Tony Harnell

Tony Harnell
Background information
Born (1962-09-18) September 18, 1962
Genres Hard rock, Acoustic, Heavy metal
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1980–present
Associated acts TNT, Westworld, Starbreaker, Skid Row
Website http://www.tonyharnell.com

Antony "Tony" Harnell (born September 18, 1962,[1] in San Diego, California, United States) is an American power metal singer, best known for his work with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT. He is also known for his exceptionally wide vocal range, with his chest-voice alone spanning over 4 octaves. In 2015 he was briefly the frontman for heavy metal band Skid Row.

Biography

Harnell was born in San Diego in 1962. He has an older half sister by his father. His mother, Constance Haldaman, was an opera singer while his father, Boyd Harnell, was a photojournalist. As a teenager, Harnell was a professional skateboarder and avid surfer.

Early years

Harnell started singing at the age of 5. At 17 he joined his first band and spent the next three years in approximately fifteen bands including Bronx-based Jackals, a band of cultivated talent emerging from the guitarist's home basement that in a scant two years, gained enough popularity in the NYC area to fill rock clubs to capacity simply by word of mouth alone. This was the band in which Harnell was discovered. At 18, Harnell started studying with vocal teacher Don Lawrence.

TNT

After a show in 1984, Harnell was introduced to record producer Mike Varney who mentioned a band in Norway, TNT, that was looking for a singer. Harnell was hired shortly after the band heard a demo tape of his vocals.

Harnell and guitarist Ronni Le Tekrø co-wrote all of TNT's material together during Harnell's 22-year run with the band. With Harnell, TNT recorded nine studio albums, two live videos and two "best of" compilations. It is estimated that TNT with Harnell sold between 1.5-2 million albums.

He left the band in April 2006 for personal and professional reasons. He performed his last show with the band on June 30, 2006 and a DVD was released that autumn that features the penultimate show in Madrid, Spain on April 1.

On October 17, 2013, Harnell announced that he had rejoined TNT.[2]

After a year and a half absence, during which time,he fronted Skid Row, Harnell announced another return to TNT in May 2016.[3]

Morning Wood

Morning Wood is an acoustic rock supergroup composed of Harnell, Al Pitrelli, Chuck Bonfonte, and Danny Mirada.

The act's album was first released in Japan in 1994 during TNT's first break-up and in 2002 was re-released in Europe credited to "Tony Harnell and Morning Wood."

Westworld

Westworld is a side project of Harnell's that also featured Mark Reale, Bruno Ravel, and John O'Reilly, with keyboardist Josh Pincus and violinist Mark Wood. Westworld has released three studio albums and a live album.

Starbreaker

Starbreaker was another band featuring Harnell, John Macaluso, Magnus Karlsson, and Fabrizio Grossi. It released its first album in 2005. A second Starbreaker album, Love's Dying Wish, was released in 2008. The band never toured.

Video games

Harnell has done tracks for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. His first track for the series was "It Doesn't Matter" on the soundtrack of Sonic Adventure released in 1998 by SEGA. Harnell returned in 2001 to perform a rewritten version of the theme for Sonic in Sonic Adventure 2, as well as the first stage theme "Escape from the City" with Ted Poley. Following this in 2004, Harnell performed the Team Sonic theme for Sonic Heroes called "We Can", again with Poley.

Solo career

In 2008, Harnell released his first solo material in demo form, the EP Cinematic, through his website.

Skid Row

On April 6, 2015, it was announced that Johnny Solinger had left the American heavy metal band Skid Row. Hours later, the band announced that Harnell would be Solinger's replacement.[4] On December 29 he announced that he had left Skid Row.

Discography

Solo

TNT

Westworld

Starbreaker

Skid Row

References

  1. ↑ http://www.last.fm/music/Tony+Harnell
  2. ↑ "Singer Tony Harnell Officially Rejoins Tnt - Blabbermouth.net". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
  3. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/singer-tony-harnell-rejoins-tnt/
  4. ↑ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/johnny-solinger-quits-skid-row/ Retrieved 9 April 2015
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