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______Tony was born in Denver, Colorado. Music became a focal point in hbis life
when at the age of 6 his father took him to the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater
to see the Beatles live in concert. Emphasis on "see", because
to this day Tony swears you could not hear a thing they played above the
screaming teenage girls. Nonetheless that experience had his head swimming
for months.
______ His parents enrolled him in piano
lessons, even though Tony wanted to play the electric guitar (who didn't?).
This was almost the downfall of any musical aspirations he had as it became
quickly apparent that music didn't magically flow out of a person, you
actually had to work and practice at it. Still, he did his best to learn
the scales and simple tunes while secretly learning how to play Led Zeppelin
and Beatles songs on a borrowed guitar.
______ He learned enough to tinker with music
through most of his tender years but never dreamed of making it a career
until one night he turned on the radio and heard a live presentation of
Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Oh sure,
piano was OK, guitar w as
way cooler, but what Wakeman was doing with synthesizers just blew him
away. Hearing this blending of Classical and Rock composition to a theatrical
presentation of one of his favorite books was enough to hook him for life.
______ Tony began playing in earnest, playing
with whomever he could jam with. Unfortunately pickings were very slim
at the time for budding musicians and he became very discouraged with
the "quality" of music he was making with his friends.
______ Then, in his mid-teens, his mom who
was a succesful nightclub entertaine, informed him that she wanted him
to go on the road with her band on their next tour as their keyboardist.
them.
______ And so it began. Tony toured for two
years with his mom's group learning the ropes of being a Cabaret act.
They played from Florida to Vegas to California. On some appearances the
band would act as the house group for other traveling acts. Tony backed
up such famous groups as The Drifters, The Platters, The Coasters &
The Ink Spots. Eventually though, he wanted to play more modern music
and so he left his mom's group and struck out on the road with a top-40
club act called Evening Star. They toured the West Coast from California
to Alaska upsetting audiences wherever they went. It was the early  80's
and everyone still wanted to hear dance music and somehow the medley's
of Styx and Hendrix songs they kept playing in between Donna Summer and
Commodores songs just didn't sit well with the club owners and audiences.
Not to mention the fact that Tony took to rigging a synthesizer around
his neck and doing free form synth solos on top of tables while breathing
fire like Gene Simmons from KISS.
______ After about a year of this, he left
this group to start his foray into working with original music bands so
that he could start expressing himself the way he wanted to. He played
two years with A&M artist David Andersen in his group The Songs. He
joined the hard rock group Talisman which was one of the top local groups
during the "Big Hair Band" days. He played for four years with
World Affairs, a pop-rock band voted one of the top five groups in the
European edition of the "Rock & Roll Who's Who". He was
also a co-founder of another popular local group called Sussed.
______ During all of this, he also began
to forge a small career as a session player for local studios. During
that time he had the privilege of performing and recording with Johhny
Johnson from the A lman
Brothers, Bob Margoloff, producer for the Who, folk songwriting legend
Steve Gillette, The Cadillac Tramps, Toto's keyboardist Steve Porcaro,
and international pop superstar Jackie DeShannon.
______ He has also opened for Susanna Hoffs
from The Bangles, Ronnie James Dio from Black Sabbath & Deep Purple,
Elvin Bishop, Ritchie Havens, John Mayall, Les Dudek, Graham Nash, Molly
Hatchet and many others.
______ For the past four years, Tony has
worked with Robert extensively in the studio and on the road. Tony co-wrote
two songs on the "Insight" CD with Robert, "Mind Within"
and "Journey to Shambala", and he co-wrote the celtic
influenced "Saoirse" on the "Rhythm of the World"
CD. He also arranged and performed most of the instruments on seven of
the songs for the holiday release, "Joy to the World"
. On the "ReGenerations" release, you can hear Tony's signature
style on several cuts including "Orange Blossom Special",
"House of the Rising Sun", "Black Magic Woman", and
many others. His latest contribution to the catalogue was as producer,
co-director and editor on the first ever concert DVD for the band.
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