Biography Tony McPhee

Anthony Charles McPhee (born 23 March 1944) is an English guitarist and blues musician, who released most of his music as Tony McPhee, but some of it as T.S. McPhee. In his early years as a musician he was founder of the blues rock band, The Groundhogs. An early version of this band backed Champion Jack Dupree and John Lee Hooker on U.K. concerts in the mid-1960s.

The name T.S. McPhee was given to him by the producer Mike Vernon who suggested adding 'T.S.' to his name when McPhee released a duet single with Champion Jack Dupree in 1966 entitled, 'Get Your Head Happy!', in order to make it look more like an "official blues name". The initials T.S. stand for 'Tough Shit'.

The Groundhogs evolved into a blues-rock trio that produced three U.K. Top 10 hits in the U.K. Albums Chart in the early 1970s. Although they have continued to play in various line-ups to the present day, McPhee officially retired from the band in 2015.

McPhee's solo début album, The Two Sides of Tony (T.S.) McPhee was released in 1973. Side A of this record is blues rock and side B is a single psychedelic art rock electronic composition in four movements, featuring Arp 2600 synthesizers, electric piano and the Rhythm Ace drum synthesizer. Entitled 'The Hunt', it explores McPhee's strong stance against fox and stag hunting. McPhee has also released many other solo acoustic blues records (mostly as Tony McPhee, as well as duets with Jo Ann Kelly.

Apart from The Groundhogs, McPhee has played with Herbal Mixture,John Dummer Band, Hapshash and The Coloured Coat, Tony McPhee's Terraplane, Tony McPhee's Turbo, the Tony McPhee Band and Current 93.

In 2009, he suffered a stroke which affected his speech and ability to sing.

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