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On this day, April 24, 1944, record producer Tony Visconti was born.
Sat Apr 24, 2021: On this day, April 24, 1944, Tony Visconti was born.
Tony Visconti
Visconti in 2007
Background information
Birth name: Anthony Edward Visconti
Born: April 24, 1944 (age 79)
Origin: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Associated acts: David Bowie, T. Rex, The Moody Blues, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, Caravan, Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton, Hazel O'Connor, Sparks, Kristeen Young, Morrissey, Richard Barone, Thin Lizzy, Afraid of Mice, Alejandro Escovedo, Kaiser Chiefs, Prefab Sprout, Holy Holy, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin, Phillip Boa, The Move, Paul McCartney and Wings
Website: Official website
Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's "Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of many hits in collaboration with Marc Bolan. Visconti's lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie: intermittently from the production and arrangement of Bowie's 1968 single "In the Heat of the Morning" / "London Bye Ta-Ta" to the 2016 release Blackstar, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on Blackstar was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo's Djin Djin was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
{snip}
Early life
Visconti was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of Italian descent. He started to play the ukulele when he was five years old, and then learned guitar. 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.
After leaving school he played guitar in a band called Ricardo & the Latineers in the Catskills; the band also included Artie Butler, later a leading arranger. In 1960 he played his first recording session, and over the next few years became one of the leading guitarists in New York nightclubs. He played in lounge acts including the Ned Harvey band, and the Speedy Garfin Band, before joining a touring version of The Crew-Cuts, where he met his future wife. As Tony and Siegrid, the pair released two singles; the first, "Long Hair", was a regional hit in New York in 1966, but they could not maintain its success.
Production
Visconti then became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization. Through this, he met British producer Denny Cordell in 1968 while he was working as Richmond's in-house music 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 career-defining.
One of his first production projects in England was with the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become T. Rex) on their debut album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968). This began a relationship with T. Rex that would last for their next eight albums, and eleven UK Top Ten singles in a row, commencing with "Ride a White Swan" (1970). One of Visconti's greatest successes was Electric Warrior (1971), the album that made T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing prowess.
More early production work included David Bowie's second album (1969), and for the Welsh group The Iveys (later known as Badfinger). He produced several tracks for the Iveys' first LP Maybe Tomorrow (1969) and Magic Christian Music (1970), released on The Beatles' Apple label.
He produced the first two albums by influential progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Shortly afterwards, Visconti began to work again with David Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge, formed and toured with the band The Hype in which he played bass. Although the band name would be very short-lived, most of the line-up persisted and - with Woody Woodmansey replacing Cambridge - 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), Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980), Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013) and Blackstar (2016).
Visconti scored the orchestral arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run. He later produced two albums for the Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life (1986), and Sur La Mer (1988).
{snip, because there's just too much to include}
Visconti in 2007
Background information
Birth name: Anthony Edward Visconti
Born: April 24, 1944 (age 79)
Origin: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Associated acts: David Bowie, T. Rex, The Moody Blues, Gentle Giant, Strawbs, Caravan, Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton, Hazel O'Connor, Sparks, Kristeen Young, Morrissey, Richard Barone, Thin Lizzy, Afraid of Mice, Alejandro Escovedo, Kaiser Chiefs, Prefab Sprout, Holy Holy, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin, Phillip Boa, The Move, Paul McCartney and Wings
Website: Official website
Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's "Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of many hits in collaboration with Marc Bolan. Visconti's lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie: intermittently from the production and arrangement of Bowie's 1968 single "In the Heat of the Morning" / "London Bye Ta-Ta" to the 2016 release Blackstar, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on Blackstar was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo's Djin Djin was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
{snip}
Early life
Visconti was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of Italian descent. He started to play the ukulele when he was five years old, and then learned guitar. 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.
After leaving school he played guitar in a band called Ricardo & the Latineers in the Catskills; the band also included Artie Butler, later a leading arranger. In 1960 he played his first recording session, and over the next few years became one of the leading guitarists in New York nightclubs. He played in lounge acts including the Ned Harvey band, and the Speedy Garfin Band, before joining a touring version of The Crew-Cuts, where he met his future wife. As Tony and Siegrid, the pair released two singles; the first, "Long Hair", was a regional hit in New York in 1966, but they could not maintain its success.
Production
Visconti then became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization. Through this, he met British producer Denny Cordell in 1968 while he was working as Richmond's in-house music 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 career-defining.
One of his first production projects in England was with the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become T. Rex) on their debut album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968). This began a relationship with T. Rex that would last for their next eight albums, and eleven UK Top Ten singles in a row, commencing with "Ride a White Swan" (1970). One of Visconti's greatest successes was Electric Warrior (1971), the album that made T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing prowess.
More early production work included David Bowie's second album (1969), and for the Welsh group The Iveys (later known as Badfinger). He produced several tracks for the Iveys' first LP Maybe Tomorrow (1969) and Magic Christian Music (1970), released on The Beatles' Apple label.
He produced the first two albums by influential progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Shortly afterwards, Visconti began to work again with David Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge, formed and toured with the band The Hype in which he played bass. Although the band name would be very short-lived, most of the line-up persisted and - with Woody Woodmansey replacing Cambridge - 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), Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980), Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013) and Blackstar (2016).
Visconti scored the orchestral arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run. He later produced two albums for the Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life (1986), and Sur La Mer (1988).
{snip, because there's just too much to include}
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