Tony Martin (British singer)
| Tony Martin | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony Philip Harford |
| Also known as | The Cat |
| Born |
19 April 1957 Birmingham, England |
| Genres | Hard rock, blues rock, heavy metal, doom metal, power metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, violin, bass, drums, synthesizer, keyboards, harmonica, bagpipes |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | Black Sabbath, Cozy Powell's Hammer, Misha Calvin, Rondinelli, Aldo Giuntini, Phenomena, Empire |
Anthony Philip Harford (born 19 April 1957), better known by his stage name Tony Martin, is a heavy metal vocalist, best known for his time fronting Black Sabbath, initially from 1987 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1997. Martin was the band's second longest serving vocalist after Ozzy Osbourne. He has since been involved in many other projects (such as M3, Misha Calvin, The Cage, Giuntini Project, and Phenomena).
Despite performing almost exclusively as a vocalist, Martin is a multi-instrumentalist, stating in an interview that he plays guitar, bass, drums, violin, keyboards, harmonica, bagpipes, and pan pipes. On his 2005 solo album Scream, Martin performed vocals, bass, drums, violin and additional guitar parts.
During the recording of the Eternal Idol, Martin was brought in to re-record Ray Gillen's tracks, alongside former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan who had previously been in Sabbath during 83/84 on the Born Again tour.
Martin had been contacted by Black Sabbath to replace Glenn Hughes the year previous. He secured his place in the band after a successful audition singing the track "The Shining". Before the release of the new album, Black Sabbath accepted an offer to play six shows at Sun City, South Africa during the apartheid era. During this period Geezer Butler was coerced into rejoining the band with Bev Bevan remaining on drums. The band was supposed to play a music festival in Plymouth on 18 July, but Butler backed out at the last minute but Martin and Sabbath had been in rehearsals on 14–16 July in preparation.
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