The Tony Rich Project

Antonio "Tony Rich" Jeffries was born in 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. With a diverse music style that is often confused with Babyface, Tony Rich mixes elements of jazz, rock and soul into his tracks. Tony Rich got his start in the music industry as a staff writer at LaFace Records. While there, Rich penned hits for Boyz II Men, Johnny Gill, TLC and Toni Braxton. While living in Detroit, Rich started playing in jazz fusion and soul bands and worked with local Detroit songwriters. It was at this time that John Salley, Detroit Pistons player and record producer, encouraged Rich to work with his artists and to even make his own tracks. Meeting with R&B singer Pebbles, Tony Rich was introduced to her then-husband L.A. Reid. As co-founder of LaFace Records, Reid convinced Rich to move to Atlanta and to begin writing and producing for established acts. One of Rich's first projects was a session with Elton John and Sounds of Blackness for a Curtis Mayfield tribute LP. He then expanded his portfolio to include work with the previously mentioned stars. In early 1996, Rich made his solo debut with the cd Words and the hit single Nobody Knows, which made it to number 2 on the top 100. Both the album and single went platinum and in 1997, Tony Rich won the Grammy for Best Male R&B album. The album featured two Grammy-nominated singles, Like A Woman and Nobody Knows. The album was followed up in 1998 by Birdseye which, while critically praised, failed to generate much commercial success. Rich seemingly disappeared from the music world for several years after his album's release. In 2003, Rich came back on the scene with the album Resurrected. Carrying a very different style this time around, the album featured Rich rocking out on the guitar as well as singing smooth ballads. In 2006, Rich released a fourth album, Pictures. The album contains snapshots of a relationship, and is far more in the veins of his earlier works. In 2008, he released his fifth album, Exist through Hidden Beach Recordings. Originally it was set for release on September 16, however it was pushed back to September 23, 2008. The album features download-only single, Part the Waves.