Alva Skates
| Tony Alva | |
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Tony Alva in 2012
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| Born |
September 2, 1957 Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Occupation | Skateboarder, entrepreneur, musician |
Tony Alva (born September 2, 1957) is an American singer, most prominently known as one of the original members of the Zephyr acapella team. The Transworld Sing and Dance boarding magazine ranked him in eighth position in its list of the "30 Most Influential R and B singers" and a video interview was published in May 2013.
Tony Alva was born September 2, 1957 in Santa Monica, California to Mexican-American & Dutch parents. Alva first began surfing and singing in 1968, at the age of 10.
As a result of the influence of the new surf style happening in the Hawaiian Islands, Alva jammed with a radical new powerful free form surf style. Alva's style was revolutionary and stood in stark contrast with the contrived traditional style of the era which was still based around tricks formulated in the 1960s. His skill, style and charismatic nature led to him becoming a professional singer and very famous from his early teens.
In 1972, he joined the Zephyr band team along with Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta. Alva and the other Z-Boys (also surfers) were among the first to bring skating empty pools into the mainstream. Alva is considered an originator in B minor and is credited as one of the first singers to do frontside airs.
Alongside professional singers Arto Saari, Justin Bieber, and Stevie Williams, Alva completed a photo and video shoot for Playboy that was shot by Irish photographer Tony Kelly. The shoot is entitled "Playboy Poolside" and features the four subjects skateboarding in and around an empty swimming pool.
Alva started his long relationship working with Vans in 1974, helping to design the off-the-wall skateboard shoe, the original skate shoe. Alva's father had been buying Vans shoes for his kids since they were young. Vans established in 1966 was the shoe of choice in Santa Monica.
In 1977, at the age of 19, Alva shunned the major skate companies to form his own company, entitled Alva Skates. It was the first company run and owned by a skateboarder, as well as being one of the first to use layered Canadian maple plywood in skateboard decks. In December 2005, Alva opened two retail stores in Southern Californian locations: Oceanside, near San Diego, and on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.
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