Stu Scharf

Who was Stu Scharf?

Stuart Scharf was an American composer, guitarist, and record producer.

Scharf grew up in Crown Heights and attended Winthrop Junior High School. He was good friends with guitarist Jay Berliner who was a serious influence on his musical career. In the early 1960s, Scharf was lead guitarist for folk-singer Leon Bibb. He also worked with arranger Walter Raim and folk-singer Judy Collins as well as bassist Bill Lee,. For several years he was partners with Martin Gersten, chief engineer of WNCN, in a recording studio at 18 Jones Street in Greenwich Village. They shared this space with Skip Weshner, a noted folk music broadcaster of the time.

Scharf was a prolific studio musician in New York City in the 1960s, playing guitar with such artists as Chad Mitchell, Janis Ian, Al Kooper, and Carly Simon. He also had a producing partnership with Bob Dorough for many years, and together they produced classic albums by Spanky and Our Gang. Scharf was also the composer of Spanky and Our Gang's hit Like to Get to Know You. In 1980, he moved to Hamilton Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where he continued his recording business.