Anthony Rains "Tony" Berg (born October 21, 1954) is an American musician,

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and A&R representative, in which role he has been described as an "industry guru". Berg's music career began in the late 1970s as a

session guitarist Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

who appeared on notable releases by artists including

Air Supply Air Supply is a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975. It consists of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five hit ...

and

Debby Boone Deborah Anne Boone (born September 22, 1956) is an American singer, author, and actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, " You Light Up My Life", which spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the ...

, as well as on ''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...

'' LP and several ''

Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...

'' records. In the early 1980s, Berg founded Zeitgeist Studios. His first major success was with

Michael Penn Michael Daniel Penn (born August 1, 1958) is an American musician, singer and composer. He is noted for the 1989 single " No Myth", a top 20 hit in the US and successful in several other countries. Early life Penn was born in the Greenwich Vi ...

's 1989 debut ''

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

''. From there Berg went on to produce for

Edie Brickell Edie Arlisa Brickell (born March 10, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter widely known for 1988's ''Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars'', the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went to No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' albums chart. ...

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

, Altered State,

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...

, and numerous other artists. In the early 1990s, Berg became an A&R executive with

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, where he played a role in signing artists including

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

Wild Colonials Wild Colonials are an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1992 by Angela McCluskey (vocals), Shark (guitar/vocals/percussion), Paul Cantelon (violin/piano), Scott Roewe (multi-instrumentalist) and Ian Bernard (dru ...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sometimes abbreviated to BRMC) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. The group originally consisted of Peter Hayes (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass, guitar), and Ni ...

, and

At the Drive-In At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (dru ...

. During this time he continued to produce records and play on a wide variety of releases, among them

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

's '' Up''. In 2004 Berg founded Three Records with industry veteran Michael Rosenblatt and producer

Eric Valentine Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride. He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets, Tak ...

. Their first release was

Mellowdrone Mellowdrone is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1999. Biography Mellowdrone originated as Jonathan Bates' solo project, but expanded to a full band with Tony DeMatteo (guitar and keyboards), Scott Ellis (drums) and Greg Griffi ...

's ''Box''.

Personal life

His brothers are Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and journalist

A. Scott Berg Andrew Scott Berg (born December 4, 1949) is an American biographer. After graduating from Princeton University in 1971, Berg expanded his senior thesis on editor Maxwell Perkins into a full-length biography, ''Max Perkins: Editor of Genius'' (1 ...

, and Jeff Berg,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

International Creative Management ICM Partners is a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C. and London. ICM (International Creative Management) Partners represents clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publi ...

. His daughter is musician

Z Berg Elizabeth Anne "Z" Berg (born June 28, 1986) is an American musician. She was a founding member, guitarist, and lead vocalist of the indie rock group the Like. Berg's father is former Geffen Records A&R exec/record producer Tony Berg. Musical c ...

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Tony 1954 births American male guitarists American rock guitarists Record producers from Connecticut Living people