ABBA

He is a bassist, songwriter and producer born Tony Ashwin Kanal in Kingsbury, London, England to Indian parents. He spent his childhood in London with spells in Canada and the United States until he was eleven years old. His family then emigrated to the United States and established the business Kanal’s Gifts and Fashion in Anaheim, California.

His father had a huge interest in the saxophone so he bought one for his son and encouraged him to learn how to play. Although he played the saxophone Tony had more interest in the bass guitar and, after a school friend had taught him how when he was 15, he ended playing it in the Anaheim High School Jazz Band.

In 1987 he went to see the band No Doubt in a few of the shows they performed early in their career and managed to get taken on as their bassist, become their unofficial manager within a short time and begin a long-standing affair with the lead singer Gwen Stefani. He also entered the California State University, Fullerton in 1991 as a psychology major and worked part-time in a department store, possibly partly due to the fact that his parents had said at some point that they wanted him to work in what they termed as a “safe profession”.

However, a few months after he had entered the university No Doubt started to work in the recording studio and fourteen of the recordings made were released on the Interscope label in 1992 on a self-titled album. Tony did go on to complete his studies as well.

Their third album, the 1995 Tragic Kingdom reached the No. 1 in many countries and gained platinum status. It produced the singles “Just a Girl” which went to No. 10 on the Billboard chart, the No. 5 reaching “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak”, which is said to have been referring to the break up of Tony and Gwen. “Don’t Speak” soared to the No. 1 spot in countries such as the Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK. It also went to the top of the Billboard Top 100 Airplay, remaining there for sixteen weeks.

No Doubt went into hiatus after the subsequent tour of that album, apart from recording a song in 1998 for the Rugrats movie and also “New” for the soundtrack of Go. They also became the first band to perform in the new millennium when they performed just after midnight at the MTV New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. They eventually released their next album, Return of Saturn, after five years in 2000 and Tony received much acclaim and had an article and cover photo on Bass Player Magazine.

He continued to record and perform with the ultra successful No Doubt, receiving his first Grammy award in 2003, but also concentrated on his production and songwriting skills. His song “Hella Good” appeared on the soundtracks of Sweet Home Alabama in 2002, also later in 2005’s The Longest Yard, and he backed Liam Lynch on the Craig Kilborn Show in a performance of “United States of Whatever” in 2003. During 2004 the movie 50 First Dates included three songs he had produced for the soundtrack and that same year he wrote three songs for Love.Angel.Music.Baby., which was Gwen Stefani’s debut album as a solo artist.

Two years later in 2006 he worked with Gwen again for her second album The Sweet Escape, and during the time she was promoting it the other members of No Doubt got back together to start work on a new album with the completion being done when she returned. He also produced the track “Rent” for No Shame by Pepper and was the producer for Elian Atias for his solo debut Together as One.

When 2008 came along he began collaborating with Pink when he sang backing vocals on “Crystal Ball” and worked on the tracks “Funhouse and “Sober” on her Funhouse album. The following years he was a bass player and co-writer on the debut album of Kimberley Wyatt who had been a member of The Pussycat Dolls.

Continuing his work with No Doubt he appeared with them as a member of a fictional group in TV’s Gossip Girl and in 2009 his song “Toxic Valentine” appeared on the soundtrack of Jennifer’s Body.

His work has even crept into the world of classical music when his compositions appeared on

Vitamin String Quartet’s The String Quartet Tribute to No Doubt.

Sources: