Tracey Johnson
Tony Moore
Tony Moore was born in Philadelphia and raised In Okinawa, Japan. Tony spent his childhood and most of his pre-teen years In Japan as his Father was in the Air Force. He returned to Philadelphia in his teenage years. Tony got into music in Japan listening to Bee Jees then to Action U, a group his Uncle Levan Moore was a participant. Levan was Tony's hero because not only was he In the Air Force but he was also a Sony/Columbia Records artist. After some minor success in the music industry Levan Moore decided to stay in the military versus pursuing a career in music further. A young traveler who was always moving, always adapting to culture, became the growing of innovation for him in Okinawa. Being in the Japanese culture, learning their mindset, passion and detail, trail blazing started to grow within him and that is where he gets his innovation for dancing.
Tony recalls watching Japanese cartoons such as Ultra Man, Johnny Sokko, and Speed Racer. Tony was stimulated by the animation, soundtrack, visual, imagination in a retrospective type of way causing him to see things differently. As Tony puts it, he always sees the world backwards. One day he was flying to Japan and got on a 747 the seats were facing the opposite so he arrived in Japan backwards and arrived in the United States backwards thereby creating a new perspective for him of always saw the world backwards.
Tony Moore
After his Father experienced a dishonorable discharge, this changed his life drastically from living in the greatest houses that America could facilitate in Japan to the projects. The family went from 10 to zero in lifestyle very quickly. He was the black white boy in Japan and the white black boy in America. Tony had been introduced to music through the traditional black church. What captivated him was the way the organist was playing but he wound up playing drums and later bass guitar. He started out being frustrated because no one would show him how to play so he learned on his own. He learned the wrong way to play bass causing him to develop calluses on his fingers. He later learned the correct way by watching guest bass players that came to the church. Tony stepped away from the Church house to experience other venues of music. In his teenage years, he was a part of a boy band called Chosen in Willingboro, NJ. Members of this band consisted of Felton Rowe, Timmy Witherspoon, Ron Walker, Spoony, and Eddie.
The singers were from Willingboro and the musicians were from Philly. The members of the band consisted of Maurice Welcher, Brian Moore, Frazier aka Briz, John Roberts, and Daryl Marshall. They sung all over the region being requested at many events. Chosen broke up "because that’s what boy bands do when there are a lot of egos combined with great musicians". The Philly side of the band went on to pursue professional music careers. For example, Brian is Madonna’s drummer and John is Janet’s/Michaels former drummer, and Maurice worked with Teddy Riley and many others.
In his twenties Tony introduced to the community of music, where he started choir called Shikinah Glory which turned into a female group called Anointing Fall and then Jehovah’s chosen aka JC or TMJC, which now has evolved to the Illafunkies. The concept behind JC started as a recording choir only they were not giggin anywhere.
Their first gig was a recording with James Poyser, James Hall and Tye Tribbett. Tye Tribbett produced the first CD. That CD launched a career of trendsetting; the first shed was birthed at his session rehearsals. Rehearsals are called “shed”. Sheds are all over the country, the very first one was when Lil John was touring with Janet, and Brian was touring with usher and usher was opening for Janet, they were on the same tour. The terminology comes from the root word woodshed, which means when a student would go into the music room and practice. The band decided to work on their chops in preparation for the recording. All Tony's old homies/bandmates came and played for him so the recording was also a reunion, setting precedence for all of his recordings to come.
Tony's thirst for new always got him in trouble, he was consistently changing which brought him a lot of criticism. Jehovah's Chosen's evolution from a larger choir to a smaller choir was Intriguing to him because when everyone in the industry loved the large choir he was changing to a smaller group. The first album entitled “Love Lifted Me” was produced by Jazzy Jeff’s musical camp that was only heard underground. The second album was entitled "Action Figures". The concept of this album came from a Jimmy Hendrix song. The message of that project was because Jehovah's Chosen was a gospel group doing secular work. They were the first gospel group to open for Common and Jill Scott, and all Philly soul artists. They developed a message for the Preacher's Kids also known as "PKs".
Some of the lyrics from the song Action Figures are “son of a preacher man run fast as you can got to catch the sun, you’re the chosen one. The resolution of inspiration is the constitution of salvation". These lyrics mean that God is going to use them to win souls. Either He is going to use you or he is going to use you. Concepts like these led to Tony working with bigger name artists like Bow-Wow, Mariah Carey and now Usher.
Tony Moore keeps unbelievably long hours working on new projects while continuing to give back to the community and his local church. Currently he is working with Alicia keys on a new movie soundtrack called Sisters, featuring Nia Long and Viviva Fox. In addition to working movie soundtracks, he is also writing songs for artists who search for inspirationally driven songs. Followed up by innovative never heard of undiscovered talent from around the world.
"My one desire is to evolve back to Japan and retire as a learner of culture." ~ Tony Moore.
One desire is to evolve back to Japan and retire as a learner of culture.
