Tony Scalzo (born May 6, 1964 in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii) is an American rock musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the band

Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

Early life

Tony Scalzo was born in Hawaii to a mother from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and an Italian-American father from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

but moved quite often as a child because his father was a

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

. Scalzo began playing bass guitar in the 1980s and soon began forming bands. He has four children: Scarlett, Claudia, Gabriel, and Henry Scalzo.

Career

In 1994, Scalzo left his punk/pop group The Goods and made the decision to relocate to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

to join the Beaver Nelson Band. However, he ended up leaving the group and helped form the band

. The new group was composed of Scalzo and two of his former bandmates, Joey Shuffield and Miles Zuniga. Fastball was signed by

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

and began touring the country. Their second album had Top Ten hits in six countries in the middle of 1998, and the album soon went platinum. Scalzo describes his success as being "a big homegrown thing." Scalzo also wrote their hit song, " The Way". In 2013, Scalzo released his first studio album, ''

My Favorite Year ''My Favorite Year'' is a 1982 American comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo from a story written by Palumbo. The film tells the story of a young comedy write ...

''. It was engineered by Joe Blaney, who helped to engineer

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

's fifth album ''

Combat Rock ''Combat Rock'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records. In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 in ...

''. Work on the album started on 2011, when Tony started a

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program. Some of the songs were co-written with his Fastball colleague Miles Zuniga and were intended to be Fastball tracks, but were not included in any of the band's records.

Discography

Fastball

Solo

*''

'' (2013)

Filmography

*Screw Cupid (2007) (completed) (writer: "Lonely Heart") *Summer Catch (2001) (writer: "Every Time She Walks") *Loser (2000) (writer: "Out Of My Head") *"Charmed" Fastball (1 episode, 2000)

References

External links

Official Fastball website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scalzo, Tony 1964 births Living people American people of Italian descent American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American rock keyboardists American rock singers American rock songwriters American male singer-songwriters Musicians from Honolulu Guitarists from Hawaii 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Singer-songwriters from Hawaii