Tony Banks turns 75 today – Happy Birthday!

Genesis founding member and keyboardist Tony Banks turns 75 today!

He has always been the “quite one” in the band. He did not want to be in the spotlight and he is afraid of heights and doesn’t like flying. Nevertheless, his influence on Genesis and the music business cannot be ignored.

His preference for unique chord sequences and longer songs always were the basis for many classics Genesis have produced over the years, from Stagnation to One Man’s Fool. Some of the songs he wrote alone became classics of the band as well, such as One For The Vine or Burning Rope.

As a solo artist, Tony could never reach the success of his bandmates. He worked with vocalists Jim Diamond, Fish, Nik Kershaw, Jack Hues and many others. But failed to have a hit-single on his own. As a result, Tony has not released new rock music since the Strictly Inc album in 1995. Ironically, many fans think the last track on that record, the 17-minute An Island In The Darkness, is his best solo track.

Tony has released three classical albums – but does not play on them (with a little exception on Five). Seven, Six and Five were recently re-issued as a 3CD album bundle (see news here).

More recently, it was revealed that Tony was involved in writing and playing on a track for the forthcoming Rocking Horse Music Club album (see info here). Although Tony shows no sign of doing another album, fans still hope for new music.

Tony Banks turns 75 today – Happy Birthday!

Photo by Vero Pelletier, taken during the Genesis tour three years ago

More birthdays: John Mayhew would have been 78 today and Chris Stewart turns 74!