LARRY Heard grew up on the south side of Chicago, the middle of five sons. His mom worked for an insurance company, his dad was a policeman. But, with five boys to take care of, money was still tight. The family spent time in Detroit when Larry was a kid. Maybe that explains why his best music has more in common with the surfaces of techno than anything resembling house's major key disco connections. Music was all around back then. His parents listened to Sarah Vaughan, the O'Jays and Miles Davis. They'd buy toy instruments for the kids at Christmas. And Larry remembers hunting down the sheet music for 'One Nation Under A Groove' so his mom could play it to him on the piano. "It didn't sound anything like it was supposed to, but then those are the things you do..." There was pain too. Caught in the middle of a busy family, Larry ended up retreating into himself. "I withdrew into my own world," he says. "I just got accustomed to going out and doing things on my own. They thought I was crazy. I had to see a therapist. But I guess I've just always been a melancholy, reflective kind of person." And now, after more than a decade of making records that flirt with undiluted genius, Larry Heard has decided to give music a rest. His swansong is 'Dance 2000', an album of brooding, tech-ish grooves that touches on beauty, psychosis and deep emotion. Now he's searching for happiness elsewhere.

"Everything has to be give and take," he considers. "It can't just be, you get new music and I get nothing. I've had ten years of frustration in the music business. It's had its advantages. I got to see some things, experience some different cultures. But once all the interviews are done and the label stuff, then you're on your own. Once all the hurrah is over, I'm still sitting by myself in the hotel room. And that isn't a fun life." But maybe we haven't heard the last of Mr Fingers. 'Dance 2000' was originally going to be a double album. And Ren' Gelston says that his own archive of Larry Heard's music includes 150 unreleased tracks. "Some of that stuff is so good," he confirms, "stuff that's pure genius." "It would be a waste if that stuff didn't come out," muses Larry. "But right now I've got other things I want to do. Maybe sometime further down the line..."

But sometimes legends can't let go. The next day we're in Sun Studio for the photos. As Alexis, the Mixmag photographer, sets up his cameras, Larry Heard sits down at a piano. It's the one you can see Elvis sitting at in a famous picture of the so-called "million dollar session" - the one where Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis are crowded round. Larry pushes a few mournful chords and the trace of a smile steals across his face. There's magic somewhere in all of this. Cameras loaded, Alexis is ready to begin when Larry takes hold of a microphone. It's the one Elvis used on 'Heartbreak Hotel'. Suddenly, Larry's smile turns into a grin. And maybe we haven't heard the last of Mr Fingers after all...

'Dance 2000' is out now on Distance

Larry Heard cont...