 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Tony Lucca" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Tony Lucca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony James Lucca |
| Born | (1976-01-23)January 23, 1976 (age 49) Pontiac, Michigan, U.S. |
| Origin | Waterford, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels |
|
| Spouse | |
| Website | tonylucca |
| Children | 1 |
Anthony James Lucca (born January 23, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. He is perhaps best known for starting his career onThe All New Mickey Mouse Club. After the All New Mickey Mouse Club, Lucca went toLos Angeles for a brief career as an actor, then became a full-time musician. He has toured with several acts, includingMaroon 5,Kelly Clarkson,*NSYNC,Marc Anthony,Sara Bareilles,[1]Matt Duke,Tyrone Wells, and the lateChris Whitley. He finished in third place on thesecond season (2012) of theAmerican reality television singing competition talent show,The Voice, broadcast onNBC.
Lucca was born inPontiac, Michigan, the son of Sally and Tony Lucca.[2] Lucca is of Italian, Welsh, French, and English descent.[2] Lucca grew up around a large and musical extended family,[3] as his mother Sally was tenth of twelve children of the Detroit jazz piano player James "Jimmy" Stevenson.[4][5][6] Lucca grew up inWaterford, Michigan, and began singing at age 3[7] and child modeling at age 9.[2] When he was 12, he began playing in Detroit-area bands with his cousin, Cole Garlak.[4][7][8][9]
When Lucca was 14, he went to Detroit to audition for the Disney movieNewsies, only to find out the audition was forThe All New Mickey Mouse Club instead.[3] Encouraged by his sister, he auditioned for the show and was picked for callbacks in Los Angeles.[2][3] In Los Angeles, he was selected along with 8 other kids to join the cast for the fourth season of the show. Lucca moved to Orlando, Florida, with his mother and lived in an apartment complex with other castmates and traveled back to Michigan between seasons.[2] Other famous cast members on the show includedBritney Spears,JC Chasez,Christina Aguilera,Justin Timberlake,Ryan Gosling, andKeri Russell. He remained with the show for four seasons, until the show was canceled after the seventh season.
In 1995, after the cancellation of the All New Mickey Mouse Club, Lucca moved to Los Angeles to begin an acting career.[7] He lived with fellow Mickey Mouse Club castmateKeri Russell, his girlfriend at the time. Russell and Lucca were cast and played leads together on theAaron Spelling-producedMalibu Shores,[10][11] a television teen drama series, which lasted for one season. During this time he filmed commercials forLevi Jeans,J.C. Penney, andBlockbuster Video.[2] He had minor success in movies, appearing in an NBC movie of the week,Her Last Chance withKellie Martin andJonathan Brandis,[12] as well as two independent features.[13] He left acting in 1997 to pursue music.
In 1997, Lucca self-released his first music album,So Satisfied, which he also co-produced.[4] In 1998, he launched his website www.tonylucca.com and began to sell his debut CD and its self-released follow-up,Strong Words Softly Spoken through the website and at live shows he later released two EPs and a limited series ofLive & Limited CDs through his site; each CD sold was numbered and signed. In 2001 and 2002, he served as opening act for boy bandNSYNC, whose members were fellow Mickey Mouse Club co-starsJustin Timberlake andJC Chasez.
Lucca's third full-length album and his first commercially distributed,Shotgun, was released in 2004 in conjunction with Lightyear and New Vibe Records; the album was executive co-produced byJC Chasez, who Lucca toured with to support the album.[14] 2006 saw the release ofCanyon Songs, recorded in both Laurel and Beachwood Canyons,[15] andLive in Hollywood, a live concert album; both albums were distributed by Rock Ridge Music.Come Around Again was released in 2008.
Lucca participated in a cooperative tour with Jay Nash andMatt Duke, which resulted in the 2009 EP entitledTFDI. The collaboration, which stands for "TotallyFuckin'DoingIt"[16] was recorded in the Evanston, Illinois, studio SPACE during an impromptu visit to the studio, after the three artists formed a friendship during the tour.[7][17] Lucca briefly returned to acting in 2010, starring in a 901 Silver Tequila commercial, which was directed by the brand's founderJustin Timberlake.[18] He also played himself on an episode ofParenthood, appearing as a performing musician.[19] Lucca's sixth album was released in 2010, entitledRendezvous With the Angels, on Rock Ridge Music.Solo, an acoustic CD composed of b-sides and previously unreleased recordings was released in November 2010, and given away for free in conjunction with Amazon.com's MP3 web store. Lucca recorded a second collaborative CD with Jay Nash and Matt Duke,TFDI II, which was released mid-2011.
On February 5, 2012, Tony appeared on the Blind Auditions of the American reality talent showThe Voice in itssecond season. He performedRay LaMontagne's "Trouble", and all four judges hit their red "I Want You" button for him. He chose to joinAdam Levine's team.[20] It was also in this show he reunited with fellow MouseketeerChristina Aguilera. He advanced to the semi-finals, which he performed "How You Like Me Now" byThe Heavy and moved on to the final round. For the final round on May 7, he performedHugo'scountry-styled version of theJay-Z song, "99 Problems". On May 8, 2012, Lucca made his last performance on the show duetting with fellow contestantJordis Unga formerly of Team Blake on theFleetwood Mac song, "Go Your Own Way". Later that night, it was announced he had placed third in the competition, barely placing ahead of Mann by one quarter of a percentage point and coming behind winnerJermaine Paul from Team Blake and first runner-upJuliet Simms from Team Cee Lo. Lucca was later signed toAdam Levine's record label,222 Records.
| Performances onThe Voice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Show | Song | Original artist | Order | Result |
| Blind Audition | "Trouble" | Ray LaMontagne | 9 | All four chairs turned Lucca joinedAdam Levine's Team |
| Battles (Top 48) | "Beautiful Day"(vs. Chris Cauley) | U2 | — | Saved by Adam Levine |
| Live Show | "In Your Eyes" | Peter Gabriel | 3 | Saved (Public Vote) |
| Quarter-finals (First Week) | "...Baby One More Time" | Britney Spears | 5 | |
| Semi-finals | "How You Like Me Now?" | The Heavy | 1 | Safe (108 Points) |
| Live Finale (Final 4) | "99 Problems" | Jay-Z | 4 | 3rd Place |
| "Harder To Breathe" | Maroon 5 | 11 | ||
| "Yesterday" (with Adam Levine) | The Beatles | 7 | ||
Lucca released a six-song EP,With the Whole World Watching, on July 16, 2013. Lucca toured extensively following the release, including six dates on the Honda Civic Tour opening for Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5.
Lucca joinedPatreon in 2013. On November 12, 2013, while plugging Patreon on his YouTube channel, Tony announced he is no longer with Adam Levine's record label 222 Records. Excerpt: "Some of you know that recently I was signed to a fairly high profile record deal. -Super cool. What most of you don't know is that, said "record deal", has since come to an end. -Not as cool. Your basic record business 101 really..."
Tony Lucca then moved toNashville, Tennessee to further develop his songwriting. He funded his 2015 albumTony Lucca via crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, also releasing a corresponding collection of songs calledMade To Shine – The Kickstarter Sessions. Lucca would later share that the 2015 album took a personal toll on him, like "going through a really bad breakup,"[21] and toldBillboard that after the record he "was in no hurry to get back in the studio" but instead elected to co-write as many songs as he could with Nashville collaborators.[22]
In 2018, Lucca partnered with Nashville startup company RootNote and began work on his new recordAin't No Storm, which he recorded with Nashville-based producer and formerWilco drummerKen Coomer.[23] He released the first single and music video, "Everything's Changing," in November 2018. At the end of 2018, he signed a publishing deal with Demolition Music.[24]
Tony Lucca independently releasedAin't No Storm on March 29, 2019. The album received critical acclaim, withPopMatters calling it an "expanding of his musical boundaries" and likening Lucca to contemporariesAmos Lee,Jason Isbell, and Ben Schneider.[25] Others called it "one helluva record," "highly crafted songwriting," and "more inspired than ever."[26][27][28][29]
Many of Lucca's songs have been featured in various TV shows, includingFriday Night Lights,Brothers & Sisters,Shark andFelicity and in the movieOpen Range. He appeared in an episode of theE! True Hollywood Story series, covering his time spent onThe All New Mickey Mouse Club in 2007.[30] He has performed numerous times on NBC'sLast Call with Carson Daly as a part of the show's band.[9]
Lucca dated fellow Mouseketeer (and eventualMalibu Shores co-star)Keri Russell on-and-off for eight years.[31][32]
On July 7, 2007, Lucca married Rachel. He adopted her son and they later had a daughter together.
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | |||
| "Trouble" | 2012 | — | Non-album releases byThe Voice |
| "Beautiful Day" | — | ||
| "In Your Eyes" | — | ||
| "...Baby One More Time" | 117 | ||
| "How You Like Me Now?" | — | ||
| "99 Problems" | 58 | ||
| "Yesterday" (withAdam Levine) | 68 | ||
| "Never Gonna Let You Go" | 2013 | — | With the Whole World Watching |
| "Delilah (When the Lights Go Out)" | 2014 | — | Tony Lucca |
| "Imagination" | — | ||
| "Right On Time" | — | ||
| "Home for the Holidays" | — | A Rock by the Sea Christmas: Volume Five | |
| "Nashville" | 2018 | — | Non-album single |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
