Robert Hafner

Robert Hafner
Born Robert John Hafner
(1932-04-08)8 April 1932
Died 13 October 2013(2013-10-13) (aged 81)
Cause of death Heart failure
Occupation Musician, composer, record producer
Years active 1950s to 1980s
Spouse(s) Barbara Hafner

Robert Hafner (August 4, 1932 - October 12, 2013) was a record producer and song writer who, along with Tony Hilder, was responsible for many of the surf records that came out in California in the 1960s including Vesuvius and Intoxica by The Revels. He also contributed to the music for the film The Exiles. Music historian and author Robert Dalley said that he had a definite place in Surf history.

Background

Hafner was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania in 1932. In 1939 the Hafner family moved to Los Angeles. While at high school he got his first guitar and later joined the high school jazz swing band. After quitting college and moving to New York he attempted to get into the Actors Studio, but ended up working as a painter. Following the deaths of his parents within a short time of each other, he ended up broke and on skid row. He then caught up with an old acquaintance and with his help he got into the music business, working as a songwriter and musical arranger. In 1969 he married in Idaho. In 1992 he and his wife Barbara moved to Chicago to be closer to her parents.

He died of heart failure Sunday, October 13, 2015 at Centegra Memorial Medical Center in McHenry, aged 81. He was survived by his wife of 44 years, Barbara, and his daughter Celeste.[1] At the time of his death, he had lived in Lake County for 30 years.[2]

Career

Music

In the late 1950s Hafner also worked with Los Angeles producer Earl Stone. It was reconnecting with this old acquaintance that he was able to work with The Revels.[3]

In 1961 Hafner and Anthony (Tony) Hilder provided the music for the film The Exiles.[4][5]

The bands Hafner and Hilder worked with included a group called New Dimension. They never released any singles. The albums were released by a very small record label called Sutton who Hilder and Hafner had a deal with. These budget releases were packaged in generic sleeves and sent straight to shops to go into the cut-out bins and racks.[6][7]

His composition Comanche was used for the film Pulp Fiction, which he found offensive as it was used as background music for a violent scene in the film. According to him, there was an idealistic angle to the song as it was about the plight of the American Indian.[8] On April 15, 1994 Robert Hafner and The Revels won a legal action against Disney, Miramax, MCA Records, and Universal Music Group for the use of the song in the film.[9]

By the late 1990s he had stopped writing music and had since left the music business.[10]

Film

In 1959, Hafner and Tony Hilder had small parts in the film The Hideous Sun Demon, a sci-fi horror film directed by Tom Boutross and Robert Clarke.[11] During his life he wrote several screenplays and novels.[12]

Compositions (selective)

References

  1. ↑ Chicago Tribune October 20, 2013 Robert John Hafner, 1932-2013, '60s songwriter plunged into surf music craze By Joan Giangrasse Kates, Special to the Tribune
  2. ↑ Highbeam Research Hafner-4355706
  3. ↑ Chicago Tribune October 20, 2013 Robert John Hafner, 1932-2013, '60s songwriter plunged into surf music craze By Joan Giangrasse Kates, Special to the Tribune
  4. ↑ Chicago Tribune November 21, 2008 'The Exiles' stars Yvonne Wilson, Homer Nish, Tommy Reynolds, Rico Rodriguez By Michael Phillips, Tribune Critic
  5. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Feature Films 1961 - 1970 , Richard P Krafsur, Executive Editor Page 314
  6. ↑ Beyond The Beat Generation The New Dimensions
  7. ↑ MusicDish e-Journal 2001-05-14 From Surf to Folk Rock: He's Done it All! An Interview with SoCal's Craig Nuttycombe By Mike Dugo, 60sGarageBands
  8. ↑ Chicago Tribune October 20, 2013 Robert John Hafner, 1932-2013, '60s songwriter plunged into surf music craze By Joan Giangrasse Kates, Special to the Tribune
  9. ↑ Avvo Inc. Robert Hafner and The Revels v. Disney, Miramax, MCA Records, and Universal Music Group
  10. ↑ Chicago Tribune October 20, 2013 Robert John Hafner, 1932-2013, '60s songwriter plunged into surf music craze By Joan Giangrasse Kates, Special to the Tribune
  11. ↑ Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Flashbacks by Tom Weaver Page 98 The Hideous Sun Demon (1959)
  12. ↑ Highbeam Research Hafner-4355706
  13. ↑ 45Cat Bob Vaught And The Renegades GNP 193X
  14. ↑ 45Cat Tracks Composed By: Robert J. Hafner
  15. ↑ 45Cat Tracks Composed By: Robert J. Hafner
  16. ↑ Discogs Robert John Hafner Writing & Arrangement
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