Artist description Singer/Songwriter/Musician/Producer

Music Style pop,soul,R&B, jazz

Musical Influences Earth Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, Micheal Jackson, Mariah Carey, Chaka Kahn

Similar Artists Earth Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, Micheal Jackson, Mariah Carey, Chaka Kahn, Peabo Bryson, Jeffery Osborne

Artist History Tony Royce Biography Tony Royce was raised as a missionary’s kid in Venezuela, South America surrounded by the exhilarating musical rhythms of Latin music. His first live “gig” was at the age of 6 playing various percussion instruments in a 15 piece Latin “salsa” band and a year later he was taking piano lessons and playing Burt Bacharach, The Carpenters, and Carol King songs on the piano “by ear”. By age 11 he was taking piano, guitar, drums, clarinet, and trumpet lessons and singing, playing the piano, and guitar in his Father’s weekly church services and for the Grissom Family gospel group on road trips. Growing up in a foreign country and having no real access to the wide variety of American music that those living in the U.S. did Tony’s earliest musical influences were whatever he could get his hands on and whatever was on the radio. What was on the Venezuelan airwaves was pop and Motown… and lots of it. The entire days spent as a young boy listening to the radio and the records of Burt Bacharach, The Carpenters, and the Motown “Hall of Fame” including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5 (with this young lead singer named…Michael Jackson) resulted in a fusion of the pop/soul/R&B/jazz influences which remain the defining essence of Royce’s dynamic and explosive singing, songwriting, and live performances to this day. In 1973 he returned to the US with his family for good and was introduced to a band named Earth Wind & Fire. That was it. His love for singing and songwriting was sealed, his destiny clear, and his love for the variety of music; pop, soul, funk, R&B and jazz, was embodied in the songs and records of EWF. They remain his greatest influence to this day. In 1984 T.R. wrote and released his first national contemporary black gospel LP on the Marock label entitled “Warriors of the Cross” which earned him critical acclaim by generating 2 singles in regional radio markets; resulting in a #1 single, “There is Love”, in 2 national reporting radio station regions. From 1984 to 1989 he intermittently toured in the Midwest, South, and West Coast headlining and opening for national artists such as Steve Archer (The Archers), Mylon Levevre, and Philip Bailey (Earth Wind & Fire) while releasing a second independent album and writing and producing 7 cuts on former Minnesota Viking Joe Jackson’s first gospel record. Feeling the need to expand his horizons Royce left gospel music in 1989 and moved into the mainstream music industry devoting himself to writing, working as a studio session vocalist-musician and performing live in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mpls./St. Paul. Those Tony has worked with in the studio include Keb’ Mo (Grammy Award Winning Sony blues artist) and Dez Dickerson (former Prince guitarist and writer). Since 2000 Royce has been sharing the lead, backing vocals, and playing keyboards with the all original funk/soul/R&B artist “Sloane”. He has recently put his own band together, released his own independent CD “Tony Royce – Emotions”, and is booking live dates in Mpls./St.Paul, MN venues and abroad..

Group Members Just me folks.

Instruments Keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and trumpet

Albums Tony Royce Emotions

Location Minneapolis, MN - USA

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