Tim Hauser obituary

The British singles charts in March 1977 were topped by Chanson d’Amour, sung in close harmony by an American quartet, the Manhattan Transfer. Led by its founder, Tim Hauser, who has died suddenly of heart failure, aged 72, the group combined contemporary and nostalgic sounds from the jazz, gospel and pop traditions. Hauser set a standard for immaculate stage outfits and choreography, whose slickness enthralled international audiences for five decades. Critics and reviewers were sometimes harder to please.

Born in Troy, New York, to F Jackson Hauser, an insurance adjuster and his wife Theresa, a school secretary, Hauser was raised in New Jersey. He sang in a doo-wop harmony group at St Rose high school, Belmar, and in folk groups at Villanova University, Philadelphia, before serving in the air force in the mid-1960s. A brief career in market research for the National Biscuit Company followed, but in 1970 he left Madison Avenue to found the first version of the Manhattan Transfer, named after the 1925 novel by John Dos Passos. In these early years, Hauser drove a cab to support himself and the group had no distinctive sound, veering between country, R&B and the jazz and swing styles favoured by Hauser himself.

A new Manhattan Transfer took shape in 1972 when Hauser recruited Laurel Massé, Janis Siegel and Alan Paul, the last of whom was appearing in the Broadway production of the musical Grease. After intensive rehearsals to perfect their four-part harmonies on an eclectic mixture of jazz, gospel and 40s show tunes, they built up a reputation through early performances on the New York cabaret circuit where audience members included Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Ahmet Ertegun, the head of Atlantic Records. Ertegun was so enthused by the Manhattan Transfer that he not only signed the group but co-produced their first, self-titled, album with Hauser.

That album included a version of the Glenn Miller standard Tuxedo Junction, which became a minor hit in Britain, paving the way for Chanson d’Amour, a 1958 composition by Wayne Shanklin. Its mixture of French and English lyrics helped to make the group well known throughout western Europe. There were more hits in the next two years, beginning with the albums Coming Out (1977), Pastiche (1978) and Live (which had been recorded during the group’s triumphant 1978 British tour and reached No 4). There were also top 20 singles: Walk in Love (1978), On a Little Street in Singapore (1978), and Spice of Life (1984), their final British hit.

Although their later records did not sell in such large numbers, the Manhattan Transfer established a loyal fan base across the globe. The quartet kept up a steady stream of international concert performances, with only one change of personnel, when Cheryl Bentyne replaced Massé in 1978 after she was injured in a road accident. In the past couple of years, there were visits to the Philippines, Australia, South Africa and Japan, where the group has a particularly enthusiastic following – Hauser’s only solo album, Love Stories (2007), was made for the Japanese label King.

The Manhattan Transfer was a favourite with the electorate of the Grammies, winning 10 awards in the 80s alone. The first, in 1980, was for a vocalese version of Weather Report’s Birdland, in which lyrics were set to instrumental solos and Hauser’s voice mimicked the bass lines of Jaco Pastorius note for note. The originator of vocalese, Jon Hendricks, later collaborated with the Manhattan Transfer, whose many albums include tributes to Louis Armstrong and Chick Corea, and to the music of Brazil. Earlier this year, Hauser launched his own brand of pasta sauce, called I Made Sauce.

He was taken ill travelling to a show in New York state. Hauser is survived by his third wife, Barb, a son, Basie, and daughter, Lily, and his sister, Fayette.