Tony Franklin

Biography

Tony Franklin: Englishman, fretless bassist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter,vocalist, producer and arranger, born in the "House of the Rising Sun"---it's TRUE!! At the time of Tony's birth, his parents owned and lived in a Public House (more commonly referred to as a 'pub') in Derby (pronouced Darby!) England, called 'The Rising Sun'. His parents were both musicians, as were his Grandparents, Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, so it wasn't difficult for Tony to follow in the family tradition. He started performing with his parents band from the age of six, and this continued on a regular basis into his later teens. He worked at Rolls-Royce aero engines for a couple of years, where he was training to be a draftsman. But it didn't last, and at 18, Tony joined a ten piece dance band--'Pete's People'-- on the famed Mecca ballroom circuit and has been a full-time musician ever since.

Tony lent his hand to many styles of music through those early years--classical, jazz, big-band, theatre...and Rock'n'Roll.. he also played and experimented on a wide variety of instruments..in fact the bass was one of the last instruments he picked up: given to him one day as his parents' band rehearsed, (Tony was not in on this rehearsal and was consequently very bored)..so it was hoped that the bass would relieve his boredom a little. It did much more than that! Tony clearly remembers the moment (he was 11 years old), when he first started playing the bass.."I knew it was the instrument I'd been waiting for". And with all his musical experience prior to that moment, it meant that his learning curve on the bass was short..in fact he was out on tour (with his parents) just three days later, playing bass! "I got my first taste of callouses right there!".His first bass was a red 'Futurama', with black nylon strings, something he's never seen the likes of since! It wasn't long before he traded in the Futurama for his first 'real' bass~ a 1973 Fender Precision bass, that he still owns and plays regularly. I wonder what happened to that old red Futurama...

The Birmingham (England) based Mecca band put Tony in contact with a whole new circle of musicians. It was there that he met and worked with Roy Harper, The English cult folk hero ("Hats off to(Roy) Harper"--Led Zep III, Roy sang "Have a cigar" on Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' album ).This led to a studio album with Roy ("Work of Heart") and a tour of the United Kingdom to back up the album.Tony went on to record five more albums with Roy, including " Whatever Happened to Jugula", which reunited Roy with his old friend Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame. Jimmy was impressed enough with Tony, to ask Roy if he could "borrow" his bass player for a couple of months. Jimmy had recently joined forces with Free/ Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers on the North American "A.R.M.S." tour. The tour, which was a benefit in aid of Multiple Schlorosis had resparked Jimmy's interest in performing live once again, a desire that had not surfaced since the sad passing of his friend John Bonham, Led Zeppelin's drummer. Zeppelin could not continue without 'Bonzo', and a replacement was unthinkable.

Jimmy and Paul had a chemistry and they decided to make a go of it. Jimmy was left in charge of recruiting the band members. The all important drum seat was filled by Chris Slade of Manfred Mann's Earth band and Tom Jones' fame. But Jimmy had to wait until Chris came off the road from the Dave Gilmour tour. Jimmy didn't mind, Chris was a monster drummer and well worth the wait. The bass slot was not so easy. Pino Palladino jammed with them for a while, and it was feeling pretty good, but Pino was a busy guy, and the band was still in it's early stages. This was when Jimmy met Tony..

Tony takes up the story.."Jimmy asked me if I'd like to come down and sit in on the rehearsals with him, Paul and Chris, and I said "Of course,I'd love to". I wasn't in the band, it was a try out to see how things felt. It was the longest audition I've ever had! After a few weeks of giving it my absolute all, I came up with the bass line on The Righteous Brothers song "You've lost that Lovin' Feeling", which we were covering as a possibility for the album. Jimmy liked the line and said "That's nice, we'll have you come and play that on the album". I don't know what I said, but I know I was very happy..putting it mildly! So I continued giving it my all, until a couple of weeks later Jimmy said, " Are you doing anything for the next few months?" "No, I don't think so", I said."Do you want to join the band?" I didn't need long to think about it! And I don't remember my response exactly, but I know that it was "Yes!"."

And so The Firm was born. Recording began almost immediately, and it was a quick and easy process."It felt so natural", says Tony,"all the songs were recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs. Some of the vocal takes were live one takers sung through an SM-57 mike..Paul Rodgers is amazing". Tony also covered all the keyboard duties, a role that would also extend to the band's live performances. The experience of participating with and observing Jimmy Page's work in the studio made a deep impression on Tony. "It was incredible to watch this master at work. I have drawn on that experience, frequently."

Huge European and American tours followed, and a hit single "Radioactive", soared up the U.S. charts. It was 1985, and Tony felt like he was on top of the world. All his teenage dreams of limousines, airplanes, playing at Madison Square Gardens and all that went with it, had come true. Another album "Mean Business" was recorded and released in the Spring of 1986. It included a composition of Tony's called "Dreaming", which pretty much summed up how this whole experience felt to him. Another huge American tour followed, and though "Mean Business" did not have the fire or the commercial success of it's predecessor, the live shows were a definite hit, with sell out shows across the country.

And then, before you knew it, it ended. The dream was over. The Firm disbanded. Apparently, it was always going to be a two album deal, to see how it felt, and maybe it would continue, if it felt right. Maybe the second album's performance was a disappointment, maybe there was tension in the ranks. Whatever happened, The Firm was a great musical moment in time..

Tony continued to work with Jimmy on his solo album "Outrider", with Jason Bonham on drums, and vocalists John Miles and Chris Farlowe. Tony was restless though, and he'll be the first to admit that he didn't handle his departure from Jimmy Page as smoothly as he could have."Hindsight's a wonderful thing", reflects Tony.

Opportunity was coming his way though, in the form of Cozy Powell and John Sykes. The two ex-Whitesnake team-mates were teaming up again in an exciting new outfit that would later be called Blue Murder. It was spear-headed by Sykes, who was brimming over with ideas since his departure from Whitesnake who's self titled 1987 album, was zooming up the charts, destined to sell over 20 million units worldwide: most of the songs co-written by John with David Coverdale. John Sykes was a hot commodity at this time and Geffen Records under the watchful eye of John David Kalodner (who had also been the guiding light for the Whitesnake 1987 album), wasted no time in signing up John Sykes to a healthy two album deal, on the strength of a four song home demo, even before there was a band.

Cozy Powell departed and Carmine Appice arrived: the drumming legend of Vanilla Fudge and Rod Stewart fame, completed the line up, and the chemistry was perfect. And with the addition of Nik Green on keyboards, who had worked with Tony in the Roy Harper days, the team went to work to record their debut self titled album, "Blue Murder". The album was released in the Spring of 1989 and things looked promising. It was a good sounding record, produced by Bob Rock and mixed by Mike Frazer. It seemed like it was made for that era, and with such talent and a powerful record label, how could it fail? That was the feeling in the Industry and in the band. But you know the saying.."Pride before a fall".. this album came SO close to breaking big, it's not funny..or at least it wasn't at the time...The band toured extensively, including a hugely successful tour of Japan, but by the Fall of '89 it was apparent that the album was not going to make it. Tony tried to drown his sorrows in alcohol and other excesses, but the pain wouldn't go away...In December of 1989, Blue Murder went home, and would never be the same again.

Tony decided it was time for a change, and began straightening out his life. He started exercising, meditating and eating healthily. He relocated to Los Angeles, fell in love and felt better than ever. Blue Murder was still alive, but the magic had gone. They managed to record one more album, but by the time it was released in 1994, Tony and Carmine were no longer in the band. And so began a new era in Tony's life. He'd always gone from one situation to another without even trying. Now he was in a new city, with a few contacts and a lot of ideas..

Tony wanted to make his own album, so he began writing and putting together the pieces of his dream. He had no idea that it would be the end of that decade before the dream came true. Meanwhile, Tony performed and recorded with a huge and diverse blend of musical artists and styles. In late 1993, he toured the U.S. with his old Firm-friend Paul Rodgers. Paul was touring to back up his recent tribute to Muddy Waters album. The live show contained classic Free songs, including "All Right Now", and some Bad Company favourites, including "Feel like Makin' Love", "Can't Get Enough " and "Bad Company". It was a rocking show! The drummer in the band was ex-Chic's Tony Thompson and following this tour, the two Tony's went off to back Japanese super-star, Mari Hamada on her European tour.

And so began an eclectic few years of touring and recording for Tony, as he appeared with a wide variety of different artists, covering a huge array of styles and sounds. He recorded and toured with Gary Hoey, the blues-rock guitar ace, who scored a couple of hits with classy remakes of "Hocus Pocus" (by Focus), and War's "Low Rider". Tony recorded an album on upright bass, with popular New Age duo, Celestial Winds. He toured with Alvin Lee of Ten Years after, and Eric Burdon of The Animals. He recorded with Tony MacAlpine, the neo-Classical guitar and piano virtuoso. And let's not forget his performance with David Gilmour and Kate Bush at The London Palladium as part of 'The Secret Policeman's Third Ball'.

In 1995 Tony received a call from his long time friend, Donna Lewis.She had just signed a handsome deal with Atlantic Records and was starting work on her debut album. Tony added his fretless magic on the album which would be called "Now In A Minute", which is a quirky saying from Donna's Welsh home-land. In the Summer of 1996, Donna's first single, "I Love You Always Forever" was released and proceeded to be a huge world-wide hit. Tony toured extensively with Donna and appeared on many popular T.V. shows including 'The Rosie O'Donnel Show', 'Beverly Hills 90210', 'Late Night with David Letterman', 'Good Morning America', 'Top of the Pops' in the U.K., 'Don't Forget Your Toothbrush'(!), in Finland, and many, many more.

Tony was still writing songs and working towards the goal of making his own album. He knew that his dream was going to happen, but he didn't yet know when, or how..

In 1996, Tony appeared on an album with Carmine Appice, his rhythm-section partner from Blue Murder, called Guitar Zeus. Along with Kelly Keeling, who was also in a later incarnation of Blue Murder, the album featured many stellar performances from a number of world class guitarists, including Brian May of Queen, Ted Nugent, Ritchie Sambora, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Morse, Zakk Wilde, Vivian Campbell and others. Other projects at this time included recording with Gary 'Dream Weaver' Wright, another two albums with Roy 'the boy' Harper, a second album with Donna Lewis, and a tour with Whitesnake, billed as their farewell "Last Hurrah" tour, which extensively covered Europe, Japan and South America.

Tony and Carmine again joined forces in 1997, on an interesting project called Pearl, named after a Janis Joplin song. Released only in Japan, the band also contained singer Naomi 'Sho-ta' Tamura, and guitarist Kenji Kitajima. Both of these native Japanese performers were well known in their home country. Tony had played on an album of Naomi's a year earlier that went Platinum and produced a number one single. Pearl recorded two albums and toured exclusively in Japan.

The time spent in Japan enabled Tony to make some good friends and business contacts. He struck a up a special friendship with Pearl's producer, Keisuke 'Moonlight' Tsukimitsu. Tony shared his dream with Tsukimitsu, who felt he could secure a deal for Tony in Japan and Asia, in spite of the then ailing Japanese economy. A little over a year later, Tony signed a two album deal with JVC/ Victor Entertainment, and in the Summer of 1999 began work on his first solo record. The dream was finally coming true.

Few people know about the writing skills and the multi-instrumental and vocal abilities of Mr. Franklin. He had a vision, and went about the recording, performing all the instruments, except the drums and strings, himself. He played all electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, fretless bass (of course!), sang all the lead vocals and backgrounds (with some additional back ups from his wife Heidi), put on some clarinet, recorder, percussion and upright bass, wrote the string arrangements AND produced it.! Tony says: "I think this album will take a few people by surprise. It's not bass-heavy, but there's some nice bass on it all the same. I attempted to write the best songs I could and then play and record them as they needed to be, to allow the song to speak. I think the bottom line for any great album is good songs. I decided to play the instruments myself because I knew what I wanted."

The next few years were a productive series of interesting projects and recordings. One that stood out was Tony being the Musical Director for the "Top Secret" Line 6 Guitar Port project in 2001. Tony produced and reproduced close to 100 Classic Rock tunes, utilizing the talents of some of the greatest musicians in the world: Simon Phillips, Gregg Bissonette, Leland Sklar, Jason Bonham, Stephen Perkins, Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Derek Sherinian, Kelly Keeling and more. Tony played a good portion of the bass lines himself as well as contributing rhythm guitar parts and keyboard lines. The depth and variety of the material was staggering - Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, The Foo Fighters, The Who, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, The Rolling Stones, U2, the list goes on. Tony also contributed 30 original "jam along" tracks, where users get to play with the likes of the musicians named above. All you need is a guitar, a computer, the Guitar Port box, an Internet connection and the desire to jam!!

The Guitar Port project also brought together Tony and vocalist Scott Kail, who had fronted the band, Wonderland. Scott came as a recommendation from Keely Keeling. Tony was looking for a vocalist who could "do" Mick Jagger! Scott did such a convincing job that he ended up singing on a large number of the tracks - Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Queen, Nirvana and others. He later sang the majority of the songs on Tony's "Wonderland" album, released in Japan in 2003.

Tony continues to do sessions, writing, one-off gigs and various projects, as well as numerous recordings at his home studio. With the birth of his daughter in 2003, Tony accepted the position of Artist Relations Manager at FENDER, handling many of Fender's Specialty Brands, SWR in particular. In January of 2006, Tony was honored by Fender with the launch of the Tony Franklin Fretless Precision Bass®. In the same month, Sony released Tony's first sample loop library, called "Tony Franklin: Not Just Another Pretty Bass".

Tony has many new projects in the works. He comments, "this is only the beginning. Though I have accomplished a lot, there is much more to do. I'm excited about the future."

Stay tuned...