Tony May

Born in New York City's Harlem community in 1936, Ross A. "Tony" May was the son of jazz musician and songwriter Ernestine Atwell May. He was the brother-in-law and producing/songwriting partner of the late Larry Banks, who was former husband to singer Bessie Banks. His career focused on the New York music scene, as an engineer, producer and songwriter. He briefly worked at Mirasound Studios before joining the staff at A&R Studios in New York, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. After the departure of Bruce Staple, he became chief engineer at Allegro Sound Studios; he oversaw Allegro's upgrade from 8- and 16-track to a full 24-track facility, at which point it was renamed Generation Sound Studios. He also worked as a senior engineer for the legendary BMG Studios, NY before the merger with Sony Music. During the course of his career as a world-class audio engineer, he recorded Chick Corea's breakthrough album [m123528], among many other prominent jazz (e.g., John Abercrombie. Keith Jarrett, Stanley Turrentine, David Sanborn, Ron Carter), rock (The Band, Van Morrison, Ten Wheel Drive), soul (Crown Heights Affair, Ashford & Simpson, The Isley Brothers) and Latin music artists (Charlie Palmieri, his brother Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Rivera, Joe Cuba). He is not to be confused with the British photographer Tony May (4) who is credited with contributing to the artwork found on releases by Pink Floyd, Catherine Wheel, Alan Parsons, and Dream Theater, among others. After an extended illness, Tony May passed away in New Rochelle, NY, USA, March 18 2020; he was 83.