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Anthony Visconti (born April 24 , 1944 ) is an American Record Producer and sometimes a Musician or Singer . Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of notable performers, including the '' to 2003's ''Reality'' , Visconti has produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums EARLY LIFE 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. Such a versatile range of musical styles was finally abandoned by the age of 15, when he focussed his efforts on a rock band named Ricardo and the Latineers. 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. {Link without Title} 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. PRODUCTION > Visconti's big break came with a chance meeting with 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. He was to live there for most of the next 30 years and it would prove to be the city in which his career would finally flourish. 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 T-Rex was to be of critical importance in kick-starting his influential career. It was to begin a relationship with T-Rex that would last for their next seven albums, and through this Visconti would also strike up a friendship with David Bowie. One of Visconti's greatest successes was "Electric Warrior", the album that made T. Rex frontman and mastermind Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing credentials. Initially, Visconti and Bowie, 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), '' "Heroes" '' (1977), '' Low '' (1977), '' Lodger '' (1979) and '' Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) '' (1980). 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 ''. In the 1980s Tony completed the Exegesis Programme Large Group Awareness Training course (as, incidentally, did Justin Hayward ). Tony acted as an assistant trainer on some of the subsequent courses, and for a time lived with Kim Coe , one of the Exegesis Group Leaders, in Harley House, Euston Road, London. 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), the 'Electric Honey' album for Luscious Jackson , ''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 former Stone Roses member John Squire 's new band, The Seahorses . The album, '' Do It Yourself '' was a moderate success. In the 2000s 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 and for many contain the best of Bowie's later work. A list of the best known albums with which he has been associated is available from his official website. Since the end of his marriage to Siegrid, Visconti married and divorced a further two times. From 1971 to 1981 he was married to Mary Hopkin , and they had two children, Morgan and Jessica. For a time in the mid-80s lived with Kim Coe , one of the Exegesis Programme Group Leaders, in Harley House, Euston Road, London. He was then married to May Pang from 1989 to 2000, with whom he also had two children, Sebastian and Lara. 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 forthcoming new 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. It is going to be relased in hardback in the United States in Fall 2007. No eurovision for Morrissey After time off from producing for much of 2007, Visconti is back at work firstly with Pittsburg punk band Anti-Flag and later with Liverpudlians The Zutons . These mark the first recordings since Visconti moved out of his studio at Looking Glass, preferring not to be tied down by the traditional studio which he sees as becoming more a thing of the past.Visconti, Tony "Moving Out and On..." July 2007 (myspace.com/tonyviscontiprods blog) The first project will take place in Lexington, KY and the latter at Allaire Studios in upstate New York. LITERATURE
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