TONY DANCER

Tony began his journey of musical discovery at the age of 3 – listening to everything from Nat King Cole to the Beatles. Music became central to his life and his mother always knew to find him next to the record player with a 45 in hand.

At age 9, Tony began to follow in his drummer dad’s footsteps: his dad bought him his first drum kit and he began lessons with Ernie Cox. Drums consumed him almost to the exclusion of all else – including school work. Tony started gigging at the age of 15 chauffeured around by his dad. He studied drummers such as Buddy Rich and spent hours transcribing solos.  This is where his love for jazz began.

At age 16 Tony also began classical piano lessons with Mr. Griffiths Cook but was never fulfilled by classical piano. He then began to write his own music, a major influence being Stevie Wonder.
All Tony wanted to do was to play music full time.
 
On leaving school, Tony formed a musical partnership as a drummer with Ean Jones on keyboards.  During this time, Tony was in demand for his vocal talents, as well as drumming. Tony and Ean gigged around the UK, culminating in a 6 months residency for Club In, in Eilat, Israel.  Whilst in Israel, Tony took a trip to Bethlehem and Jerusalem where the seed of his faith took root (see Christian Testimony page).

On his return to the UK at age 24, Tony began to study Classical Guitar.  After 4 years of painstaking practice – up to 8 hours each day, he finally achieved Grade 8 with distinction and began the next phase of his musical career playing guitar in some of the most prestigious UK venues (The Roof Gardens, Harrods, Grosvenor House Hotel, The Savoy), as well as working solo as a piano vocalist.
 
Tony became a Christian in 1989 when he began attending Whaddon Way Church where he met his soul mate and the love of his life, Cheryl, about whom he wrote the song (see song writing page).  Tony would go on to have two children and (to date) 3 grandchildren.
When the children came along, a musician’s life on the road became more difficult to fit in with family life so Tony went to university to study for a degree and gained a PGCE teaching qualification. He then worked as Head of Music at Weydon School, Farnham to inspire others to develop their musical talents. He went freelance in 2015 to allow more time to develop his own musical career.
 
Tony has held a life-long ambition to become a jazz pianist but life and the need to work always seemed to get in the way.  Sunday12th September, 2010 was a turning point for Tony.  He decided there and then to work on his dream.  At age 50, this was a tall order, but with dogged determination, consistency, and lessons with some of the finest jazz pianists of the day (Gabriel Latchin, Simon Purcell, Nick Wheldon), he has begun to realise his dream. He can now be heard playing at jazz jams as a pianist and also as a drummer around the Guildford area.

2023 marked the moment Tony returned to his song writing.  What followed was: Still of the Night  which came to him literally in the middle of the night.  A Moment in Time soon followed and then Some Enchanted Land featuring children from Crondall Primary School.  His track Invincible features leading jazz saxophonist Tony Woods on Alto Saxophone – all available on Spotify or go to Song Writing page.
Tony’s latest project – coming soon to Spotify - is a new album of jazz standard covers.  Also, look out for some of Tony's best original compositions from past years. Click HERE to follow Tony on Spotify.

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Qualifications: B.A., Bth (Hons), P.G.C.E., Grade 8 Piano, Grade 8 Guitar, Grade 8 Drum Kit.