Anthony George Banks (born 27 March 1950) is an English musician primarily known as the keyboardist and founding member of the rock band Genesis. Banks is also a prolific solo artist, releasing six solo studio albums that range through progressive rock, pop, and classical music.
Banks co-founded Genesis in 1967 while studying at Charterhouse. He was their keyboardist and one of their principal songwriters and lyricists. He became a frequent user of the Hammond T-102 organ, Mellotron, ARP Pro Soloist and Yamaha CP-70 piano. In the band's earliest years Banks would play acoustic guitar for some of the mellow and pastoral songs.
In 2010, Banks was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis. In 2011, he was included on MusicRadar's list of the 27 greatest keyboard players of all time. In 2015, he was named "Prog God" at the Progressive Music Awards.
Anthony George Banks was born on 27 March 1950 in East Hoathly with Halland, East Sussex as the youngest of five children. He cites his mother, a pianist, as being particularly into music, and first listened to classical music albums that she owned from around six before he moved to musical theatre compositions by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Banks's elder brother introduced him to a wider variety, naming "Sixteen Tons" sung by Frankie Laine as one of the songs, and said, "By 1961, and for the next five to six years, I was music mad!" Banks started piano lessons at school at eight with the headmaster's wife, but did not enjoy tuition at first because he was "quite forced into it" by his parents until he grew to enjoy it. He considered himself an average piano player, and learned to play pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Maurice Ravel, his two favourite piano composers, by ear. At 13, he began lessons with an unsuitable teacher who made him lose interest in classical music, but he then started to play songs by ear that he heard on the radio. Months later, he acquired a new piano teacher who sparked his interest in classical compositions once more, which became a deciding factor for Banks's decision to pursue a career in music. In addition to the piano, Banks taught himself to play the guitar.
At seven, Banks began six years of study at Boarzell Preparatory School, a boarding school in Hurst Green. In September 1963, Banks began study at Charterhouse School, a private school in Godalming, Surrey. He studied classical piano as an extracurricular subject. Shortly after his arrival he befriended fellow pupil and future Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel, initially over their general distaste for the school's environment. They went on to play in Garden Wall, a school band with drummer Chris Stewart. In early 1967, they merged with guitarists Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, two members of Anon, another school band, to record a series of demos which led to the formation of their new band Genesis.
Banks originally planned to study mathematics in higher education. After leaving Charterhouse, Banks began studying chemistry at Sussex University but soon switched to physics and philosophy. After a year at Sussex, he took a leave of absence in 1969 to explore a career with Genesis since the group had split but decided to reform and become a full-time professional band. Banks never returned to the university.
Banks's elaborate arrangements and keyboard solos (such as the piano introduction to "Firth of Fifth" and the instrumental sections of "The Cinema Show", "Watcher of the Skies", and "Supper's Ready") helped to establish Genesis's sound. In addition to playing keyboards, Banks contributed (along with Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford) to Genesis's 12-string acoustic passages in songs such as "The Musical Box", "Entangled", "The Cinema Show", and the beginning part of "Supper's Ready". Banks was also an occasional back-up vocalist and sang lead vocal on part of "Shepherd", a song from 1970 which was only released on the Genesis Archive 1967–75 boxed set. Though Genesis's practice was to write songs as a group, Banks would on occasion bring to the group a completed song and not allow the other members to add anything to it, starting with "Time Table" on Foxtrot (1972). Notable Banks-penned Genesis songs include the minor hit "Many Too Many" and the anthemic ballad "Afterglow", which remained a popular coda to the Banks-driven medleys that the group played during live shows for years.
Initially Banks played only piano and backing vocals with Genesis, but by the time of Trespass (1970) he had expanded his keyboards repertoire to include Hammond organ and Mellotron. According to Phillips, Banks had an especially difficult time adapting to the organ, which he called "a box of tricks". Banks said he found both the Hammond organ and Mellotron rather limited once he got a handle on them, and acquiring more advanced synthesizers such as the ARP Pro Soloist (which he first used on the 1973 album Selling England by the Pound) opened up a wide range of possibilities for him.
Original lead singer Peter Gabriel was both Banks's best friend within Genesis and the member he feuded with most frequently. Gabriel recalled, "We were used to having this passive-aggressive tone to rehearsals and, although Tony and I were best friends, we would often be at loggerheads about the music. He was a lot more nervous back then and not at ease within himself.... Without question, we were passionate about creating something great, but I think we were also both awkward buggers, so it was a personality thing as well."
In 1997, Banks turned down an invitation to play on Steve Hackett's solo album Genesis Revisited as he disliked going over past material and an appearance would have added confusion to the fact that Genesis were close to putting out Calling All Stations.
After Genesis split in 1998, Banks's career stagnated, and he considered retirement from music. It was during this time that he began composing, titling an early piece "Black Down" which led to his decision to pursue orchestra composition.
Banks first thought of making a solo album in 1975, following Gabriel's departure from Genesis. He had a group of songs in development at the time which were used on A Trick of the Tail (1976), their first album recorded without Gabriel, including "Mad Man Moon" and sections of "Entangled" and "Ripples".
In 1979, after Genesis had entered a break in activity, Banks and Rutherford travelled to Polar Studios in Stockholm and recorded their first studio albums. Banks's album, A Curious Feeling, was released first in October of that year. It was originally meant to be based on and titled after the short story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, and Banks had written a complete set of lyrics for the story, but shelved the idea after he was made aware of an upcoming musical about the book. In addition to keyboards Banks played the guitar and bass as he wanted the album to be "As personal as possible". He enlisted Kim Beacon of String Driven Thing as vocalist.
In June 1983, Banks released his second studio album, The Fugitive. It remains his only album to feature him as lead vocalist on all of the songs, a role he considered after recording guide vocals for Phil Collins to sing for "Me and Sarah Jane" and "Keep It Dark" on the Genesis album Abacab (1981). Banks has employed guest vocalists on his solo albums; these have included Fish, Nik Kershaw, Toyah Willcox, Jack Hues and Jim Diamond.
In 1988, Banks recorded a pop and rock-oriented album under the group identity Bankstatement, featuring guitarist and co-producer Steve Hillage and singers Alistair Gordon and Jayney Klimek, plus additional musicians. Banks felt inspired to pursue the project having witnessed Rutherford enjoy the success of his own group, Mike + the Mechanics. Their eponymously-titled album was released in 1989. Banks also performed lead vocals on the song "Big Man."
Banks released his fourth studio album, Still, in April 1991 featuring Fish and Nik Kershaw. In contrast to his previous use of one or two vocalists on an album, he chose a greater number for Still as he saw little point in restricting himself and selected different people for tracks they suited best. As on the previous album, Banks took the lead vocal on one track (Hero For an Hour)