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Tony Visconti
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Tony Visconti was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Italian descent. As a teenager he played ukulele, guitar, tuba and double bass, and in the 1960s he worked as a guitarist in nightclubs and small bands. In 1966 he had a modest regional success with his then wife under the name Tony and Siegrid. In 1968 he moved to London, after the producer Denny Cordell had asked him to work on recordings by Georgie Fame. There he grew into one of the most important producers of British pop music.
Music and breakthrough
His first big hit was Ride a White Swan by T. Rex in 1970. With Marc Bolan he made a series of hits, with Electric Warrior in 1971 as the high point. He also produced the first records of Gentle Giant and Osibisa, worked with The Iveys, the later Badfinger, and wrote the string arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run. Later he worked with the Moody Blues, the Manic Street Preachers and Angelique Kidjo, among others, for whom he won a Grammy.
Influence
His longest collaboration was with David Bowie. From 1968 until Blackstar in 2016 he produced a large part of Bowie's records, including Low and Heroes from 1977. A producer like Visconti is rarely visible, yet he determines the sound: how the drums sound, how the space is built up, which instruments are given the foreground. In the story of pop music behind the Iron Curtain he turns up as the man who assisted Bowie in Berlin on the recordings in which the singer Antonia Maass also took part.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Magazine: Rock Behind the Iron CurtainNL Magazine