John Anthony (record producer)

John Anthony (born 3 December 1944) is an English music producer. He has worked with Van der Graaf Generator, Genesis, Queen, Roxy Music and Peter Hammill.

Career

Anthony was born in North Shields. He started out in 1966 as a DJ in Windsor, where two years later he sang briefly with two bands The Soul Agents and Hogsnort Rupert and The Good Good Band.[1] After moving to London, he worked as a club DJ at The Roundhouse, the UFO Club, and Middle Earth, and then in 1968 at the Speakeasy.[2] After having produced and recorded a demonstration disc for Yes in 1968, he started his years as a music producer,[2] eventually producing all the acts in the 1971 "Six Bob Tour", featuring Genesis, Lindisfarne, and Van der Graaf Generator.[3] He had a saying for producing music: "There's one right way to do an album, and four hundred wrong ones."[4]

In 1969 as A & R man for Mercury Records in London he signed and produced Smile which included Brian May and Roger Taylor of later Queen-fame.[5] At Mercury Anthony was asked by Lou Reizner to produce an album by Van der Graaf Generator. Tony Stratton-Smith, the manager of VdGG, was so impressed with the resulting The Aerosol Grey Machine that he hired Anthony as an A&R man and staff producer at the newly formed Charisma Records.[6] In late 1971 Anthony formed Neptune Productions, his own production company with the owners of Trident Studios and signed Queen to Neptune in late 1971.[7] In 1973, Anthony and producer Roy Thomas Baker heard a demo tape by Queen and decided to help them by coproducing their eponymous debut album Queen (1973).[8]

Anthony moved to the USA in 1975 and became head of A & R at A&M Records in New York,[9] where he signed Garland Jeffreys and The Stranglers. Anthony left the record industry in the early 1980s.

Credits

Release Date Artist Album Title
September 1969 Van der Graaf Generator The Aerosol Grey Machine
late 1969 Rare Bird Rare Bird
February 1970 Van der Graaf Generator The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other
Spring 1970 Affinity Affinity
23 October 1970 Genesis Trespass
November 1970 Lindisfarne Nicely Out of Tune
December 1970 Van der Graaf Generator H to He, Who Am the Only One
1971 Colin Scot Colin Scot
July 1971 Peter Hammill Fool's Mate
October 1971 Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts
12 November 1971 Genesis Nursery Cryme
1 January 1972 Al Stewart Orange
24 March 1973 Roxy Music For Your Pleasure
May 1973 Peter Hammill Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night
13 July 1973 Queen Queen
1974 Ace Five-A-Side
1974 A Foot in Coldwater All Around Us[10]
1974 Headstone Bad Habit
1975 Headstone Headstone
1976 Piper Piper[11]
Spring 1976 Arrogance Rumors
1977 The Tubes Now
November 1977 Roxy Music Greatest Hits
29 November 2004 Genesis Platinum Collection
2008 Queen Queen: The Singles Collection Volume 1
10 November 2008 Genesis Genesis 1970–1975

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-anthony-mn0000217011/biography
  2. 1 2 Christopulos & Smart, 30-31
  3. ↑ Thompson, 68
  4. ↑ Frith, 111
  5. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2368614/Queen-Freddie-Mercury-felt-like-god-Then-started-behaving-like-man-signed-band.html
  6. ↑ http://www.themarqueeclub.net/?q=charisma
  7. ↑ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VyBp_VEiIVYC&pg=PT101&lpg=PT101&dq=%22John+anthony%22+%22neptune+productions%22&source=bl&ots=ZZICWYJQBM&sig=m2YvVkEh40tDkDmyCaAiJ0s21A8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uO3tU6-BNaSw7AaD94CACw&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22John%20anthony%22%20%22neptune%20productions%22&f=false
  8. ↑ Bronson, 523
  9. ↑ Christopulos & Smart, 178
  10. ↑ "Hot Flashes" (18 May 1974) Billboard Magazine p. 55
  11. ↑ "The Chart" (22 Jan 1977) Billboard Magazine

Bibliography

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