John Anthony (born 3 December 1944) is an English music producer. He has worked with

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success i ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...

and

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...

Career

Anthony was born in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, then in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

now in

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

. He started out in 1966 as a DJ in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, Berkshire, where two years later he sang briefly with two bands: the Soul Agents, and Hogsnort Rupert and the Good Good Band. After moving to London, he worked as a club DJ at

The Roundhouse The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhous ...

, the

UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry readings, well-known rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix, ...

, and

Middle Earth Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

, and then in 1968 at the

Speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States ...

.Christopulos & Smart, 30-31 After having produced and recorded a demonstration disc for Yes in 1968, he started his years as a music producer, eventually producing all the acts in the 1971 "Six Bob Tour", featuring

, Lindisfarne, and

. He had a saying for producing music: "There's one right way to do an album, and four hundred wrong ones." In 1969 as an

artists and repertoire Artists and repertoire (colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumentalist ...

(A&R) man for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

in London, Anthony was asked by Lou Reizner to produce an album by Van der Graaf Generator.

Tony Stratton-Smith Tony Stratton-Smith (29 October 1933 – 19 March 1987) was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He founded the London-based record label Charisma Records in 1969 and managed rock groups such as the Nice, Van der Graaf Generator and ...

, the manager of VdGG, was so impressed with the resulting ''

The Aerosol Grey Machine ''The Aerosol Grey Machine'' is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was first released in the United States in 1969 by Mercury Records. Content The album was originally intended as a solo album ...

'' that he hired Anthony as an A&R man and staff producer at the newly formed

Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der ...

. In late 1971 Anthony formed Neptune Productions, his own production company with the owners of

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

and signed Queen to Neptune in late 1971. Anthony moved to the US in 1975 and became head of A&R at

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

in New York.Christopulos & Smart, 178

Credits

References

Bibliography

* Bronson, Paul (2003). ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits,'' 5th ed. Billboard Books. * Christopulos, J., & Smart, P. (2005). ''Van der Graaf Generator, The Book: A History of the Band Van der Graaf Generator 1967 to 1978''. Phil and Jim Publishers. * Frith, Simon (1981). ''Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll''. Pantheon Books. * Thompson, Dave (2004). ''Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Genesis''. Hal Leonard Corporation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, John 1944 births Living people Musicians from Tyne and Wear English record producers People from North Shields Engineers from Tyne and Wear