Tony LeMans


Tony LeMans was an American singer and songwriter, associated with Prince and signed to Prince's Paisley Park Records.

Biography

Tony LeMans grew up, Tony Fortier in Santa Monica, California, United States. He attended Will Rogers Elementary School, John Adams Jr High, Santa Monica High School and Olympic High School. It was at John Adams that he met Lenny Kravitz who was just beginning to study music. After dropping out of Olympic High School, Tony changed his surname to LeMans due to his fathers love of the vehicle with that name. He then briefly worked with Kravitz on his Romeo Blue project. However, due to creative differences, they had a falling out and went separate ways.
LeMans left Los Angeles for Minneapolis and met Prince shortly after arriving there. Paisley Park Records released Tony's first and only album, "Tony Lemans" in 1989. It peaked at #58 on the Billboard R&B Album chart. Three singles were released without much chart success. Although Prince often worked behind the scenes on albums for his label, he officially played no role in this one. David Gamson was the main producer.

In the early 1990s, LeMans began work on a second album. Prince offered him a song called "Fuschia Light" that was intended to go on the album. The album was never completed due to LeMan's death. In addition to his own work, LeMans also produced a song with David Gamson for Donny Osmond's comeback album, Sure Looking Good.
LeMans, an avid motorcyclist, died in an accident while riding in Malibu, California on June 24, 1992. He was to be married the next day to Deborah Matthews, Vanity's sister.

Discography