ARTISTS

Larry Dean

Larry Dean

Band leader Larry Dean grew up playing accordions, organs, pianos…anything with a keyboard. A little country, some R&B, some solo piano all helped to work his way through his younger years and his music education at Campbell University. Immediately after finishing (35 years ago) he joined North Tower and has been here ever since.

Playing the keys and singing lead vocals, Larry’s vision for North Tower has never changed. Making great music with great friends. In recent years Larry has added Artist (acrylic painter) and Teacher (teaching art classes in Raleigh NC) to his resumé.

In early 2025, Larry was inducted into the Carolina Beach Music Hall Of Fame!

Jeff Hinson

Jeff Hinson

Jeff has been performing with North Tower for over two decades as saxophone player and vocalist. He still recalls the first time he saw North Tower in 1987, when he was a college student at UNC-W, meeting the original sax player (Bob Craig) and having no clue that he’d ever play with the band. Now he’s part of the North Tower tradition carrying the torch into the band’s 46th year of making music.

Jeff began his professional music career while a senior at UNC-W when he joined the local beach music/top 40 band Mirage. Mirage taught Jeff how to perform and how to navigate the music business, preparing him for North Tower.

When reflecting on 20 plus years in North Tower Jeff said “North Tower is more than a band…It’s truly a family. There is a kinship between the original members, past members and the current members that I’m not sure happens in other bands. I’m blessed to be part of the North Tower family”.

Jeff lives in Wilmington with his wife Michelle and has two adult sons. Jeff has many interests including marching band/drum corps, going to local concerts and plays and in recent years has fallen in love with New York City.

Tom Bagley

Tom Bagley

T.F. has had a diverse and extensive musical career spanning several decades. He began by playing guitar and singing with the band Misunderstood. After high school, he moved to Greensboro, NC, where he played with Chocolate Funk, sharing stages with legendary bands such as The Ohio Players, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Isley Brothers, and Confunkshion.

During his career, Tom also collaborated with country music artist Gwen Biddix, in association with Archie Campbell from Hee-Haw (television variety show). In the 1970s, he toured the Southeast with Instant Replay and later co-founded the Central Park Band, known for recording six original beach music hits. Tom himself wrote, recorded, and released the original songs "You Don’t Know" and "Parda".

Tom is noted as a versatile guitarist who has performed with several beach music bands over the years. His musical journey led him to join the North Tower Band full-time in 2016, continuing to contribute his talents and passion to the music scene.

Jim Stoudemire

Jim Stoudemire

Jim started playing trumpet in the 6th grade in Irmo, SC. After graduating high school in 1977 he attended USC and began playing trumpet, valve trombone and secondary keyboards in a band from Sumter, SC called Threshold. He had his first recording experience at Reflections Studio in Charlotte, NC which was owned by Wayne Jernigan, a musician from Sumter, SC, who had previously played drums in Ernest Tubb's band. Threshold released 2 songs from that session, "Don't Need My Touch" and "Loving You Wrong."

In 1982, Jim joined Horizon from Columbia which was soon renamed Main Event, playing trumpet, flugel horn and trombone. They recorded a tune called "Summer Serenade" in 1982 at Strawberry Jam (now Strawberry Skies), a studio in Columbia, SC. While he had always sang a lot of various background parts, it was during his time with Main Event that he started singing lead on more songs. The band started emphasizing their floorshows as Jim was Sly Stone, Otis Day, one of the Blues Brothers and one of the girls in Tony Orlando and Dawn along with Boy Jim (and Culture Club). He spent 5 years with the band, picking up valuable performing experience. The band opened for Lee Greenwood and Jerry Butler and backed Major Lance among others.

His next stop was with The Fabulous Kays from Charlotte, NC. From 1986 to 1991 Jim played valve trombone, keys and sang. During this time, The Kays backed Percy Sledge, opened shows for artists such as The Spinners and The Four Tops and did a show with Archie Bell in Petersburg, VA, which led to Archie joining the band in the studio for the recording of the medley "Soul'd Out" and doing a series of shows with the band over the next several years.

In 1991 Jim joined North Tower. Jim spent 10 years with North Tower, travelling as far as Phoenix, AZ, New York City and Ottawa, Ontario. Jim performed as a Beatle, a Beach Boy, a Temptation, a Four Top, a Vandella, an Oak (Smoke) Ridge Boy and Garth Brooks among others.

In 2001, Jim moved to Richmond, VA and started singing and playing trumpet with Fat Ammons Band from Virginia Beach. He played trumpet on Ammon Tharp's cd, New Blues Sessions and wrote horn arrangements on several of the tracks. He spent three years with them, playing events in Lexington, KY, Boston, MA and Concord, NH. Travelling on a tour bus provided several perks but Jim missed the Carolinas.

In 2003, Jim started working with The Fantastic Shakers, mostly playing valve trombone and singing. The Shakers opened shows with The Four Tops and Three Dog Night. The band recorded two CDs during the time Jim was with them, including him as the lead vocalist on several recorded tracks for the first time, such as "Back That Thang Up" originally recorded by Tyrone Davis.

After nine years with The Shakers, Jim joined The Entertainers in 2012. Once again he found himself in a band with several lead singers. The band opened for performers such as The Family Stone, Tom Wopat, Firehouse and Taylor Dayne. During Jim's time with The Entertainers, he sang lead on two of their releases, "Satisfy My Woman" and "The Drifters Medley (Saturday Night At The Movies/Kissing In The Back Row)" with both releases reaching #1 on several beach music charts.

In 2024, an opportunity to rejoin North Tower was presented and Jim came back to the band he previously worked with 1991-2001. You know the saying - "The second time around is better than the first time!" Over 47 years experience working with some of the southeast's best singers and instrumentalists, Jim is happy that he has always made a living doing something that he really enjoys - playing music! ...and he's grateful for the many friends he has made because of it! After moving all over the Carolinas and Virginia, Jim currently lives in Rock Hill, SC with his wife, Judith and their 3 Siberian Huskies, Karina, Luka and KyAnn.

Patrick Brown

Patrick Brown

BIO COMING SOON

Joe Salerno

Joe Salerno