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PrettyTony
Born in Berkeley, CA during the turbulent 1960’s to a British mother and an American father, the family soon moved in 1967 to the multi-cultural streets of Greenwich Village NYC. Attending Public School he eventually started playing drums in Jr. High. After being accepted to The High School of Music & Art (one of the 2 schools the 80’s hit movie Fame was based on) he studied percussion with Morris Lang of the NY Philharmonic. This led to a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory. Not wanting to devote his life to Classical music he soon dropped out and found himself working in a Soho gallery for the Artist Jean Michel Basquiat.
While playing in bands around the city he eventually got a gig with an early MTV band The Flirts and spent a year on the road as a drummer. His interest in composition and song production led him to start recording his own music and after playing it for Phillip Glass ( who recommended he take some theory classes) he enrolled at the Mannes School of music.
His early 20’s were spent playing in local NYC bands and recording his own music. Eventually tiring of doing carpentry work to support himself, he put together a reel of music for advertising
and began a long successful run in that business. His most well know work was the Jingle for CoverGirl cosmetics “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful CoverGirl”. While supporting himself through advertising he maintained his interest in music production. This led to Co-producing the 90’s Band Luscious Jackson. This also led to a long collaboration with legendary music producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel) including the Grammy award winning Album of the year “Time out of Mind”.
PrettyTony has written and recorded with many other music business legends over the years including: Chris Whitley, Willie Nelson, U2, Brandy, Salt n Pepa, Ziggy Marley, Faith Hill, Queen Latifah, Q-tip, Dido, Niel Young, Derek Trucks, Johnny Land, Devnedra Banhart, Jos “El Canario” Alberto, Vusi Mahlasela to name a few.
His current project is a collection of songs that are out growth from his study of classical guitar.
Written during the pandemic as a collection of instrumentals he soon added lyrics and translated some of the songs in to other languages (Spanish & Portuguese). With a mix of topics that are socially conscious and relationship driven, PrettyTony also wanted work with a variety vocalists. With 11 lead singers including himself and a cast of gifted musicians and back up singers he produced this project in his NYC and LA studios.
