Anthony Strong (born 29 October 1984) is an English

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer, pianist, and songwriter.

Early life

Strong was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, Surrey, England and educated at

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

, the Royal Academy of Music, the

Purcell School The Purcell School for Young Musicians is a specialist music school for children, located in the town of Bushey, south Hertfordshire, England, and is the oldest specialist music school in the UK. The school was awarded the UNESCO Mozart Medal ...

, and

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree in

jazz piano Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instru ...

Career

During his final years as a music student, Strong worked as a sideman and session musician with Charlotte Church,

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

, Marti Pellow, and Jocelyn Brown, and appeared on television shows. In 2009, Strong recorded his debut album, ''Guaranteed!'', written with Guy Mathers and Jamie Pullen and featuring eight originals and a version of "

I Won't Dance "I Won't Dance" is a song with music by Jerome Kern that has become a jazz standard. The song has two different sets of lyrics: the first written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach in 1934, and second written by Dorothy Fields (though Jimmy ...

", with performances from singer Natalie Williams, vibraphonist Lewis Wright, and double bass player Tom Farmer of Empirical. In 2011, he appeared on '' Friday Night Is Music Night'' with actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company and on BBC Radio 2's New Year's Eve special at the

Savoy Ballroom The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem ...

, where he performed "

Baby, It's Cold Outside "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...

" as a duet with

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, '' Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sin ...

. He was the piano player for

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

in the 2011 Super Bowl commercial

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ir ...

's "Crying Jean". Strong also took on an understudy role as

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...

in the West End musical

Million Dollar Quartet "Million Dollar Quartet" is a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash made on December 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. An article about the session ...

, during which time he released his second record, ''Delovely'', a five-track EP of standards with one original by Strong and Mathers, "Going Nowhere". Strong and Mathers's songs are published as an occasional series in ''

Areté ''Areté'' was an arts magazine, published three times a year, edited and founded in 1999 by the poet Craig Raine. The magazine aimed to give detailed coverage of theatre, fiction, and poetry, while also serving as a platform for new writing in ...

''. He is associated with the city of Paris, where he supported

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

Le Grand Rex Le Grand Rex is a Parisian cinema and concert venue. Location and access It is located at , boulevard Poissonnière in the 2nd arrondissement, on the grands boulevards. Its facades and roofs, as well as its hall and its decor have been li ...

and played twelve shows at

Le Duc des Lombards Le Duc des Lombards is one of the main jazz clubs in Paris, France. It was founded in 1984 and is in the rue des Lombards, which hosts several other famous jazz clubs including Le Baiser Salé and the Sunset/Sunside. The Duc des Lombards club is ...

. In January 2013, it was announced that he had signed a recording contract with Parisian label

Naïve Records Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music. Founding and expansion It was founded in 1998 by Patrick Zelnik, former CEO of Virgin France, Gilles Paire ...

, which released "Stepping Out" in 2013. In 2015, he released his album ''On a Clear Day''.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Anthony 1984 births Living people English jazz singers English jazz pianists English male songwriters 21st-century English singers 21st-century British pianists