Anthony Lawrence Carey (born October 16, 1953, Watsonville, California, United States) is an American musician, composer, producer, and singer/songwriter.

After his departure in 1977, he began a solo career, releasing albums under his own name as well under the pseudonym Planet P Project, and producing for and performing with other artists.

His family acquired a piano when he was seven, and at the age of eleven he got his first acoustic guitar and formed his first group, which played music by The Mamas and the Papas and others.

His father gave him a Lowrey organ for his 14th birthday, and he started a rock band with other neighborhood children, playing music by The Doors.

[citation needed][2] At age 17, Carey moved to New Hampshire to start a new band called Blessings, which secured a recording contract with ABC Dunhill.

[4] While Blessings were in S. I. R. Rehearsal Studios in Hollywood working on material for their unfinished album, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple was in another room, with bassist Jimmy Bain, auditioning musicians for his new band Rainbow.

[4][8] A trio of instrumental albums, Explorer, No Human and Heaven, were also recorded during this period, but were never originally approved for release by Carey.

[9][10] Tony Carey released I Won't Be Home Tonight on the Rocshire label in 1982, along with the single "West Coast Summer Nights".

[11] The album rights and masters for I Won't Be Home Tonight were seized by federal authorities, and they remain the property of the US Internal Revenue Service.

The album is a rock opera for which Carey wrote the lyrics and music, sang all vocals, and played most of the instruments.

[20] Carey's 1985 final album for MCA, Blue Highway, took a year to record and did not score a hit on radio.

Carey also recorded the soundtrack for Wilder Westen Inclusive, a three-part television film directed by Dieter Wedel.

[32][33] With a new record deal with the international East West, Carey released The Long Road in April 1992, produced by Erwin Musper.

In the autumn 1994 he released Cold War Kids on East West, his last solo album with a major record label.

When they wouldn’t release it or promote it, I walked into the record company with a cheque and told them that I was gone and at that point I left the music business in 1994.

[37] In 1995 he sang and co-wrote the single "Birds in Cages", which was featured in the soundtrack to the German TV movie The Ice Princess, starring Katarina Witt.

In a November 12, 2011 interview on LKCB 128.4 Internet Radio, he claimed, "I've written over a thousand songs, for myself, other artists, and film and TV productions.

Due to illness, however, Carey left the band in the spring of 2009, just before their live debut at the Sweden Rock Festival.

In 2010 it was announced that Carey had formed a new musical racing project called EBC ROXX with Jürgen Blackmore and Ela.

Their first single, "Silver Arrows", was released in March 2010 and was written to accompany the first race of Mercedes Formula 1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg that season.

Russian guitarist Valery Lunichkin contributed a solo on "On The Side Of The Angels" and Karsten Kreppert played drums on "The Lady Fair".

Steeltown was based on Norway and its history, after Carey played and travelled there extensively, both as a solo artist and with a band consisting of mostly Norwegian musicians.

Influenced by Norway's response to its occupation during World War II, the work is also a statement about religious conflicts worldwide.

In 2015 he started to play live shows as Tony Carey's Rainbow Project: The Dio Years, with Norwegian musicians Åge Sten Nilsen (vocals), Per Ole Iversen (drums), Jostein Svarstad (guitar) and Jan Holberg (bass).

In 2018, Carey and two other ex-members of Rainbow, Don Airey and Doogie White, performed with their projects at Moscow's Crocus City Hall.

"[36][53] Carey also recorded a 19-minute rock opera entitled Operation: Paperclip, The Return of The Stanislaus County Kid, written by Bob Madsen and Kenny Steel.