Hank Aberle

Multi-instrumentalist Hank Aberle was an integral part of two groups that rank among the best rock bands that New York City had to offer in the mid- to late '60s, the Pop Art and the Glitterhouse. Born in New York City, he grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and later dropped out of the High School for Music and Art (where his classmates included Michael Brown and Steve Martin, both later of the Left Banke, as well as Renee Fladen, the girl who inspired the song "Walk Away, Renee" -- and according to Aberle, she was that beautiful). At 18, he was already a highly proficient guitarist, as well as being skilled on the violin, among other instruments, and had become part of a locally successful Long Island-spawned outfit, originally called the "Justice League" and later rechristened the Pop Art, who got a phenomenal single called "Rumpelstiltzkin" out on Epic Records. The latter failed to sell, and after another few months of work, and the addition of keyboard player Moogy Klingman, the Pop Art fell apart. Out of that dissolution, however, evolved the Glitterhouse, a more ambitious band whose sound was more in the realm of psychedelic soul. Despite a promising reception from the audiences who heard them, and the interest of producer Bob Crewe, who signed them to his own label, the band failed to find an audience, and broke up in 1969. Aberle continued to work as a musician and took up classical guitar, studying with Dennis Turacek and Albert Blain. He also began learning how to build classical guitars, and began working at Gotham Recording Studios, where he became an audio engineer. He has been working as an audio post engineer in New York since 1969 and has his own company, Aberle Sound.