Har Mar Superstar

Sean Tillman keeps one foot in punk rock via Sean Na Na (which released Family Trees Or: Cope We Must in 2007), but the Minnesota-born singer has carved out an unlikely niche in the world of pop R&B as Har Mar Superstar. The shtick—pudgy dude strips to his underwear to perform slinky, sexy, Prince-esque tunes—is so blatant it seems like it’d become tiresome quickly, but Har Mar pushes past novelty shock value with outrageous exuberance, tongue-in-cheek humor, and—his real secret weapon—genuine songwriting chops. The 2009 album Dark Touches includes a couple of tunes Tillman originally wrote for Britney Spears and The Cheetah Girls—redone here, straight-faced, with double-entendre lyrics like “I need a tall boy” unchanged. Recently, he’s taken up playing and recording with Gayngs.

Updated 11/02/2011