Born on this day ...

[Ruby]

Happy birthday to Tony Levin who was born on this day in 1946, in Boston Massachusetts, USA. He ranks right up there as one of the most prolific session musicians of our time. Raised in a musical family and environment and forsaking the tuba and double bass of his very much younger days, for a bass guitar once he got to music school, he's been active since 1970 and has played with an astonishing array of artists, also making a respectable number of solo releases, none of which I’ve heard, sorry to say! I think if I chose to listen to everything he and Dean Parks (another session guitarist who’s been on literally thousands of recordings) had put out during the course of their careers, I wouldn’t have time to listen to anything else for the remainder of my lifetime. Impossible to paraphrase it all! Sure he has a story or two to tell. Oh hang on - he has! He has a blog on his site which has been going for some time, and he's also released a coffee table book titled Images from a Life on the Road - photos he's taken over the years. I expect it's fascinating! https://tonylevin.com/

He is known for his exceptional basslines and his mastery of the Chapman Stick and upright bass as well as ably providing backing vocals and synths. He also developed a device known as Funk Fingers – modified drumsticks adapted for producing percussive effects on guitar. Very strange items those!! His most notable alliances have been with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, LTE, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and his very own Stick Men.

“Big Time" from Peter Gabriel's So ... funk fingers n all ...