Tony “Big T” Garrison
Mr. Garrison otherwise known history with music is a long and intricate one. He's have been involved in music since the age of 8 and started by playing the drums and guitar with formal drum lessons beginning a few years later at the age of 13. Once he turned 18, he began voice and guitar arranging lessons from Dave Baldwin Music Arranging which helped to further cement his development in the field.
Taking music more serious, he enrolled in Loop College, which later become Harold Washington College in Chicago under the esteemed James L. Mack. Mack a, composer, producer and arranger, was a master in his discipline and taught serious theory composition, and arranging to all his students, Mr. Garrison included. Mack worked with Nancy Wilson, Tyrone Davis, Ramsey Lewis and The Manhattans, the latter winning a Grammy for Best RnB Performance By Duo or Group With Vocals. The song 'Shining Star” which landed them a Grammy at the 23rd Grammy Celebration. The song was heavily worked on by Mack who was an Associate Producer on the project. Needless to say he was in good hands under Mack.
His music journey continued and after answering an ad for sound engineering classes he ran into Marty Fellman at Paragon Recording Studios. Fellman was teaching the class and gave us the rundown of what we needed to catapult our skills to the top. I remember seeing first hand on how you make hit records and Fellman would tell him about the art of “The Hook. He was so impressed with his mixing during the class that he even tried to hire him on the spot. He could clearly remember Fellman's business partner asking him a lot of questions privately, and it came to light that they were interviewing him to become an engineer at their studio. Marty also knew he had my own small home recording studio which no doubt helped his decision in adding him to their team.
Marty worked with The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, The Ohio Players, Rod Stewart, The Commodores, The Jacksons, and many more too numerous to all name here. He would be writing all day about Unlimited Gold and Platinum Records! Mr. Garrison knew this was a match made in heaven due to his pedigree and had full confidence that prestige and skill would rub off on him.
Time went on and Mr. Garrison focused more on his own setup having built his own recording studio and starting his own label. When his sons got old enough he ended up teaching them how to make songs and records just like how he was taught. Mr. Garrison was and always will continue to be channeling the greatness he was around and is looking forward in the future to making more good music that people will no doubt enjoy. Regardless of whether it's old school or new school music, it all has a science, skill and quality to it and he's all about tapping into it fully.