Tony Cox (South African musician)

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Tony Cox is a Zimbabwean born guitarist and composer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. A master of the Fingerpicking style of guitar playing, he has won the SAMA (South African Music Awards) for best instrumental album twice. His music incorporates many different styles including classical, blues, rock and jazz, while keeping an African flavour.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] Early life

Tony Cox was born on 24 January 1954, in a small mining town called Redcliff in Zimbabwe. He began playing the guitar at age nine, learning Hawaiian guitar from Archie Perreira. After Tony and his family moved to Cape Town, he began to study classical guitar at age nineteen.

[edit] Career

Tony made his first concert appearance in the early seventies, playing at the Four winds folk club in Port Elizabeth. Though he experimented with various combinations of musicians, he started honing his skills on the art of solo guitar playing.

In 1981 Tony teamed up with fellow guitarist, Steve Newman, performing a show called 101 Ways to use an acoustic guitar. This would later transform into their first album together, released in 1983, with the same title. In 1982 they toured South Africa with Irish rock singer Geraldine Branagan, performing a staggering 92 performances around the country. Tony used the money he raised with this tour to travel across Africa towards London, where he met up with Steve again, performing there extensively.

Tony has acted as musical director for other South African musicians and was the producer, arranger and guitarist for an album of the Malawian singer Wambali Mkandawire. He also composed the score for the international feature film ‘’The sandgrass people.’’