Play It Again Tony
NEWS: I am now in possession of an excellent Technics Electronic Organ and am working on new YouTube ideas. No-one is interested in Electronic Organs nowadays so I may well lean on TITLES of tunes and also BALLROOM DANCING MUSIC. - I used to play Organ for Ballroom Dancing in my 20s around Manchester UK. To get my hands (and both feet) onto an Organ again has been very enjoyable. Just like switching time back to my 20s and then briefly also my early 40s. The Pontins Prestatyn recordings on Gulbransen Organ I have here and put onto video on YouTube and Facebook I am glad to share.
Been in Music, Magic, Entertainment all my life. Still got my Trinity College of Music London Certificates I passed as a kid. Started going out playing age 14 for a Stage School. Did Bands, Club Residencies, Holiday Company Residencies. Then WHOOO-AA! Switched to Magical Entertainment and myself and my wife worked 40 years with great success. Did a few music gigs again early 2000's but have just concentrated myself Online mainly. Over 150 recordings via Soundclick, Soundcloud, Reverbnation, YouTube etc. Magic requires an Audience to be enjoyable (we retired in 2019) but Music is Music. Presently using Yamaha Digital Piano, various keyboards, and recently added Technics Organ. Not ready to play harp yet!! - both myself and wife keep fit, active and occupied.
Places worked (you've probably not heard of in USA - or UK for that matter)! King's Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester at Railway Carnival Kids Ballets - Kent, Cumberland, Elizabethan Suites; Pontins Holidays, Granada TV (that was a laugh!), Piccadilly Hotel (now renamed), Midland Hotel Manchester, Grand Hotel, Capesthorne Hall, endless Manchester Clubs on Hammond, Gulbransen, Lowrey Organs and other lesser awful organs :) my Band did opening of Daily Star Newspaper alongside Andy Ross Orchestra in Manchester. Enough said - the water passed under the bridge and probably the bridge was demolished long ago too! :)
VIDEOS: Amongst my videos you'll find a great Jazz Pianist I met and used to follow around in the 1970s. The late EDDIE THOMPSON. My early interest in Organs was for financial reasons as so much work available in Clubs. I taught myself on a bargain basement Diamond 2 manual Portable! I also learned about Ballroom tempos from the late great Stockport Town Hall Organist ERIC BARLOW who was a neighbour of mine, and before working for Pontins I used to play a hall in Ardwick Green, Manchester for Ballroom and Sequence Dancers which was nice. My band THE ALAN ANTHONY SET is also in videos at a 2009 reunion Tea Dance at Bolton Town Hall.
Each month I feature a track from another Soundclick Artiste
My FEATURED TRACK FOR MAY 2025 ALEXIS PATRICK - HONEY DON'T FORGET ME
I do hope you find something to brighten your day. You will find a further link to a GOOGLE SITES site at the foot of Page ~ sincerely ~ Tony.
Searches - Stockport born Pianist, Joan Bates Dancing School Stockport, Pontins Pianist Prestatyn Sands, Midland Hotel Pianist Manchester, Club Organist Manchester, The Alan Anthony Set Function Band, Pianist on Soundclick, Pianist on Soundcloud, Ace Parties Entertainers, Belle Vue Railway Carnivals, Childrens Ballets Kings Hall Belle Vue, Gay Bates family history Stockport, Heaton Norris Memories, Listen to Yamaha Digital Piano, Listen to Electronic Organ, Listen to Casio WK3500 Casio CT-X5000, Soundclick 100 number one chart placings.
Send Email box checked weekly
Are you on my FULL SOUNDCLICK HOSTED SITE? It is: www.playitagaintony.com
103
top 1
131
top 50
160
songs
517K
plays
Somewhere In Time (John Barry)
College Rhythm
Legend (Robert Docker)
Up-Tempo Green Dolphin Street
The Dream of Olwen (1947 C. Williams)
Popular 20th century Piano Solo.
A Ragtime Moment
Show all (160)
Just 2 Old Hands - no easy play - no accompaniment
Show all videos (8)
SOUNDCLICK is not about Charts to me (I think I have had my fair share of no. 1 positions). Nor is it about Sales, although I have finished giving away music to people who cannot even bring themselves to say "Thank You".
It is about continuing to publicly make Music - alongside YouTube, Soundcloud and Reverbnation. This site is however my "home base" with a .com domain registered through Soundclick. Try www.playitagaintony.com to see my full page.Band/artist history
THE PAST: I was born a handful of years after end of WW2 in Stockport UK (what is now part of Greater Manchester). My parents were Bill and Alice Gay of Heaton Norris, This bears no ID Security risk as this is not my surname now. I spent my childhood in Heaton Norris and through to my early 30s. By this time I had ceased working as a Musician and was Married to Susan, and we had an amazing thriving Magic Entertainment business from Wilmslow, Cheshire, and brought up our kids there. Today - "somewhere" very rural in North Staffordshire, England where my wife's family originated from.
I owe my musical roots to parents and family on my father's side, also a Dancing Teacher Aunt called Joan Bates of Stockport (Bates Dancing School Stockport or Melbourne School of Dancing) on my mother's side, to an excellent Music Teacher in Heaton Norris who taught under The Trinity College of Music London Syllabus. I was enabled at age 15 to play at Kings Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester by Joan G. Bates for her shows there; I also worked Bands - one in particular in partnership with Guitarist Alan Yates of Altrincham UK which went through an amazing short spell at top venues in the North West England; many Manchester Clubs playing for Cabaret and Dancing on (hopefully) Hammond Organs; and also three "ok-ish" years 1977-79 in Prestatyn, North Wales for "what was then" - not now! (questionably) a reasonably nice Holiday Company called Pontins with venues also all over the UK and many in Europe.Have you performed in front of an audience?My first big memory was stepping out into Kings Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester UK to play for a Children's Ballet Show as part of the British Railways Annual Carnival. I'm not going to say the year - but I was only 15. All I had done was play at school and Church Hall Concerts before . . . probably about 1800 to 2200 people at these. But the Kings Hall hosted famous names from all over the world. Held about 5000 max. Now all gone. there are venues in Manchester now in 2025 that dwarf this capacity, but it was a nice old venue in it's day.
This in turn led to audiences for Music and Magic far too numerous to mention here.
Your musical influences
My musical influences cover my experiences in life really. Music from a Dancing School, Music from Clubs and Cabaret, Music from working with Jazz players, Music from Ballroom Dancing bands etc.What equipment do you use?
Mostly Yamaha Digital 88 Pianos nowadays. I enjoy coming across a nice Acoustic though (which seems to be an increasing rarity). Oh yeah - a few Keyboards too.Anything else?
I do not mention the lives of our children online and respect their privacy. Myself and my wife Sue are by and large, very healthy and happy people in retirement. I am also into family histories. I am in touch with some relatives on my father's side of my family; and those on my mother's side? - my door is always open.READ MORE
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Comments (470)
Very beautiful, Tony.....Brilliant melodies and your song structure and arrangement is magnificent.
Exquisite!
such a wonderful piece, Mancini like lush orchestral tones abound, just so nice to listen to.
Simply beautiful, maestro!
Very nice rendition of this classic!