Tony LeMans was an American singer and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, associated with

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and signed to Prince's

Paisley Park Records Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album '' Purple Rain''. Th ...

Biography

Tony LeMans was born Antony L. Fortier on July 14, 1963, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, United States. He attended Will Rogers Elementary School, John Adams Junior High,

Santa Monica High School Santa Monica High School, officially abbreviated to Samohi or SMHS, is a public high school in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1891, it changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus at 601 Pico Bo ...

and Olympic High School. It was at John Adams that he met

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

, who was just beginning to study music. After dropping out of Olympic High, Tony changed his surname to LeMans as a consequence of his father's love of the vehicle with that name. He then briefly worked with Kravitz on the latter's Romeo Blue project. Due to personal differences, however, they soon went their separate ways. Tony had stolen Lenny's girlfriend, but they remained friends until his death. LeMans left

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

for

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and met

shortly after arriving there.

released Tony's only album, the self-titled ''Tony LeMans'' in 1989.

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development ...

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

and George Clinton of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

were involved in the creation as well. His album peaked at #58 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B Album chart. "Higher Than High" (to which Stone contributed), "Cookie Crumbles," and "Forever More" were released as singles without much chart success. His only live performance was on New Year's Eve 1989 at San Francisco's

Moscone Center The George R. Moscone Convention Center (), popularly known as the Moscone Center, is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California, United States. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three bl ...

with his newly formed tour band, consisting of Jamie Chezz, Kelley Kelley, Steven Menconi, T. Keanini, Michael Whitfield, and Shayne Soentpiet. Not long after, the tour was put on hold and he worked on separate projects with his producer,

David Gamson David Gamson is an American keyboardist/musician (also a producer, songwriter, arranger, engineer). Originally hailing from New York, he has worked with, among others, Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Jessie J, Adam Lambert, Chaka Khan, Charli XCX, Meshel ...

Scritti Politti Scritti Politti are a British band formed in 1977 in Leeds by singer-songwriter Green Gartside, who is the sole remaining member of the original band. Initially formed as a punk culture, punk-aligned underground act influenced by leftist poli ...

. Tony co-wrote songs with

Donny Osmond Donald Clark Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host and former teen idol. He gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gold albums. In the ...

, as well as

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

. Although Prince often worked behind the scenes on albums for his label, he played no official role in this one. Gamson was the main producer. In the early 1990s, LeMans began work on a second album. Prince offered him a song called "Fuschia Light" that was intended for inclusion on the album. This album was never completed, however, due to LeMans' death. In addition to his own work, LeMans co-produced ''Sure Lookin with David Gamson for Donny Osmond's comeback album ''Eyes Don't Lie''. LeMans, an avid motorcyclist and

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...

aficionado, died in an accident while riding in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

on June 24, 1992. He was to be married the next day to Deborah Matthews,

Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness compared to others. Prior to the 14th century, it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as ...

's sister.

Discography

* ''Tony LeMans'' (October 10, 1989,

)

References

External links

Story by his manager
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:LeMans, Tony 1992 deaths Year of birth missing American dance musicians American male pop singers Paisley Park Records artists American contemporary R&B singers