributed by a Major at the Winter Music Conference in 1996. His biggest success at Popular was “Staying Alive” by N-Trance, which peaked on the US pop charts at #62 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks.

Next he joined P.P.I. Entertainment till 1999. His biggest success there was “Hooked On A Feeling” by Baby Talk (the dancing baby made popular on the Ally McBeal show). It ultimately sold 300,000 copies and peaked on the pop chart at number 71 remaining on the chart for a total of 6 weeks.

He then started his own promotion company Deet Promotions whose first clients included Jellybean, Strictly Rhythm, Rampage & ZYX. He was made an offer to fold his fledgling company into the larger Promo Only and he accepted in April of 2000. Projects he was involved with there included “The Hamster Dance” by Hampton the Hamster (Koch), Kristine W. (RCA), La Rissa (Aureus), Delerium (Arista), Azul Azul (Sony), Veronica (Jellybean), Angel Clivilles (Jellybean), Georgie Porgie (Music Plant) & Daft Punk, Melanie C., Yanni & Janet Jackson (Virgin).

In April of 2001 he left Promo Only. He joined Xtreme Records and formed Xtreme Promotions with Xtreme Records owner Dave Mondo. Highlights of that time included working projects such as The Digital Allies, Absolom & Ariel (Xtreme). Ricky Martin (Columbia), Soul Du Jour (Strictly Rhythm), Nicole J. McCloud & Fiori (24/7), Cher (Warner Brothers), Dee Robert (Oh), La Bouche (RCA), Crystal Waters & The Scumfrog (Effin) & Papo Sanchez & Georgie Porgie (Music Plant), Anna Vissi (Vanilla/Moda), Pepper MaShay (Cetacean), The Benassi Bros. (ZYX) & In-Grid (ZYX).

 Needing a creative outlet, Harry along with partners Guiseppe D., Scott Mahia & Paulie D. formed Cetacean Records and had tremendous success with the Britallics “La Vida Es Un Carnival”, Boulevard East “Let Me Feel Your Arms Around Me” (top ten mix show and dance radio hit in the US, pop hit in Spain, Greece and Poland), Dare 2B Dif’rnt “A World Of Love” (top 15 mix show hit) and Pepper Mashay “I Can’t Stop” which was a top 15 mix show hit as well.  The last single on Cetacean was “I’m Alive” by Austalian blood brothers, Said which was a top 40 mix show hit. In the spring of 2004 Scott Mahia left Cetacean. Together they decided to make Cetacean an imprint for full length CD’s and started up Sirenia for singles relases. Sirenia was initially distributed through ZYX-Waako but now Sirenia and Cetacean are a part of the Music Plant Group in Chicago. Sirenia survives today with a roster of artists that include Dare 2B Dif’rnt, Ben Coen, Nancy Yvonne (former lead vocalist for Boulevard East and one time member of Platinum Recording Artist Seduction) and now Win Marcinak! Although artists like Pepper MaShay and Paul Lekakis may turn up on Sirenia from time to time. Starting in 2013 everything Sirenia will be switched over to Harry’s first and original record label Deet Records!

That brings us to the present and Deet Promotions. Harry moved his offices from New Jersey to a home office and reactivated the Deet name for this promotion company. The business and emphasis of breaking singles through Mix Show and Club support remains the same as he always did before except now Harry is doing things with a global mindset. Harry comments, “Technology has put the world at my fingertips and I am particularly happy with the zipPromo system for digital delivery and so are my jox!” Deet Promotions has also been proud to present many of the artists we promote in live showcases. Aside from the showcases at the Winter Music Conference and Billboard Dance Music Summit, Deet Promotions has sponsored showcases in Seattle, Washington for KNHC, San Francisco, California for KNGY, Wilmington, Delaware for WMPH as well as a showcase in Palm Springs, California in celebration of the 8 year anniversary of the dance show on KKUU with Eric Ornelas. Deet was also involved with Boston Pride Lights and had a float for the New York Gay Pride Parade where 9 artists performed for 500,000 spectators and was a life altering experience for all involved. Deet Promotions also provided the Entertainment for the Stage at Staten Island’s second Gay Pride Parade and Harry spun live for that as well. It poured that day but for those who stayed they got a chance to enjoy International Recording artists Georgie Porgie, Dare 2B Dif’rnt and Fredrick Ford! The standout success stories over this time has been with working artists such as Georgie Porgie (Live), Rachel Panay (Act 2), Ohsha Kai (Act 2), amberRose Marie (Catz), Dare 2B Dif’rnt (Sirenia), Jus Jack (Moda), New Kids On The Block (Columbia), Charo (Universal Wave), Beatnik Castle (Mad Monk, Ltd.) Fredrick Ford (OMC), Helena Paparizou (Moda), Pepper MaShay (Capp), Michael Mind (Capp), CyberSutra (Kult), Andrew Spencer (Capp) Rico Bernasconi (Capp), Michael Butera (Mylo) CMG f/ Carol Douglas & Carol Williams (MGR) & Linda Clifford (Live/ MPG). The latest projects harry has been proud to represent include Kristine W., Michael Butera. Paul Lekakis, Tod Miner, Wideboys, Dominique, The Rios Sisters, Pepper MaShay, Sk8, DJs From Mars, Bohannon, Suzanne Palmer, Dare 2B Dif’rnt, Jacynthe & The Georgie Porgie Orchestra!

Deet Promotions with Harry Frank Towers at its helm continues on its mission to keep Dance Music Alive here in the U.S. Our battle cry is ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE. Our mission statement is as follows. “Dance Music provides the best way to bridge the gaps between peoples. Red, Yellow, Black, White and Brown, Jew, Gentile and Muslim, Gay, Straight, Old or Young, Democrat or Republican, when we share a great time on a Dance Floor side by side our differences are replaced by that common experience which becomes a great big step that leads to mutual respect and understanding!” Deet Promotions… “Making the World a Better Place One Beat Per Minute At A Time!”