A name synonymous with groundbreaking music, Tony Visconti has worked with the most dynamic in influential names in pop, from T.Rex and Iggy Pop to David Bowie and U2. This is the compelling life story of the man who helped shape music history, and gives a unique, first-hand insight into life in London during the late 1960s and '70s.
In an age of flower power and free thinking, Tony Visconti was close to the heart of the New York hippy movement. Seeking enlightenment through gurus and chemistry, Tony tried it all, from acid at the first Central Park be-in to dodging the Vietnam-draft bullet through highly unusual means. But the 23-year-old New Yorker was restless and keen to work in the UK, where a new generation of music was beginning.
In 1967, Visconti finally began his (illegal) career as a record producer in London, leaving everything he knew behind him, including the beautiful wife he would eventually divorce. He was soon in the thick of the emerging glam rock movement, launching T.Rex to commercial success and working with the then-unknown David Bowie.
Even Visconti's personal life betrays an existence utterly immersed in music. Married first to Mary Hopkin and later to Mai Pang, he counts many of the musicians and producers he has worked with as close friends and is himself a celebrated musician. He has worked with such names as Thin Lizzy, Wings, The Boomtown Rats, Marsha Hunt, Procol Harum, and more recently Ziggy Marley, Mercury Rev, the Dandy Warhols and Morrissey, on his acclaimed new album 'Ringleader of the Tormentors'. However, it is for his work with David Bowie that Visconti is most strongly revered. Their relationship has been hailed as one of the greatest artist/producer relationships in pop history, with Visconti working with Bowie on 11 albums between 1969 and 1980, and again from 2002.
With a back catalogue that reads like a who's who of the movers and shakers in popular culture, this memoir takes you on a roller-coaster journey through the glory days of pop music, when men wore sequins and pop could truly rock. Visconti's unique access to the biggest names and hottest talent, both on stage and off, for over five decades is complemented by unseen photographs from his own personal archive, and offers a glimpse at music history that few have witnessed so intimately.
