Anthony is a professional voice over artist. He was born shortly after Sgt. Pepper came out. A time of free love, prosperity and hallucinogenic experimentation. This may explain a great deal.
Growing up through the 70s seemed, for him, like endless hours practising the piano and summer days in the family car in a pub car park, nursing some foul purple fluid masquerading as blackcurrant juice in a plastic cup. However, for Anthony, things were about to change.
At the age of 6, a cousin gave him his first microphone as a joke (since he didn’t have to share a house with him). It was attached to a reel to reel tape recorder.
Anthony immediately set about chronicling the world around him, interviewing reluctant family members, pets and household ornaments. He would impersonate the cartoon characters and celebrities on the brand new colour TV.
There were many instances where the microphone was withdrawn from his person. Sometimes by force. On one occasion with medical assistance.
However, he blundered on, and quickly developed a nerd-level love of sound that continues to this day.
At 16, he wrote to every recording studio in London to ask for a job, and got a call from one he hadn’t written to that was in the village he grew up in. He started immediately, working on what was to become Elton John’s Ice On Fire album (remember Nikita?). There are many stories from this period that we won’t delve into here for legal reasons, but highlights include a curry with various members of Queen, a marriage proposal to Kiki Dee and accidentally attempting to break into Nik Kershaw’s car.
Soon after, he was forcibly ejected from the studio and replaced by someone who knew what he was doing.
Unperturbed, our hero had recently discovered the opposite sex, and fled to London to seek his fortune…….and/or girls that would be nice to him. He became what is now referred to as a gothic punk, but was, at the time, termed “weirdo”. There are also some extraordinary stories from this period that shall remain under wraps for the sake of decency and taste.
He has been in lots of bands over the years. Sometimes as keyboard player, sometimes vocalist, sometimes drummer. As a solo artist, his music has been heard on BBC 6 Music on a few occasions. There is a link to his latest musical ramblings HERE.
Fast forward to the early 90s, and Anthony has tried pretty much every occupation. Shelf stacker in a supermarket, lorry driver, selling pianos, life assurance, graphic design, running a record shop. You name it. He even spent 3 hours as a petrol pump attendant. 3 whole hours.
Having done some Djing at local pubs and parties, Anthony stuck his foot in the door of a new radio station that opened close by his work. Here he first met breakfast presenter and legend Peter Dickson, Voiceover Man (probably the number one voice in the world). He helped out loading music and on reception, and then was given his first show.
This led to a 20 year career in radio, hosting his own daytime shows on local and regional radio, as a “flying eye” traffic reporter on national radio stations TalkSport and Virgin AM. From the air, he once witnessed the M6 motorway completely covered in lemons, and a roundabout in Preston entirely buried in semolina pudding.
Whilst this career inevitably floundered, his work as a voice over (which began at around the same time) went from strength to strength. He built himself a professional studio where he remains to this day.
In whatever free time he is allowed, he bakes all manner of breads, paints large portraits in oils and tries not to bother too many people in case they take his microphone away.