Anthony Crawford (born June 29, 1981) is an American bassist, songwriter, producer, and

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

from Memphis, Tennessee. He is best known for working with

Chon CHON is a mnemonic acronym for the four most common elements in living organisms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The acronym CHNOPS, which stands for ''c''arbon, ''h''ydrogen, ''n''itrogen, ''o''xygen, ''p''hosphorus, ''s''ulfur, r ...

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

, Peabo Bryson,

Howard Hewett Howard Hewett Jr. (born October 1, 1955) is an American singer–songwriter. Hewett rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the group Shalamar. In 1985, he left the group to pursue his solo career, but he later returned to the group in 2001. He sig ...

Shalamar Shalamar () is an American R&B and soul music vocal group active since the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Shalamar's classic line-up on the SOLAR label consisted of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel, together with dancer ...

, Kirk Whalum,

Phil Perry Philip Eugene Perry (born January 12, 1952) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group, The Montclairs, from 1971 to 1975. He was also known for performing the opening song to Disney’s sitcom, ''Goof ...

, Glen Jones, and Karen Briggs. Crawford also played bass for the National Democratic Convention for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

in 2000.

Early life

Anthony Crawford was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, into a musical family including his father, drummer Hubert "H-Bomb" Crawford, and his uncle,

Hank Crawford Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) was an American Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter whose genres ranged from Rhythm and blues, R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, and soul jazz. Crawford was ...

, a well-known saxophonist. Hubert Crawford played with many notable acts, including

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

The Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of record chart, charting single (music), singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, Hot R&B/Hip ...

, The Eric Gales Band, Mark Farner of " Grand Funk Railroad", and

Ann Peebles Ann Lee Peebles (born April 27, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s for Hi Records. Two of her most popular songs are " I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband ...

. Anthony Crawford was considered a musical prodigy. At the age of 14, he sat in with the Bette Midler band. He later honed his talent while performing with a variety of Memphis community choirs and churches.

Career

After being discovered by several notable producers, including

Angelo Earl Angelo Earl is an American guitarist, record producer, songwriter and owner of Soul Street Records. Earl is most widely known for playing electric guitar on Al Green's "He Is The Light", Bobby Rush's "Southern Soul", the Bar-kays' "The Real Thi ...

, Crawford was asked to play at the National Democratic Convention for Bill Clinton. The word began to spread and, in 2002, he appeared in a Burger King commercial with basketball icon,

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

. This eventually led to him playing with well-known pop vocalist

. Crawford began serving as a bassist in the legendary R&B group

in 2004. Shortly after, he performed on tours and a DVD release with Shalamar frontman Howard Hewett. Crawford worked with saxophonist Kirk Whalum and the pair donated their talents to create the soundtrack for a documentary film featuring

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, Melinda Gates, and

called

Miss HIV Miss HIV is a feature-length documentary by Ethnographic Media, released to DVD on August 26, 2008. Written and directed by Jim Hanon (Beyond the Gates of Splendor, End of the Spear), and produced by Mart Green, the film explores the internation ...

, which was filmed in Toronto, Canada and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Crawford relocated from Memphis to Los Angeles, and began to widely proliferate on the LA scene. In 2010, he released his debut solo album, "Urban Jazz". In December 2010, Crawford joined Virgil Donati's group for their upcoming tour. In 2017, Crawford served as studio bassist for

CHON CHON is a mnemonic acronym for the four most common elements in living organisms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The acronym CHNOPS, which stands for ''c''arbon, ''h''ydrogen, ''n''itrogen, ''o''xygen, ''p''hosphorus, ''s''ulfur, r ...

's ''Homey'' album. In 2019, Crawford served for

's self-titled album.

Discography

Anthony Crawford: * 2017

Witherfall Jake Dreyer (born May 2, 1992) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist and songwriter for the progressive metal band Witherfall and former lead guitarist for Iced Earth. He was also a touring and session guitarist for the bands Demon ...

"Nocturnes and Requiems" * 2010 ''Urban Jazz'' World Overcomers Outreach Ministry: * ''Kingdom Liberation LIVE'' FreeSol * ''11:11'' Howard Hewett * ''Intimate'' Delight * ''Rita Marie Valle'' Solstice * ''Exploration=Discovery'' * ''Hyperspace Wavelength Travel'' The Tim Terry Experience * ''Self-titled'' Floyd Taylor * ''No Doubt'' CHON * ''Homey'' * ''CHON''

References

External links

Anthony Crawford website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Anthony 1981 births Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee Living people Songwriters from Tennessee American jazz musicians Jazz musicians from Tennessee