Tony Visconti

Brooklyn beginnings, London apprenticeship

Tony Visconti grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Italian‑American parents who played and loved music. A working guitarist and arranger by his early twenties, he was recruited in the late 1960s by producer Denny Cordell and moved to London, where he learned the studio craft at close quarters and almost immediately began producing records. From there, his name threaded through British pop: early work with Tyrannosaurus Rex led to a long association with Marc Bolan and, soon after, with David Bowie. The breadth of his production work — and his habit of arranging and playing on sessions — made him part of the furniture of UK pop and rock from the turn of the 1970s onwards. (Grammy: Interview – The Next Day With Tony Visconti; AllMusic: Tony Visconti biography.)

The records that made his name

Visconti’s discography is a potted history of post‑60s pop. With Marc Bolan/T. Rex he produced albums across the group’s imperial run, including Electric Warrior (1971), the LP that established Bolan’s glam sensibility in widescreen. With David Bowie he became both collaborator and chronicler, credited as producer and sometimes player on The Man Who Sold the World (1970) and a run of 1970s classics: Low (1977), “Heroes” (1977) and Scary Monsters (1980). He returned to the partnership at the century’s turn for Heathen (2002), Reality (2003) and The Next Day (2013), and was central to the making of Bowie’s final album Blackstar (2016). Elsewhere he produced Thin Lizzy’s Bad Reputation (1977) and worked with acts from Sparks and Adam Ant to Manic Street Preachers and Morrissey. (AllMusic; Wikipedia: Tony Visconti; AV Club: 25 essential albums produced by Tony Visconti; Wikipedia: Bad Reputation.)

Those credits have been recognised by his peers. In 2008 he shared in Angélique Kidjo’s Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album as producer of Djin Djin; in 2017 he was among the engineering team honoured at the Grammys for Blackstar’s Best Engineered Album, Non‑Classical. (Grammy.com: Contemporary World Music Album 2008 winners and nominees; Grammy.com: 59th Annual Grammy Awards; Mixonline: 2017 production winners.)

From the control room to the stage

Visconti has long been a musician as well as a studio figure — he played bass on Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World — but since 2014 he has taken that role centre‑stage with Holy Holy, the live project he co‑founded with Bowie’s Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey. The group’s premise is simple and specific: perform Bowie’s songs with alumni who helped create them. Across multiple tours they’ve worked with a revolving cast that now typically includes Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory on vocals, guitarists Paul Cuddeford and James Stevenson, multi‑instrumentalist Jessica Lee Morgan (12‑string guitar, sax, vocals) and a keyboard chair that in recent years has been filled by Berenice Scott and, for 2026, Janette Mason. (Wikipedia: Holy Holy [tribute band]; With Just A Hint Of Mayhem: Leeds review, May 2025; XS Noize podcast, 7 July 2026.)

The band weathered changes — Steve "Smiley" Barnard deputised on drums during Woodmansey’s absence in 2022; Woodmansey returned in 2025 — and played UK, US and Japan dates across the decade. In May 2025 they toured the UK to sustained houses: reviews from Leeds, Manchester, Oxford and Bristol emphasised both the weight of the source material and the clarity of execution, with Gregory explicitly avoiding impersonation and the set leaning on songs the drummer originally recorded between 1969 and 1973. (Wikipedia: Holy Holy; With Just A Hint Of Mayhem; Louder Than War, 20 May 2025; God Is In The TV, 1 June 2025; David Rose’s Gig Diaries, 30 May 2025.)

What the show contains

The shape of the night is consistent and, for fans of Bowie’s 1970s catalogue, generous. In 2025 the average set opened to a tape of Warszawa before the band hit The Width of a Circle; from there came Lady Grinning Soul, Ziggy Stardust, Time, Quicksand, Changes, Ashes to Ashes, Panic in Detroit, Drive‑In Saturday, Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold the World, Five Years, Starman, “Heroes” and Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide, with Life on Mars? and Moonage Daydream closing the main set and an encore of Where Are We Now? and Rebel Rebel. Setlist reporting through 2025 bears out that running order, and venue‑by‑venue accounts describe Visconti and Woodmansey taking short speaking turns late on. One Oxford review timed the performance at “almost two hours” and noted that 16 of the 19 songs drew on 1969–73. (setlist.fm: average setlist 2025; God Is In The TV, 1 June 2025; London Shoes blog, 9 June 2025.)

Those 2025 rooms also sketched the texture of the current band. Stevenson’s lead lines pull towards Mick Ronson’s attack without pastiche; Cuddeford shadows or doubles; Scott or Mason keeps harmonic glue at the keys; Morgan moves between 12‑string, saxophone and harmonies. Gregory front‑loads stagecraft but frames himself as a narrator rather than an imitator and, in Bristol, prefaced Life on Mars? with a reflection on touring through the week of Bowie’s death in January 2016. (God Is In The TV; David Rose’s Gig Diaries.)

2026: the Final Tour, dated and on sale

In 2026 Holy Holy are billing dates as “The Final Tour – A Celebration of Bowie”, with a run across the UK and Ireland in September. As of early September 2026, Ticketmaster UK listed shows for Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Oxford, London, Southampton, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Hull, with individual venue pages and Songkick carrying local detail. A Belfast date at Limelight 1 is set for 29 September 2026. The Academy Music Group’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire site carries the London show for 10 September (doors 19:00). (Ticketmaster UK: Holy Holy tickets; Songkick: Belfast Limelight 1, 29 September 2026; Academy Music Group: O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.)

Visconti himself has been out explaining the decision and the shape of the band. In a podcast released on 7 July 2026 he discussed the Final Tour, confirmed the touring line‑up — Visconti on bass; Woodmansey drums; Gregory vocals; Cuddeford and Stevenson guitars; Morgan on 12‑string/sax; Mason on piano and keys — and spoke about keeping the material alive and the discipline it takes to remain show‑fit at 82. (XS Noize podcast, 7 July 2026.)

Where he stands now

Visconti’s reputation was made in the studio, but the last decade has put his musicianship — and his curatorial instincts — in the foreground. The Grammy‑recognised achievements of Blackstar and Kidjo’s Djin Djin sit behind him; the work in front of him is, for now, one last lap through the catalogue he helped to shape. Reviews from the 2025 tour give a clear picture of how his stage project lands: a serious band playing arrangements that aim to be truthful to the records; a frontman who honours rather than impersonates; and frequent reminders, in Visconti’s between‑song stories, of how and where these songs were built. If the Final Tour billing holds, September 2026 closes this chapter. Either way, the arc is clear: from Brooklyn player to London producer to keeper of a songbook that continues to fill rooms. (Louder Than War; God Is In The TV; Ticketmaster UK; XS Noize podcast.)