Hi Fi (2)

Larry Berridge (Vocals, Guitar) Terry Jenkins ("The Doctor") (Guitar, Vocals) Byron Contostavlos ("Gringo") (Bass) Steve Petters (Drums) replaced by Steve Jones. Larry Berridge and Byron Contostavlos formed Hi Fi in 1977 with the aid of Billy Lemon and Terry Jenkins. Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry managed them for a while; (Larry had played bass for Mungo during 1977). In 1978 they taped some rough demos in Terry’s living room, one of which was ‘Run Run.’ By now Bill Gilliam had become their manager, and he played the tape to Aaron Sixx at a small UK label, Aura Records. He liked ‘Run Run’ and took the group into the studio to record it as their first single, with ‘Sole Kitchen’ on the b-side. A new demo tape was recorded at Terry’s brother-in-laws’ fledgling studio and handed on to Tim Green from Mungo Jerry, who had emigrated to Hamburg where he began his own production company, Boogietunes. The demo was played to A & R people at the giant Warner-Elektra-Asylum (WEA) company in mid-1979 and they were impressed. The band recorded the first album, ’Towns and Bars,’ at Hafen-Klang studios in Hamburg during October and November. This was released in 1980 with an accompanying single, ‘A Little Love Away’. They were followed by a second collection in 1981, ‘Sing Song,’ and a further single, ‘Don’t Break The Spell.’ Recording sessions for a third album, tentatively titled ‘Gringo’s Revenge,’ got underway in Berlin but this was never completed because the group split up in 1982. Byron Contostavlos issued a solo single, ‘Chakanoori Tango’ (as Byron Con), on Phonogram that year; Larry Berridge also went solo, renaming himself Sal Paradise. He secured a massive album deal with Arista records, famously walking in off the street with two demo songs and and walking out with £285,000. His solo career made the biggest impact in Germany, where his first album, ‘Shimmer’ became the soundtrack for the hit Eckhart Schmidt film Die Storie in 1984. His second album ‘Das Wunder’ was released in 1985, again a soundtrack to another Eckhart Schmidt film. He was also the soundtrack writer and main actor in the film ‘Wie true ist Nik?’ in 1986. Since then he has spent some time in monasteries around the world and is now with his second family and raising a teenage son. He has product on iTunes music under the names, Sal Paradise, SWZOO, D Reg and Uncle Monsters Sausage Curry (a series of sketches thought up when bringing up his young family.)