Tony Backhouse
Tony Backhouse (b. 1947) took a B.A. (English), and B.Mus. (Composition) at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, under the tutorship of composers David Farquhar and Jenny McLeod. He later completed a graduate course in Ethnomusicology (focussing on blues and gospel music) at Memphis State University, USA (1991). He studied classical guitar for three years.
He composed and performed music for NZ radio, theatre and film in the years from 1969 to 1974, but worked mostly in NZ funk/soul bands, including Mammal (who recorded one LP with poet Sam Hunt) and the Crocodiles (who recorded two albums and won three Recording Industry Awards in 1980 including Best Group).
Since relocating to Australia in 1981,Tony has sung and/or played guitar with Renée Geyer, Joe Walsh, Jenny Morris, the Umbrellas and Jump Back Jack, and arranged and recorded backing vocals for Dave Dobbyn, Tim Finn, Vince Jones, Kate Ceberano, Harry Manx (Canada) and others.
A change of direction occurred around 1985, when Tony became deeply influenced by the Black gospel tradition and subsequently became involved more in community music, choral directing and running vocal workshops. He founded a cappella quartet the Elevators (1985-1990) who sang traditional gospel; a cappella gospel choir the Café of the Gate of Salvation (which he directed from 1986-2007), a cappella gospel choir the Honeybees (which he directed from 1996-2001); and a cappella quartet the Heavenly Light Quartet (1996+ ) who released a CD in 1997. HLQ sang only gospel quartet material from the ‘30s-’60s; they became a trio in 1999 (the Heavenly Lights) and toured Spain and France in 2003.
In 1990 Tony co-founded the Sydney A Cappella Association, and co-ordinated the SAA and published its journal Oral Majority for five years.
Tony had songs recorded by Jenny Morris, Renée Geyer, the Dynamic Hepnotics, the Umbrellas and others, and has contributed to film soundtracks – including Sweetie (Jane Campion), Rodney & Juliet (Fane Flaws – in which TB played the lead role), and Brain Dead (Peter Jackson). TB performed as singer/arranger/musical director for Steve J. Spears’ a cappella musical Namatjira Park (1992), and has written music for TV series GP; and he researched and coordinated the 1993 TVNZ documentary on NZ vocal traditions, Strictly Acappella. He has arranged vocals for Tim Finn, Vince Jones, Kate Ceberano, Harry Manx and others.
Tony was the recipient of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America’s 1993 Contemporary Recording Awards for Best Song and Best Soloist (Runner-up); the Café of the Gate of Salvation received Best Album (Runner-up) Award; and recipient of composer commissions from the Song Company, from the Australia Council to write music for the Café of the Gate of Salvation (who released CDs in 1992, 1995 and 2004) and the Sydney Childrens’ Choir. In 1990 he received an Australia Council International Study Grant to research Black gospel traditions at Memphis State University. In 2006, his song Lost In The Heavenly Light was nominated for the Australian Classical Music Awards for Vocal Work of the Year.
Tony has made several research trips to the USA. He has sung solo and with Black choirs in churches in the USA, and taught and performed at the 1995 West Coast A cappella Summit, California.He has led the Café of the Gate of Salvation and the Band of Angels (WA) on research/performance tours of the USA, and directed New Orleans choir the Heralds of Christ at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Gospel Tent. He has acted as tour leader and musical director for several gospel tours of the USA, taking participants to immerse themselves in the Black church tradition.
Since 1987, Tony has run vocal workshops (focussing on Black gospel traditions) throughout Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the UK, France, Fiji and Samoa, and has been a solo performer at festivals throughout Australia. He has worked with (and been instrumental in setting up) many community choirs in Australia and New Zealand, and run workshops in educational institutions and in the corporate sector for enterprises such as BNZ and the All Blacks.
Tony contributed entries on Gospel Choirs and A cappella Singing to the Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia (2003). He has published two African American gospel songbooks A cappella – Rehearsing For Heaven (first published in 1995; the accompanying double CD was released in 2003) and Move On Up (2005). His latest book (2010) is Freeing the song - an approach to directing vocal groups.
Current activities:
- Teaching a cappella traditions, (public workshops, choirs, schools, festivals and seminars)
- Composing and arranging for the Café of the Gate of Salvation and other vocal ensembles and choirs
- Directing and singing with the Heavenly Lights
- Recording original music (playing guitar, bass and singing) with Peter Dasent (award-winning film composer, director of the Umbrellas) and Fane Flaws (film director, composer).