Tony Rich

Anthony Joseph Rich (born March 24,1974 ) professionally known as Tony Rich, is an American musician best known as the founding member, lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist of the rock band called The Tony Rich Project, and is also a solo artist.
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== Biography[edit] ==
=== Early life [edit] ===
Anthony Joseph Rich was born in Lawrence, Texas and grew up in Hope, Arkansas. His father was an accountant of Dutch decent, and his mother was a high school gym teacher of Italian descent. His parents were very supportive to his interests and pushed him to pursue the arts. He was sent to Brooks fine arts academy.
His classmates introduced him to a whole new world, and he soon started discovering things like 60's and 70's music, He also began to discover underground American culture. However, it was his exposure to this new music that would be the heaviest influence on him. It was so different from anything he had ever heard before. Perry had actually taken up the guitar at the age of ten, After hearing the music his classmates were listening to, he found himself becoming even more obsessed with his playing. He would sit in his room for hours, lifting the needle off a record that was playing. He then would try to drop it back down in the same spot, so it would be perfectly in sync with the riff he was playing on his own guitar.
It was at school where he heard Jimi Hendrix for the first time. It was also where he first heard British rock bands like The Who, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds – It was where dreaming about being in a band like Cream. Rich said: "This band called Cream had a sound like I had never heard before, they had guitars that sound like nothing I'd ever heard before. 
In !994 Tony Rich started a band with Archie Monroe, Keith Hudson, and Rodney Taylor named Freeze Frame. They played local colleges and bars in Oklahoma area. Tony not liking the 4-member structure and wanting a tight 3-member band left Freeze Frame in 1998. Wanting to stay working with Archie and Keith he proposed changing to bass or Archie changing to bass. Archie told him there was no way Tony needed to stop playing guitar and that he wanted something in a different direction. Tony kept Rodney and went out in search of another band member.
The original band line-up consisted of Tony Rich on guitar and sometimes lead vocal, Rodney Taylor on Bass and lead vocals, and drummer Ronnie Sellers. This line-up recorded the band's 2001 debut album, Face the Music, which was produced by producer Tom O'Renn. The album was well-received and sold 250,000 copies in America within its first six months of release.
In June 2001, while on tour in support of the album, Ronnie Sellers was fired from the band due to issues with alcohol and his undependable and unpredictable behavior. He was temporarily replaced by drummer Michael Sharp, of the New York-based act Run Rabbit Run, in order for Rich to fulfill concert. He was made a permanent replacement for the next record. Rodney Taylor, Michael Sharp and Tony recorded one album, You Party Animal, which proved to be less successful than the group's debut effort. Fresh Tunes Records executives were reluctant to promote the album, which some believe was due solely on the fact that they were much more interested in a Rich solo project. This resistance from the label, combined with Rich's ongoing drug and financial problems, led to the entire band quitting in 2002.
Equipped with a new record label (DK Records) and two new band members in, bassist Rory St. Croix and drummer Brian Hart, the band released You Can't Stop Rock in 2003. The album met the same fate as its predecessor, selling less than 50,000 copies. Despite the poor sales, The Project went out on a final tour in support of the album, adding Rollie Hadford on Piano
A compilation album, The Best of Tony Rich Project was released in 2006.
From 2006 to 2009 Tony Rich worked as a studio sessions player but also released 3 solo discs on the (DK Records label) they did better success than his band projects each selling upwards of 300,000 copies. The debut solo album Demolition Man (2006) sold the most copies with 550,000 units and was critically acclaimed. He went out on tour from 2005-2007. The tours were monster sales numbers sold out across the US and Europe. The next record was a double record Carousel/Puppets without Strings (2007) It had moderate success but was critical disappointment. The Consensus was that it was too big with too much filler and needed to be cut down in tracks. His final solo record before reforming The Tony Rich Project and completion of his record contract with DK Records was Play Loud (2008). It sold 330,000 units and again he went out on tour in support.
== Reformation[edit] ==
On October 6, 2009, Tony Rich, on his own record label (Greco Records) released first Tony Rich Project record since 2003, titled Roll You Down Under. The first single was called "We've Got a Long Way to the Top." Although the record was planned as a solo record the touring band, he put together was the original line up of Taylor, Sellers and Himself. The new Tony Rich Project went on tour in 2010 through 2011 touring Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
During the 2010–2011 tour, the Tony Rich Project opened to sold out crowds at every venue the played. Titled "Rocking the Free World" was a commercial and critical success. After the end of the tour Tony once again went back to session work and the band went on hiatus. In 2014 Tony wanted to record another The Project LP but Rodney Taylor and Ronnie Sellers were not available due to their commitments to now playing in Death by Radio. So, Tony started to put a new band together and added Jaime Walker on bass and Willie Buffington on Drums. This line up recorded the album South of Rio (2014). The album was a critical masterpiece but failed to do well commercially however it has become by many to consider their best album of music. It is a stripped-down version of acoustic and jazz elements as well as rock prog movement. The Tony Rich Project toured the US, Europe, and South America from 2015-2017. The tour was another huge commercial success. In 2019 Tony worked on a solo album that he fused metal and hard rock concepts with his normal prog and jazz elements. It was a critical disappointment as well as commercially. The album Animetal was released in the fall of 2019. A subsequent tour was planned for 2020 but was canceled due to the Worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Tony Rich announced that the Tony Rich Project would be playing three shows in New England that summer. The lineup for the shows is Larry Frazier (Bass) and Michael Sharp on Drums with Lori Leflin on tour for Piano and keys. The band scheduled two shows in Brazil that same summer. There is also plans for a new studio album fall of 2022. Tony has stated he also will record a solo record to be released in 2022 or 2023.
== Personal life[edit] ==
Rich was married to Jennifer Bougeois from 2001 to 2008. Together they had a son, Adrian. With his second wife, Lori Kennedy, whom he married in 2010, he has two sons, Joe and Roman. She had a son, Aaron, from a previous relationship. Lori and he divorced in 2013. Tony married his third wife Kathleen Cordella in 2014. As of 2014, Rich and his wife had homes in Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida, and Los Angeles.
== Influences ==
He is a huge fan of the early Fleetwood Mac, particularly their first lead guitarist, Peter Green, which explains the occasional inclusion of the FM classics "Stop Messin' Round" and "Rattlesnake Shake" in Tony Rich Project sets. He is also a huge fan of guitarist Jeff Beck and looked at him as one of his influences. Rich was also strongly influenced by Jimi Hendrix as evidenced in particular by some of the playing on the Tony Rich Project albums, and his covering the Hendrix classic "Red House" both with the Project and later solo. He is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page in particular. 
== Equipment[edit] ==
Rich has a collection of about 600 guitars. He prefers Gibson guitars, particularly the Les Paul, with a few models even recreated by the manufacturer as part of their Signature series. One of those, a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, had to be sold by Rich during his 2008 divorce. He finally was able to recover it in 2019 when Ronnis Sellers gave it to him for a birthday gift.
== Discography[edit] ==
=== Studio albums[edit] ===
* Face the Music (2001)
* You Party Animal (2002)
* You Can't Stop Rock and Roll (2003)
* Roll You Down Under (2009)
* South of Rio (2014)
=== Solo albums ===
* Demolition Man (2006)
* Carousel/Puppets without Strings (2007)
* Play Loud (2008)
* Animetal (2019)