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 regrouped 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 has been involved with the trio Project Sticks, and continues to appear live and record.
Peter Gabriel Recordings
Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
I Don’t Remember (Peter Gabriel)
The Start (Peter Gabriel)
Sources:
- http://www.tonylevin.com/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Levin
- http://www.musicmirror.net/interview-tonylevin2.htm
- http://www.papabear.com/pbtlff.htm
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/music/people/tony_levin.shtml