TONY KANAL

'Tony Ashwin Kanal' (born August 27, 1970) is an American musician and producer. Kanal is the bassist for third wave ska band No Doubt and produced ''Together as One'', the debut album of reggae singer Elan Atias.

Contents

Early life

Musical career

Personal life

References

External links

Early life

Kanal's parents, originally from India, raised him and his brother in London, England.^[1] In 1981, the family moved to the United States and opened a store named "Kanal's Gifts and Fashion".

Musical career

At age 15 he met a fellow saxophone player Eric Carpenter at band camp. Despite not wanting to practice in the football field early in the morning, it was a requirement to play in the Anaheim High School jazz band. After band camp, Eric had the opportunity to play bass guitar in the jazz band but instead, lent Tony his bass as Eric's brother Dave taught Tony the instrument.
Tony stayed in the jazz band for the next few years. He changed his mind in 1987 when he saw No Doubt, a ska punk band from Anaheim, perform. Learning that the original bass player, Chris Leal, was about to be replaced, he took his chances and auditioned for the position. After hearing him play through the songs, Tony was the new bass player for No Doubt.
In May 1988 Tony helped his friend Eric Carpenter join the band. Alan Meade was contemplating leaving the band and after Eric and Chris Webb helped get Tony into the band Tony returned the favor. Eric was No Doubt's second and last saxophone player. Tony helped the band with manager duties and they opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in mid 1988. Michael Balzary, otherwise known as Flea, helped the struggling but still growing band. He produced two demos for No Doubt that helped land them a record deal with Interscope Records.
In October 1991 No Doubt hit the studio with help of producer Dito Goodwin. Even though unhappy with the result, the band toured in support of the album but No Doubt did not gain any popularity outside the West Coast.
When Interscope Records began turning songs down, No Doubt did it on their own. Over two years they recorded ten songs and released it independently. After hearing some of their independent work, Interscope gave No Doubt the go-ahead to start work on another album.
During a party celebrating the release of No Doubt's ''The Singles 1992-2003'', the directors of ''The 1 Second Film'', and Kanal donated US$100, becoming an executive producer.^[2]
When No Doubt went on hiatus, Kanal began a career behind the mixing console. In 2004, Kanal produced three songs for the soundtrack to ''50 First Dates'', one of which was a reggae cover of Bryan Ferry's 1985 song "Slave to Love" by Kanal's friend Elan Atias with a cameo from Gwen Stefani. Kanal then producing Atias's debut album, ''Together as One'', which was released in June 2006. He also created several remixes, including ones of Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" and Gang of Four's "Ether".

Personal life

Tony Kanal was the long-time boyfriend of Gwen Stefani, lead singer of their band No Doubt. Kanal initially rejected her, later commenting, "It was pretty much an unspoken rule that nobody dates Gwen…almost like a bunch of brothers and our sister."^[3] The two eventually began dating but kept the relationship secret.
Kanal broke up with Stefani prior to the recording of No Doubt's breakthrough album ''Tragic Kingdom''. Many of the songs on that album were written by Stefani about the breakup, most notably the hit "Don't Speak." Many years later, Stefani co-wrote her hit song "Cool" about their relationship as friends for her 2004 debut solo album ''Love. Angel. Music. Baby.''^[4]
Kanal is dating the American actress Erin Lokitz.^[5]

References

1. Strauss, Neil. "No Doubt's Anniversary Party". ''Rolling Stone''. January 31, 2002. Retrieved April 23, 2007.
2. Mullick, Nirvan. "A Standard Adventure". November 16, 2004. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
3. "Gwen Stefani". ''Hello!''. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
4. Vineyard, Jennifer. "Gwen Stefani's Song About Tony Kanal To Be Her Next Single". MTV News. June 21, 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
5. Collis, Clark. "Holla Back". ''Entertainment Weekly'', issue 909. November 22, 2006. Retrieved May 9, 2007.

External links

★ No Doubt Official Website

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