Tony Visconti

All Music Guide:

Through his acclaimed work with David Bowie and T. Rex, among others, Tony Visconti emerged as one of the most influential producers of the glam rock era. Born in Brooklyn, NY, he began playing the ukulele at the age of five, learning to read music before picking up the guitar as a teen. After quitting high school at the age of 15, Visconti played the Catskills circuit in a band called Ricardo & the Latineers, eventually becoming one of the top guitarists on the New York City club scene. Upon joining a lounge act dubbed the Speedy Garfin Band, he toured the Southwest, followed by a stint in the revitalized Crewcuts; while performing in Tulsa, OK, he met his future wife and performing partner Siegrid, returning with her to New York City. As Tony & Siegrid, the duo debuted in 1967 with the local hit single "Long Hair"; after their second effort, "Up Here," bombed, Visconti was offered the position of house producer with the Richmond Organization label.

Upon collaborating with British producer Danny Cordell on a session for Georgie Fame, Visconti relocated to London in 1968; there he produced T. Rex's second LP, Prophets, Seers & Sages, followed a year later by Bowie's Space Oddity. Although work with artists including Badfinger, the Strawbs, and Gentle Giant followed during the early years of the next decade, Bowie and T. Rex remained the two acts to whose fates Visconti was inextricably tied. For Bowie, he helmed albums including The Man Who Sold the World, Diamond Dogs, and the excellent Young Americans; for T. Rex he produced the back-to-back classics Electric Warrior and The Slider. Although frontman Marc Bolan's 1977 death brought T. Rex's career to a tragic halt, Visconti continued working with Bowie as the decade drew to a close, collaborating on the so-called "Berlin trilogy" of Low, Heroes, and Lodger. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), from 1980, was their last major joint venture.

As the 1980s dawned, Visconti expanded into new musical territory, producing albums for artists ranging from former Yes frontman Jon Anderson (Animation) to the post-punk band the Boomtown Rats (Mondo Bongo and V Deep) to new wavers Altered Images (Bite). As the decade progressed, he helmed the Moody Blues' 1986 comeback record The Other Side of Life, launching the hit "Your Wildest Dreams"; several other albums with the venerable group followed, and the Moodies remained his primary focus for the remainder of the decade. Although Visconti's visibility and influence were diminished by the 1990s, his past triumphs remained a formative inspiration behind any number of contemporary artists, a legacy acknowledged when ex-Stone Roses guitarist John Squire tapped him to produce 1997's Do It Yourself, the debut from Squire's new band, the Seahorses.

Wikipedia:

Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer and an occasional musician and singer.

Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers; his lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity to 2013's The Next Day, Visconti has produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums.

Personal life [edit]

Visconti was born in Brooklyn, New York, and his father, a music enthusiast, taught Visconti to play the ukulele when he was five years old. He attended New Utrecht High School. Throughout his teenage years Visconti was involved with both a classical brass band (playing tuba) and a traditional orchestra (playing double bass), as well as playing rock 'n' roll-oriented guitar, valuable experience which served him well in later years. By the age of 15 he focused his efforts playing in local Brooklyn bands.

During the next few years of his life, he was involved with a number of soft-rock and lounge acts, playing both the bass and electric guitar. With his then-wife Siegrid, he attempted a career as pop duo Tony and Siegrid. Under this name, their first single "Long Hair" was a minor regional hit in New York City in late 1966, peaking at #33 on local top 40 station WMCA. However, this was to be the peak level of success for the duo, as no further singles charted.

After this failure to become a commercially successful pop singer, Visconti became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization.

Visconti was married to Mary Hopkin and later to May Pang, with both of whom he has two children.

Production [edit]

Visconti met British producer Denny Cordell in 1968 while he was still working as Richmond's in-house producer. Cordell asked him to assist in recordings for successful jazz vocalist Georgie Fame. Visconti moved to London—in a move that would soon become permanent.

One of his first production projects in England with was the Welsh group The Iveys (later known as Badfinger). He produced several tracks for the band's first LP Maybe Tomorrow, released on The Beatles' Apple label. The title track from this album was released as a single and reached #67 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1968. More early production work on the album Prophets, Seers & Sages – The Angels of the Ages for the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become T.Rex) began a relationship with T. Rex that would last for their next seven albums. One of Visconti's greatest successes was Electric Warrior, the album that made T.Rex frontman Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing credentials. Shortly afterwards Visconti began to work with David Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge, formed and toured with the band Hype in which he played bass. Although the band name would be very short-lived, the line-up persisted and would go on to record the seminal album and single The Man Who Sold the World in 1970. He would further go on to work on the albums Diamond Dogs (1974), Young Americans (1975), Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), Lodger (1979) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980).

In 1983, Visconti produced Stages, the first of four albums for British musical theatre star Elaine Paige. This was followed by Cinema (1984), Love Hurts (1985) and Christmas (1986).

Visconti would produce two full albums for the Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life (1986), and Sur La Mer (1988). In 1987, Visconti, together with Moodies' lead vocalist Justin Hayward, supplied incidental music for the BBC2 science fiction series Star Cops.

By the end of the 1980s, Visconti's consistent involvement with top artists had diminished, but despite this he continued to work with many newly formed outfits. In 1990, he produced and wrote the arrangements for the debut album from NYC band Electric Angels. He produced several tracks on the Moodies' Keys of the Kingdom album (1991), Luscious Jackson's Electric Honey, Leisure Noise by Gay Dad, Soul Caddy for Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Dawn of Ananda for Annie Haslam and Moonchild for Debbie Gibson. In 1997 Visconti produced the debut album of The Stone Roses member John Squire's new band, The Seahorses. The album, Do It Yourself was a moderate success. In the 2000s (decade), Visconti renewed his association with David Bowie, producing the albums Heathen in 2002, and Reality in 2003. These two albums hark back to his Berlin production work with Bowie. A list of the best known albums with which he has been associated is available from his official website.

He produced and played bass on a handful of tracks from The Dandy Warhols 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House. In 2003 he teamed up with the Finn Brothers (Neil and Tim of Crowded House and Split Enz fame) to record and produce their second collaborative album, eventually released in 2004. However, the brothers re-recorded the entire album and Tony is credited for his string arrangements only. In 2004, he produced three songs on the Manic Street Preachers Album Lifeblood. In 2005, he collaborated with Copenhagen band Kashmir, whose fifth album, No Balance Palace, featured David Bowie. He has also collaborated as co-writer and producer on the album project by Richard Barone. He worked in Rome on the 2006 Morrissey album Ringleader of the Tormentors. His autobiography, Bowie, Bolan and The Brooklyn Boy, was published in February 2007 by Harper Collins UK. The imported soft cover version is now available in the United States. The book has been translated into French by Jérôme Soligny as Tony Visconti Bowie, Bolan et le Gamin de Brooklyn, published by Tournon.

In 2007 and 2008, Visconti was very active in the studio with Benin singer Angélique Kidjo, producing her Grammy-winning album Djin Djin (Razor & Tie). Guests artists include Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Joss Stone, Josh Groban and Carlos Santana. He has also produced two albums at Saint Claire Recording Studio in Lexington, Kentucky: The Bright Lights of America (RCA) by Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag and an album by Alejandro Escovedo called Real Animal (Manhattan Records) released on June 2008. He has partially produced the new No. 1 album (in France) by French artist Raphael in Paris and New York. He has just completed work on the new Kristeen Young album Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker, due for release early in 2009. He has produced two tracks for the British group Razorlight for their album Slipway Fires released late 2008. He has written and conducted two string arrangements for the Fall Out Boy album Folie à Deux. He has produced an album for Australian singer Danielle Spencer was to be released in 2009. 2010 marked the release of Richard Barone's Glow album [1], which includes five songs co-written by Barone and Visconti and a remake of T.Rex's Girl.

Recently Visconti produced the latest CD by David Bowie entitled "The Next Day", and remixed and remastered both "The Slider" Anniversary Box Set (Demon UK) and "Electric Warrior" 40th Anniversary Boxed Set (Universal UK) by T. Rex. He is currently producing the upcoming release by Capsula.