Tony Cox (record producer)

Tony Cox is a British record producer and arranger. As such he was influential in late 1960s and 1970s folk rock developments and the fledgling progressive rock scene, and has since worked primarily as a composer and orchestrator.

Career

He entered the music business as a performer in 1966, and as a duo with Douglas MacRae-Brown released The Young Idea LP in 1967,[1] and had a UK top ten hit single with a cover version of the Lennon-McCartney song "With a Little Help from My Friends".[2] (The album was re-issued on CD in 2009 with previously unreleased tracks.) He continued performing in the studio with various acts he produced such as Trees[3] and Mick Softley.[4] He was an early adopter of the EMS VCS 3 synthesizer and in 1971 played on the Spirogyra album St. Radigunds,[5] and Mike Heron's album Smiling Men With Bad Reputations. In 1972 he played piano with The Bunch alongside Sandy Denny on vocals,[6] and in 1976 he played synth on Martin Carthy's Crown Of Horn LP.[7]

In 1974 he founded Sawmills Studios in Cornwall,[8] one of the first residential recording studios in the UK.[9]

In 1978 he married the singer-songwriter Lesley Duncan,[10] and produced her single "The Magic's Fine".[11] In 1979 produced and arranged the charity single "Sing Children Sing" for the International Year of the Child.[12] In 1982 he produced Duncan's cover version of Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' single.[13] In 1996 they moved to the Isle of Mull, Scotland.[14]

From 1988 to 1990 he worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group as music supervisor, overseeing various shows.[14]

Recently Cox has been composing 'Protomodal' music for instrumental ensemble, creating a uniquely distinctive sound by utilizing unusual modal scales and unorthodox harmonies, mixing rigid composition rules with John Cage like chance elements.[15]

Credits

Producer

Arranger and orchestrator

References
  1. The Young Idea LP, at Discogs.com Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  2. The Young Idea, on officialcharts.com] Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  3. Trees on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  4. Mick Softley on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  5. Spirogyra on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  6. The Bunch on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  7. Martin Carthy on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  8. The Great British Recording Studios, by Howard Massey
  9. Sawmills studio 'about us' Sawmills.co.uk Retrieved 6 November 2016
  10. Interview with Lesley Duncan, at lesleyduncan.net Retrieved 6 November 2016
  11. Lesley Duncan – The Magic's Fine on Discogs.com Retrieved 6 November
  12. Interview with Lesley Duncan, at lesleyduncan.net Retrieved 6 November 2016
  13. Interview with Lesley Duncan, at lesleyduncan.net Retrieved 6 November 2016
  14. Tony Cox, FATTO* – a little about what I’ve done Retrieved 8 November 2017
  15. Tony Cox on Protomodalism Retrieved 8 November 2017
  • The Young Idea LP, at Discogs.com Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  • The Young Idea, on officialcharts.com Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  • Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, by Rob Young. ISBN 0-571-23753-3
  • The Young Idea CD liner notes by Stefan Granados
  • The Great British Recording Studios, by Howard Massey. ISBN 1-4584-2197-X
  • Mick Softley CD Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  • credits on Allmusic.com Retrieved 5 November 2016.
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