Tony’s first album, Journey, was released in 1987 under the banner of ‘creative relaxation music’. Only ever available on cassette and now a collector’s item sold for hundreds of dollars for those lucky enough to find a second-hand copy, Journey was the album that started it all.

Tony had been working with psychologists and masseurs to create music for inducing a relaxed and calm response within the listener. Feedback from therapists provided Tony with invaluable information about sound, melody and the positive effect music could have on the listener.

Journey quickly became popular with a diverse range of professional therapists and natural health care specialists around Australia, and by 1990 Tony had created and released two more albums, all available only on cassette. To his surprise, these albums were also discovered by a very dedicated mainstream audience across the country. Beyond the effect of enhancing relaxation, listeners had connected with the very special melodies and instrumentation that would soon become Tony’s signature sound.

Demand for Tony’s albums grew rapidly, however major music companies did not show interest. Instead, Tony and his wife Jacqui set up their own music label, Studio Horizon, and soon they were distributing to new age shops, bookstores, art galleries, tourism outlets, Australia Post and other retail outlets — as well as to relaxation centres, schools, hospitals and health care retreats. The first two releases for the label on CD were ‘Mirror Moon’ and ‘In Touch’ which established the label across Australia.

By 1991 Tony had composed and produced Mariner, the album that would see him become a household name in his home country and begin attracting an international audience. After a special feature on Australian television program ‘Healthy, Wealthy and Wise’, Mariner achieved Gold Album status within a few weeks — one of the first independent albums to achieve such sales in such a short time. To date Mariner has sold over 1.5 million copies.

Between 1992 and 1997, Tony worked with Australian nature photographer Steve Parish. The two artists collaborated on an innovative mix of music and photographic images (such as detailed CD booklets and coffee table books), set to particular nature themes: Uluru, Kakadu, Rainforest Magic, Wilderness and Windjana: Spirit of the Kimberley. These albums were enormously popular and continue to sell in numbers unprecedented by any Australian independent artist, with each title reaching Double Platinum sales within a few months of release.

The maestro went on to release a new title each year for nearly two decades and also scored for television documentaries. His sell-out national concert tour in 1998 proved him to be a consumate performer. The climax of that tour was at the Sydney Opera House and was videotaped by the ABC.