Anthony was brought up in suburbs of New York City. As a child, he would sit and watch his neighbor’s garage band for hours. Eventually, his neighbor took him under his wing and taught Anthony to play guitar. He turned him on to bands like Zeppelin, Hendrix, Floyd, and The Beatles.
Anthony formed his first band in high school and began playing in bars by age 18. He attended the Westchester Conservatory of Music but quickly became bored with school and decided to drop out to free his time for playing original music with his band. He then played all over the New York City area with a mix of genres including funk, blues, jazz and alternative rock.
Soon Anthony moved to Hoboken New Jersey and joined an alternative rock band by the name of “The Benjamins.” They toured the country with covers and recorded a CD of their original music. They had a national distribution deal with Koch and appeared on national TV and radio opening for acts such as Cheap Trick, Goo Goo Dolls, and Third Eye Blind.
Their tour led them to Key West in 2011. About that time Anthony wanted to branch off from the band and develop his own career. He decided Key West would be a great place to reinvent himself as a solo artist.
Since then, Anthony has become a filmmaker and songwriter. He has combined all of his many talents and is currently in the process of recording his original music.
He plans to record 9 new songs, each of a different genre. These songs will be released individually with their own music videos. Each song will feature a Key West musician and every video will have an element that ties it to the next.
The videos can be strung together telling a story that creates a short movie.
Check out Anthony’s Facebook page for his schedule and updates on his new releases, Facebook.com/AnthonyMarioPicone.
