Scharf grew up in Crown Heights and attended Winthrop Junior High School. A mathematics major in college, he graduated with honors from the City College of New York in 1962.[1]
Scharf was a friend of guitarist Jay Berliner, who influenced his career. During the early 1960s, he was the 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 (father of Spike Lee).
For several years, he partnered with Martin Gersten, chief engineer of WNCN, in a recording studio at 18 Jones Street in Greenwich Village. They shared this space with folk music broadcaster Skip Weshner.
"Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme or Reason" (Mercury, 1969) wrote 6 songs for this album, including the politically-significant 'Give a Damn', which was adopted as a theme song by the New York Urban Coalition, and by New York Mayor John Lindsay during his 1969 re-election campaign.
