Tony Talent (The Coalitions) Biograpy

Soul Junction has a forthcoming 45 release lined up from The Coalitions - The Memory of You. As part of the info side of the release the site has been passed on this informative bio of their founding member, Philadelphian William Anthony Anderson who recorded and performed under the name of "Little Tony Talent"

Biography of Tony Talent

Little Tony Talent, the 12 year old singing sensation.Little Tony Talent (real name William Anthony Anderson) was born in Philadelphia on February 11th 1954. Tony first began singing as a member of the Hanna Elementary School, glee club.

At the age of 11, Tony through a friend of his mother's sister (Charlotte) was first introduced to local talent scout and promotion man, Gene Lawson. Lawson, who at the time was acting as Otis Redding's publicity agent arranged for Little Tony to open the show for Redding during his first appearance in Philadelphia at the cities Uptown Theatre. Tony backed by Redding's band captivated the audience with a rousing rendition of James Brown's "I Feel Good". Thereafter as part of Redding's touring show Tony would go on to perform in venues in and around Baltimore and Washington D.C.

In 1966, Lawson introduced his by now 12 year old, singing sensation Little Tony Talent to New York record producer and owner of Sue records Juggy Murray. Juggy was suitably impressed enough to sign Tony to one of his subsidiary labels, Symbol. Where under the tutelage of producer Jesse Herring Tony recorded "All That's Good Baby/Your Too Young" (Symbol 218) at the Cameo Parkway studios in Philadelphia.

During the following year, Lawson secured Tony a further recording contract with Vando Records in New York. The Vando label was jointly owned by Van McCoy and Douglas "Jocko" Henderson (With Vando being an amalgamation of both partners Christian names). Here Tony recorded "Gotta Tell Somebody (About My Baby)/Hooked On You" (Vando 3001) both sides where written and produced by McCoy (with both songs also being recorded by fellow Vando artist Chris Bartley).

Sadden by the tragic death of his friend Otis Redding, Gene Lawson took a break from the recording industry for a while (Lawson later returned in 1969 to form the Uplook label). With his mentor now gone Tony's burgeoning career was bought to a temporary halt.

At this moment in time everybody seemed to want to record harmony groups and after losing out in a few talent shows to such acts Tony decided that the best way forward was to form a group of his own.

So in 1968 with high school friends Alan Williams, Bruce Dunbar and Carl Smith, Tony formed a group known as the "Deltones".

Although later due to a similarity of names with another Philly harmony group "The Delfonics" a change of name was soon to follow. So in 1969 with the guys choosing a name that they thought was more relevant to the times they were living in, the Deltones became "The Coalitions". At this juncture Carl Smith left the group to be replaced by the late Dwight Mitchell.

The Coalitions were to record a song written for them by Wilbert Hart of the Delfonics entitled "Freedom" although this was reputedly never released.

Their big break came in 1974 when under the guidance of producer Michael Nise they recorded "Instead ... How Are You/I Don't Mind Doin' It (Instrumental)" for Leon Dunbar's local "Re Dun" label. Michael Nise was later responsible for taking "Instead... How Are You to Jamie/Guyden who picked up the release for national distribution on their Phil. LA Of Soul label (367).The Coalitions hit the road, touring the chitlin circuit to help promote their release. A second release (371) of "Instead ... How Are You" was issued in early 1975 this time dropping the instrumental flipside in favour of a vocal outing "Later Than You Think". The highlight of this period for the group was being invited to open a concert in Philadelphia for The Jackson Five.

After the Phil. LA Of Soul adventure closed The Coalition entered a barren period recording wise during which time Bruce Dunbar left the group. His position would later be filled by Bruce Fauntleroy, with a fifth member Stephen Ferguson also joining the group.

In circa 1980 with the group line up of Tony Anderson (Talent), Alan Williams, Bruce Fauntleroy, Milton Williams and Stephen Ferguson the Coalitions embarked on a vanity project to record the "Colour Me Blue" album. Although the project was completed, due to lack of finance the finished product was never issued.

The Coalitions are, from left to right:

Bruce Fauntleroy, Alan Williams, Tony Anderson (a.k.a Tony Talent), Milton Williams and Stephen Ferguson.

In 1982 Tony married Carmen raising their two children Antoinina and Laquia. Tony also has three other children Tony Jr, Shasaree and Shamia (now deceased) from a previous relationship.

It was at this point that Tony turned his back on a career as a full time performer to pursue a new career in the Banking Industry. He currently is in the employ of the Citizens Bank in Philadelphia (the U.S subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland).

Following a decade of inactivity Tony rediscovered his passion to perform once again. So in 1995 under the new group name of "Ol' Heads" Tony with former Coalition members Alan Williams and Bruce Fauntleroy and additional member Alfonso Smith recorded the "Before You Go" album.

The Late Donald Murphy was the producer on the "Before You Go "project. He also featured as a songwriter on the project along with Marty Sutton. The album was recorded at Gerald Levert's "Trevel" studio in Cleveland Ohio.

A further name change and album project followed in 2003 when under the pseudonym of "The Rheel Menn" the group recorded the "Keepin' It Rheel" album. The group had by now grown to six members with Tony McFarland and Leonard Deans (both former members of the group, Maximum Level) joining Tony Anderson (Talent), Bruce Fauntleroy, Alan Williams and Milton Williams (who later left the group).

Returning to the previously mentioned "Colour Me Blue" unissued album. After lying dormant in the can for circa 30 years it was recently rescued from obscurity by Soul Junction's Philadelphia A&R representative, Charles Anderson.

A lead 45 featuring two of the album tracks "The Memory Of You" and "On The Block" will be released for the first time in the fall of 2011 (release number SJ512) with the complete album appearing during 2012.

For upto date information and to hear sound clips of the 45. Please go to our website

:Release Info: http:// www.souljunctionrecords.co.uk or Releases Listing

David Welding

Acknowledgments:

Photographs: courtesy of Tony Anderson (Talent)

Little Tony Talent "All That's Good Baby" label Scan courtesy of Mark Dobson

Coalitions "Instead...How Are You" label scan courtesy of: Steve Guarnori

Editorial layout courtesy of Steve Lloyd