Tony Carey

Antony Laurence Carey (born October 16, 1953, Turlock, California) is a former rock and heavy metal keyboardist and Hammond organ player for the band Rainbow. He has played for the band from 1975 to 1977.

Career

With the band Rainbow, Carey appeared on the studio album Rainbow Rising (1976) and on the live albums On Stage (1977) and Live in Germany (1994). Carey performed the keyboard introduction to "Tarot Woman", the first track on the Rainbow Rising album and the keyboard solo on "A Light in the Black", the last cut on the album.

He had a minor hit in the early 1980s with "I Won't Be Home Tonight", and then a bigger hit in 1984 with "A Fine, Fine Day", which reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #1 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. A follow-up single, "The First Day of Summer", reached #33 on the Hot 100 in July 1984. Both songs are featured on the album, Some Tough City, which hit #60 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Carey opened for Night Ranger on many dates of their 1984 tour in support of this album. His 1985 follow-up album, Blue Highway, did not score a hit.

Carey also fronted the progressive rock group Planet P Project (initially called just Planet P), which served as a vehicle for his solo work. Planet P Project released two albums, Planet P (on Geffen Records) in 1983 and the concept album, Pink World (on MCA Records) in 1984, for which he wrote the lyrics and music, sang the lead vocals, and played most of the instruments. Session performers on lead guitar, saxophones, programming, and drums on some tracks made up the rest of the group. The first album was released on CD in 1992, retitled Planet P Project. Planet P's biggest hit was 'Why Me'.

Carey began producing and guesting on many major groups from the US and Europe in the mid 80's. Notables of the many included Jennifer Rush in 1985, John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers - Chicago Line in 1988, keyboards and producer. In 1992 with Joe Cocker - Now That You're Gone, Forest McDonald's Color Blind, and in 2006 from Dire Straits, David Knopfler - Songs For The Siren.

In 2009, Tony Carey and three other ex-members of Rainbow, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli and Greg Smith teamed up with Jurgen Blackmore, Ritchie Blackmore's son, to form "Over the Rainbow" to perform Rainbow songs in concerts in Russia and Eastern Europe. Due to illness, however, Tony Carey left "Over The Rainbow" in the spring of 2009, just prior to the band's live debute at "Sweden Rock Festival", where he was replaced by Paul Morris.

Discography

• 1982 Yellow Power (self-titled, instrumental - vinyl only)
• 1982 In the Absence of the Cat (vinyl only)
• 1982 I Won't Be Home Tonight/Selftitled (Reissued 1987/2003)
• 1982 Explorer (self-titled, instrumental - vinyl only)
• 1982 Heaven (self-titled, instrumental - vinyl only)
• 1982 No Human (self-titled, instrumental - vinyl only)
• 1983 Planet P Project - Planet P (Reissued 2009)
• 1984 Planet P Project - Pink World (Reissued 2008)
• 1984 Some Tough City (Reissued 1992/2008)
• 1984 T.C.P. (self-titled, instrumental - vinyl only)
• 1985 Blue Highway (Reissued 1992/2008)
• 1987 Bedtime Story (Soundtrack, Reissued 1996)
• 1988 Wilder Westen Inclusive (Soundtrack)
• 1989 The Story So Far (Collection)
• 1989 For You
• 1990 Storyville
• 1992 The Long Road
• 1993 For You (Collection)
• 1993 Rare Tracks (Collection)
• 1994 Cold War Kids
• 1997 A Fine, Fine Day (Collection)
• 1997 Storyville (Collection)
• 1999 The Boystown Tapes (Reissued 2006)
• 1999 Gefangen im Jemen (Soundtrack)
• 2000 Retrospective 1982-1999 (Collection)
• 2003 Planet P Project - Go Out Dancing Part 1 "1931"
• 2004 Islands and Deserts
• 2006 Just Ballads (Collection)
• 2006 The Voyager Files (Instrumental)
• 2006 Live in Sweden 2006 - Volume 1
• 2007 The Complete Chiliout Collection 2006 (Limited)
• 2008 Planet P Project - Go Out Dancing Part 2 "Levittown"
• 2008 A Lonely Life - The Anthology (Collection)
• 2008 Only The Young Died Good (Collection)
• 2008 The New Machine (Free download)
• 2008 Roundup - The Ones That Got Away (Free download)
• 2009 Live In Sweden Volume 2
• 2009 Evil Masquerade - Fade To Black
• 2009 Planet P Project - Go Out Dancing Part 3, "Out in The Rain"

External links

• Official site

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