Tim Hauser

Early life

Hauser was born in Troy, New York. He, his sister Fayette, and their parents moved to the Jersey Shore when he was seven years old. He lived in Ocean Township, New Jersey, and Asbury Park and attended St. Rose High School in Belmar, where an award in his name has been given every year since 1989 to students who excel in theater arts.

When he was fifteen, he began to sing professionally. He founded a doo-wop quartet named The Criterions which recorded two singles for the Cecilia label: "I Remain Truly Yours" and "Don't Say Goodbye". The group appeared on Alan Freed's Big Beat Show.

In 1959, he entered Villanova University. With Tommy West and Jim Ruf, both from The Criterions, he formed the folk group the Troubadours Three. He also was a member of the Villanova Singers and the Villanova Spires/Coventry Lads with classmate Jim Croce. He spent four years on the staff of college radio station WWVU. In 1963, he graduated from Villanova with a degree in economics.

In 1964, Hauser served in the United States Air Force and the New Jersey Air National Guard. In 1965, he began his career in marketing. From 1965–66, Hauser worked as a market research analyst with the advertising agency Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell, and Bayles. His accounts included Pepsodent Toothpaste (Lever Bros.), Micrin Mouthwash (Johnson & Johnson), and Rise Shaving Cream (Carter Products). From 1966–1968, he worked as manager of the Market Research Department for the Special Products Division of Nabisco. His accounts included cereal and pet food.

Music career

In 1969, he formed the first version of The Manhattan Transfer with Gene Pistilli, Marty Nelson, Erin Dickins, and Pat Rosalia. The group had a jazz/R&B sound and recorded one album, Jukin' , for Capitol Records under manager Richard Flanzer. However, this version of the group dissolved after one album.

Hauser drove a cab to support himself while pursuing a music career. Through this job, he met Laurel Massé, a waitress and aspiring singer. Hauser was again driving his cab when he picked up the conga player for the group Laurel Canyon, who invited him to a party where he met Janis Siegel. With Massé they reformed The Manhattan Transfer. They needed a male singer, so they contacted Alan Paul. The four became The Manhattan Transfer on October 1, 1972. After a car accident, Massé decided to leave the group and pursue a solo career, and in 1978 Cheryl Bentyne was hired to replace her. From then on, the line-up was mostly unchanged, with only occasional substitutions due to illness.

The Manhattan Transfer won ten Grammy Awards and many Gold and Platinum records. They won the Downbeat and Playboy readers' polls every year in the 1980s for best vocal group. In 2007, they won the JazzTimes Readers' Poll for best vocal group. When Ahmet Ertegün founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he selected Hauser to serve on the voting committee, a position he held for three years (1986–89). In 1993, Hauser was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music.

Death

Hauser died of cardiac arrest at the Robert Packer hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania, on October 16, 2014. He was 72 years old. He had been admitted to the hospital for pneumonia.