He is a bass player born in Boston, Massachusetts, and
growing up in Brookline.As a
child he played the upright bass from the time he was 10 years old and while
in high school he would appear in the concert band as a tuba player.Concentrating more on the more
traditional and classical genres of music he started a barbershop quartet
and appeared in front of John and Jackie Kennedy at the White House with the
youth orchestra he was a member of.After he left high school he took his further
musical education at the Eastman School of Music and became a member of the
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.At this same time he met up with the drummer Steve Gadd who
introduced him to performing rock and jazz which was enough for him to
change his upright bass to a Fender bass.Moving to New York in 1970 he was with the group Aha,
the Attack of the Green Slime Beast before moving into the realms of
session playing which would be where he found his success.Joining up with Peter Gabriel's
band so he could play live, he has appeared on most of his albums, toured
extensively and worked with him ever since alongside carrying out his other
session work.In 1978 he
became a member of L'Image with Steve Gadd, who he was also in The Clams
with, but they broke up after a year and so he went on to join King
Crimson.He remained with them
into the 1990s and after they had broken up he performed with two of their
offshoots, ProjeKt One and ProjeKt Four.King Crimson got together again in 2004 and he has been
with them as a band member ever since.He has toured extensively with artists that
include Carly Simon, James Taylor, Peter Frampton, Tim Finn, Richie
Sambora, Herbie Mann, Judy Collins and Paul Simon, whose video "One Trick
Pony" he also appeared in.With the drummer Bill Bruford he established Bruford Levin Upper
Extremities and Chris Botti and David Torn joined them.Together they released albums in
1998 and 2000 and at the same time he was constantly working with his own
Tony Levin Band.From 1998 he
has also been involved with the group Liquid Tension Experiment and they
will be regrouping in 2008 to perform at NEARfest in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania.Appearing on
literally hundreds of recordings he can be heard with Yes, Seal, John
Lennon, Pink Floyd, Deodato, Dire Straits, Joan Armatrading, Alice Cooper,
David Bowie, Sarah McLachlan, Todd Rundgren and Lou Reed and in 2006 he
released his own solo album Resonator.An innovator of new techniques, he created funk fingers
which imitates the sound of slap-style and makes the sound resemble
drumsticks hitting strings and he also brought the Chapman Stick and NS
Upright Bass into popularity.He is currently involved with the trio Project Sticks, and continues
to appear live and record.
