The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Balk was born in the 12th Street area of Detroit, Michigan.
11 Facts About Harry Balk
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Harry Balk became his manager, and guided John to a successful career with such songs as "Need Your Love So Bad" and "Fever" before eventually tiring of his unreliability.
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The band specialized in reworking out-of-copyright traditional tunes, on which Harry Balk acquired co-writing credits under the name Tom King, with Micahnik co-credited as Ira Mack.
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Harry Balk signed and recorded singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, whose later recordings became popular in South Africa and decades later resulted in the award-winning film Searching for Sugar Man.
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Harry Balk then established another label, Inferno, which was bought in 1968 by Berry Gordy at Motown.
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Harry Balk found a Detroit band, the Sunliners, renamed them as Rare Earth, and set up the Rare Earth label.
7.
In 1970, Harry Balk heard Marvin Gaye's first demo recording of the song "What's Going On".
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Sixto Rodriguez Berry Gordy Mercer Ellington Diahann Carroll Duke Ellington Ethel Waters 8.
In 1978, Harry Balk again made history as the Creative Consultant to Producer Michael Robert Phillips during the recording of the album A Tribute to Ethel Waters featuring Diahann Carroll with the Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Mercer Ellington, which was the first released commercial Digital Recording in the United States.
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Harry Balk later lived in California, where he set up another record label, Avatar, before returning to Detroit in later life.
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Harry Balk was married to singer and actress Patti Jerome.
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Harry Balk died in 2016 at aged 91 in Oak Park, Michigan.