Ron Tanski

Hi, this is the only real promo material I have. I hope it’s what you’re all looking for. I also have my musical life story as well below the big line...

I’m a Blues guy, but even more I’m a story guy. I don’t really have a bio sheet so this is my best stab at it:

I made a CD to sell at my gigs and people started playing it on the radio. I originally sent it to a couple stations and wondered if they’d play it but then it just took off and people started asking me for it. It started like this…

I was first raised in rural Ohio in a little town called Hudson, after that I lived in Littleton, Colorado, found myself in Springfield Missouri and eventually made it out to Los Angeles.

I first heard Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ “ when I was 5 and was hooked. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.

I got married and had kids early (really early) and my career was just taking off. I was asked to go on a European tour with a big rock band at the time but my wife and I decided that we didn’t want the kids to grow up like an episode of VH1’s Behind The Music, so I said “No” to life on the road and settled down to playing locally, on other peoples demos, Local CD’s, small movies, jingles and teaching music.

Along the way I grew into my own musical self. I’d always been a Blues guy but it’s not just Blues. I try to tell stories, some are Jazzy some are very Rootsy, some sophisticated, it just depends but they all live under the Blues roof.

Well the kids are in a good place, I started playing some high profile gigs, people started asking me to make a CD they could buy, and that’s how I got to here. I've made it up to # 3 on the RMR Blues radio charts and my CD has spent over a month on the charts.

Here's the long story, below the line.

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Ron Tanski
Singer, Songwriter, Blues Pianist and Composer

Background...

The only surviving child of a factory worker and a bookkeeper, Ron was born in Cleveland, Ohio but soon moved to a town with fewer than a thousand people. Although poor,
Ron's family got a piano when he was five, at around the same time he found his parent's collection of old 45 records. Within a few weeks he had taught himself to play Jerry Lee Lewis' Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On. Ron quickly learned to play piano by ear and later took lessons, but he never lost that roots feel even after years of classical.

Lying awake late at night with his parent's gone, Ron would dial in Blues channels with an old AM radio he'd found or play his parent's old records all the way down so he could keep awake. When he was twelve, worried that his voice wouldn't change, Ron would wait for his parents to leave, scream until he was hoarse and then practice singing. He started smoking cigars at age fourteen and also began gargling with whiskey and tonic water.

Since coming to L.A. Ron's worked with anyone he can, including Larry "Fuzzy" Knight and his Blowin' Smoke Band and Blues great Osee Anderson and the late J.J. "Bad Boy" Jones.

Ron wrote the scores for several animated shorts (1st place at the New Jersey Film Festival, Animation Category) and co-wrote the score for the independent Christian film "Everyone Knows How To Spell Luv", he's also written music for children's theatre as well as Sacred Music. But, his first love has always been performing, just Ron and his piano telling a story.

Influences...

Life, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bombay Sapphire,
The Beatles, Lyle Lovett, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Warner Brothers Cartoons, Danny Timms, Fats Domino, Jack Daniel's, Howlin' Wolf, Mozart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Etta James, The Three Stooges, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bessie Smith, Casey Hulick, Tom Waits, His Grandpas,
Everclear (the band), and Every Woman He's Ever Gotten Mad...

People Say Ron Reminds Them Of...

Early versions of Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Elton John, Louis Armstrong and Dr. John. (True Story: Ron had never heard of Tom Waits until a few years ago when a friend got him the CD Small Change. Seems he'd been singing a lot like Tom for years.)

Education...

Ron learned about life the hard way growing up but moved on to get his Bachelors in Music and Public Relations from Drury University in Springfield Missouri. Ron also has his Orff certification for early and primary music education and teaches music to little kids on the side.

Experience...

Ron plays everywhere and anything. His first paid gig was at age 17 with a bunch of old guys playing in a rock cover band at a converted strip club. Now he works as a solo artist.