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 Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...

, Genesis,

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

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. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

, then in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

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 by Ne ...

. He started out in 1966 as a DJ in Windsor, 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

UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived UK underground, British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (political activist), John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry r ...

, 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 beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United State ...

.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 Genesis, 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 (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

(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. Mercury Records released ...

in London, Anthony was asked by Lou Reizner to produce an album by Van der Graaf Generator. Tony Stratton Smith, the manager of Van der Graaf Generator, was so impressed with the resulting '' The Aerosol Grey Machine'' that he hired Anthony as an A&R man and staff producer at the newly formed Charisma Records. In late 1971 Anthony formed Neptune Productions, his own production company with the owners of Trident Studios 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 is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

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