Emmy -winning director and producer Henry “Madness” Mayers is a unique, groundbreaking talent who for decades has pushed the creative edge of mass entertainment and popular culture. Born in Cairo, Egypt, and reared in Paris and Detroit, Mayers has journeyed halfway around the world to bring an international perspective and cosmopolitan zeal to his distinctively imaginative style. “Madness” — a nickname derived from the manic sense of genius he brings to his art — began his career in the music business at the tender age of 21, working as a promotion and marketing manager for national record labels. Along the way, Mayers aided the success of such artists as Frank Zappa, Parliament/Funkadelic, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kool and the Gang, Rush, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Bob Seger, and Billy Squier. In fact, “Madness” has been immortalized in songs as the inspiration and subject for the million-selling hits “The Stroke” by Billy Squier and “Atomic Dog” by George Clinton. Truly a visionary in the field of multimedia, Mayers launched his own video and Laserdisc retail business, Hi-Tek Video, in 1983, years before most Americans ever owned VCRs as household items. Moving on to film and television production, he attended the prestigious NYU Film School. In 1989 he opened Madman Backstage Productions in suburban Detroit, creating countless commercials for local and national advertisers and working on music videos and specials for the likes of Aerosmith, Freddie Jackson, Alice Cooper, Vanessa Williams, Hammer, Pat Boone, Jackyl, and many more. In 1989, Mayers received a Detroit Emmy Award for Best Entertainment Program with Urban Chartbusters, a weekly music-oriented series, one of several shows he has sold to Detroit area television stations. Additionally, he was co-creator and developer of some of the first attempts at online, interactive episodic adventure stories with MSN and Newscorp-MCI between the years 1996-99. In 2000 he founded the first online comic book site Fantasticon (FTST), a public company on the OTC exchange. In 2003 he started Method to the Madness Films which produced his current project The Brewster Project, his first feature film. The underground “ghetto” classic features Rap legend Mr. Cheeks, Emmy-winning singer Regina Belle, Mike Shorey, Paradime, Farrah Franklin from Destiny’s Child, Trick-Trick, and Robert “Tractor” Traylor. The winner of the prestigious New York Film and Video festival’s Audience Award for the Best feature film as well as getting Best Actress awards for Regina and the Best Supporting Actress award for Farrah proves Mayers is an upcoming director with a skill for telling stories. Currently working with Funk Queen legend Dawn Silva on her autobiography and accompanying video documentary “The Funk Queen”.
