Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat no more

Sad news. From The Huffington Post:

Tim Hauser, the founder and singer of the Grammy-winning vocal troupe The Manhattan Transfer, died Thursday from cardiac arrest, band representative JoAnn Geffen said Friday. He was 72.

Hauser founded Manhattan Transfer, who released their debut album in the early 1970s and launched hits such as Operator and The Boy from New York City. They went on to win multiple pop and jazz Grammy Awards. Their critically acclaimed album, 1985's Vocalese, earned a whopping 12 Grammy nominations.

I adored The Manhattan Transfer as a youngster - all stylish outfits and classy harmonies, they seemed to inhabit that unattainable world typified by Brideshead Revisited and Mapp and Lucia, of Art Deco and Transatlantic liners, cocktails and Jazz hands, a world I still aspire to - and their utter stylishness is typified by this, my fave:

Manhattan Transfer - Chanson d'Amour

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat, indeed.

RIP