Antony Harding is an English singer, songwriter and musician from London who grew up on the Isle of Wight. He is best known as the drummer in London band Hefner, and has also played independently as ANT and now performs solo as Antony Harding.
Biography
Harding first appeared on stage back in 1997 at the intimate 12 Bar Club in London supporting 'London's best unsigned band' Rhatigan on a monthly residency. A few years later, Antony's first CD, Cures For Broken Hearts came out in 2000 on Fortune & Glory Records to positive reviews: "Likeable delicate stuff" said Q Magazine, "An unexpected Joy" said Mojo, and the CD received airplay on BBC Radio One, leading to a solo session for John Peel during the summer of that year, featuring 4 acoustic versions of songs that would later appear on his debut album. The debut album, a collection of London home recordings called A Long Way To Blow A Kiss, was quietly released in 2002 on Fortune and Glory Records. It was also warmly received: "Ant proves a delicate little joy" said Teletext, and "Scruffy, gorgeous notes-to-self" was how Mojo described it. After relocating to Malmo, Sweden, Floating On The Breeze, a mini album of home recordings was released on Italian label Homesleep Records : "Charmed mini album of ringing acoustic pop" said Uncut, "Pleasing bedroom rock" said the NME. Ant's first compilation CD of rarities and b-sides, Sad To See It's Morning, emerged on Fortune & Glory in 2004 to positive words: "Beautiful acoustic nuggets" Mojo, "Sweet, charming, piquant pop gems" Record Collector. The second album, Footprints Through the Snow, was recorded in 8 days one hot summer in Bologna Italy in 2004 and released in 2006 to rave Italian reviews: "Close your eyes and breathe it in" recommended Subba-Cultcha.
After a break of some years, another mini album of home recordings, this time aided by friends, entitled These Long Dark Country Roads, came out in 2009 on cult Spanish label Acuarela Discos: "Gorgeous lo-fi, acoustic pop songs" said Rock Feedback. The third album The Birds Sing Goodnight To You And Me, recorded with his old Hefner band mates Darren Hayman, John Morrison and Jack Hayter, was released in March 2012 on Italian label We Were Never Being Boring, and was hailed as "the album of the year 2012" by Dandelion Radio's Mark Whitby. It was followed in 2013 by a mini-mini-album of instrumentals entitled Only Pipe Dreams in the Pipeline, once again on the WWNBB collective of Italy, described as "A feast of frothy folk" by Soundsxp. Harding's fourth full-length album, By The Yellow Sea, and his first under his own name, set sail in June 2015. Another instrumental release, The Goldfinch and Other Instrumentals, came out on Christmas day, 2017, on Black candy Records and the long awaited 'best of' ANT album featuring 15 tracks, Cry Your Little Heart Out, was released in December 2019 on the WWNBB Collective. Antony has toured in England, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and China, where he celebrated his 100th solo performance in 2011.
