Tony Carey


Anthony Lawrence Carey is an American musician, composer, producer, and singer/songwriter. In his early career he was a keyboardist for Rainbow. After his departure in 1977, he began a solo career, releasing albums under his own name as well under the pseudonym Planet P Project, and producing for and performing with other artists.

Early history

Carey had been playing his church's piano during off hours since he was very young, and was permitted to play the pipe organ as well. His family acquired a piano when he was seven, and at the age of eleven he got his first acoustic guitar and formed his first group, which played music by The Mamas and the Papas and others. His father gave him a Lowrey organ for his 14th birthday, and he started a rock band with other neighborhood children, playing music by The Doors. He also played contrabassoon in his school's orchestra.
At age 17, Carey moved to New Hampshire to start a new band called Blessings, which secured a recording contract with ABC Dunhill. After two years, the band was unable to complete its first album. According to Carey, this was due to his own involvement with girls, the producer's drug use, and difficulties with the record label.

Career

Rainbow

While Blessings were in S. I. R. Rehearsal Studios in Hollywood working on material for their unfinished album, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple was in another room, with bassist Jimmy Bain, auditioning musicians for his new band Rainbow. This led to Carey being auditioned, and an invitation to join Rainbow, which he accepted.
He recorded one studio album with Rainbow, the acclaimed 1976 release Rising. Carey's work on the album included the keyboard introduction to the opening track "Tarot Woman", and an extended keyboard solo on the final track "A Light in the Black". During Carey's two world tours with Rainbow, live material was recorded and subsequently released as two double LPs, On Stage and Live in Germany. A six-disc CD box set containing music from the 1976 European leg of the tour, Deutschland Tournee 1976, was released in 2006.
Carey recorded keyboard parts for Rainbow's next studio album, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, many of which he says were included in the final album.

1977–1983: Early solo years

Carey left Rainbow in 1977 and moved to Germany in August 1978, where he began a solo career. During this period he spent many 20-hour days in a recording studio in Frankfurt with his friend and recording engineer Nigel Jopson, together with engineer Andy Lunn. The studio's owner, producer Peter Hauke, allowed Carey to use it for free and he subsequently recorded a great deal of instrumental music in many different styles, and learned how to engineer as well as perform in the studio. Carey's debut solo single Jamie was released in the US and Germany 1981 on the Mirage label, which was owned by Jerry L. Greenberg. But Carey was looking for a direction and at the time he was heavily influenced by bands like Kraftwerk. Yellow Power was released in 1982 as an instrumental album, together with his first recordings as a singer from 1980, In the Absence of the Cat, also released in 1982 on the indie label X-Records. A trio of instrumental albums, Explorer, No Human and Heaven, were also recorded during this period, but were never originally approved for release by Carey.
Tony Carey released I Won't Be Home Tonight on the Rocshire label in 1982, along with the single "West Coast Summer Nights". The album peaked at #167 on the Billboard 200, and the single peaked at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The title track was also released as a single, peaking at #79 on the Hot 100 and #8 on Billboards Top Rock Tracks chart. Following the death of Rocshire's promoter, Stacy Davis, the label's co-owners were imprisoned for embezzlement, resulting in its closure. The album rights and masters for I Won't Be Home Tonight were seized by federal authorities, and they remain the property of the US Internal Revenue Service. Carey found himself without a label.

1983–1985: Planet P Project, Geffen, and MCA

Following the release of I Won't Be Home Tonight, Carey was signed to Geffen Records, and released his first album under the Planet P Project pseudonym, which he would use throughout his career for his more progressive and experimental music. Planet P Project, was released in March 1983 to modest reviews and reached #42 on the Billboard 200. During March, it peaked at #15 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart, with I Won't Be Home Tonight reaching #8.
Two singles were released from Planet P Project: "Why Me", which reached #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #4 in the magazine's Top Rock Tracks chart; and "Static", which reached #24 on Top Rock Tracks. The deal with Geffen stipulated that Carey was not to appear in any Planet P Project music videos or do any personal promotion, as it was in obvious conflict with the Tony Carey albums.
Carey followed this release with his second solo album, Some Tough City, John Kalodner at Geffen didn't like Carey's lyrics so due to a dispute, Carey moved to MCA Records.
In March 1984, MCA released Some Tough City, which peaked at #60 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The single "A Fine, Fine Day" reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #1 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. A follow-up single, "The First Day of Summer", reached #33 on the Hot 100 in July 1984 and appeared in the 1985 film Secret Admirer. Carey opened for Night Ranger on many dates of their 1984 tour in support of this album.
In late 1984, MCA released Planet P Project's Pink World as a double LP, reaching #121 on the Billboard 200. The album is a rock opera for which Carey wrote the lyrics and music, sang all vocals, and played most of the instruments. The single "What I See" reached #25 on Billboards Top Rock Tracks. Both the LP and the single were released on pink vinyl. A music video for two songs on Pink World, "What I See" and "Behind the Barrier", remained in rotation for ten weeks on MTV.
Carey's 1985 final album for MCA, Blue Highway, took a year to record and did not score a hit on radio. Jimmy Barnes sang backing vocals on three songs and Jennifer Rush covered one of its songs, "Live Wire", on her album "Movin'. Carey filed a seven figure lawsuit against Peter Hauke, left Frankfurt and started recording in a studio in Tutzing with Peter Maffay.

1986–1989: Music producer, composer, film soundtracks

Carey began producing and making guest appearances on releases by other artists. In 1986 he produced and co-wrote "Now That You're Gone" by Joe Cocker, the title song from the German movie Schimanski: , starring Götz George.
Carey continued to record soundtracks. In 1987 he released Bedtime Story on Teldec. Chris Thompson sang backing vocals, and Peter Maffay co-wrote three of the tracks. Carey also recorded the soundtrack for Wilder Westen Inclusive, a three-part television film directed by Dieter Wedel. This featured the single "Room With A View", which reached #3 on the German charts in 1989 and received a Gold record.
Carey produced and played keyboards for the 1988 album Chicago Line by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. He also played on albums with artists including Peter Maffay, Milva and Anne Haigis.
In November 1989, Carey released the album For You, on Metronome records which was produced by Carey and Nigel Jopson. This featured the single "I Feel Good", reached #35 on the German charts and was featured in the German television movie Tatort: Katjas Schweigen. A second single from For You, "No Man's Land", featured Eric Burdon and Anne Haigis.

1990–1999

In November 1990 Carey released the album Storyville, the last on Metronome records. It was produced by Carey and Sebastian Thorer and like the previous album was recorded at Carey's recording studio in Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany. "The Deal" and "Trampoline" were released as singles. Carey also produced, played several instruments and wrote four of the songs on Chris Norman's 1991 album Interchange.
With a new record deal with the international East West, Carey released The Long Road in April 1992, produced by Erwin Musper. "Wonderland" and "Jail" were the singles from the album.
In the autumn 1994 he released Cold War Kids on East West, his last solo album with a major record label. Carey produced the album with guitarist Ken Rose and Ben Wisch, and five of the songs were co-written with Rose. The title track was the only single from the album. Carey said in 2019: "East West Records was now Universal like everyone else. They sent me to New York City to Quad Studios in Times Square. They paid $450,000 for an album I did called Cold War Kids. I had an ironclad promise that they’d release it world-wide so I could capitalise on the success I’d had in the ’80’s. It ended up being released in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Germany and no English-speaking countries. When they wouldn’t release it or promote it, I walked into the record company with a cheque and told them that I was gone and at that point I left the music business in 1994." During 1994, Carey also spent a month in rehab.
In 1995 he sang and co-wrote the single "Birds in Cages", which was featured in the soundtrack to the German TV movie The Ice Princess, starring Katarina Witt. Carey also produced, wrote music and played on three albums with Swiss singer Natacha.
In 1999, BMG Germany released the album Gefangen im Jemen, a soundtrack to a TV movie, starring Peter Maffay and directed by Peter Patzak. The Boystown Tapes was also released the same year on Happy Street Records. It featured songs recorded between 1990 and 1998, some of which were outtakes originally intended for other albums.