Anthony Rain Starez is a musician, vocalist and writer from the Tampa Bay area of Florida, USA. But if you ask him, Anthony will tell you he is an artist of life first. The art is only a reflection.

You see, whether it’s recording original songs, playing cover songs to a small audience or writing short stories, memoirs and poems, Anthony feels that it’s all about touching other people with his life the same way others touch him.

Anthony's earliest memories are of being surrounded by music, as his father was a popular jazz musician that made a living playing saxophone/flute and teaching music theory privately. However, Anthony's biggest influence was the popular rock/pop scene of the late 60s, 70s and later the 80s.

There were so many individual artists, and non-artists, that have had an impact on Anthony’s life and, therefore, his music and writings. "I’m influenced by people and their stories. And I like telling mine to influence others. We are all each other’s teachers and students," Anthony describes.

One tragic event would forever color the way Anthony views life and directly shape his art. At age 21, and after a night of drinking with friends, Anthony had a near fatal car accident that left him with a high level Spinal Cord injury (C5-C6) and a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms, but no function from chest down. Obviously, the accident left him confined to a wheelchair, losing his ability to play guitar and piano, yet helping him discover writing and singing.

"To me, my accident has closed doors and, unbelievably, opened some. There’s something said for having your back shoved against the wall. It can really make you discover things inside yourself you never knew existed," Anthony offers insight.

Approximately two years after his accident, Anthony moved back to Florida, learned to drive again, adjusted to life in his new body and eventually graduated college with a B.A. degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Florida

While attending classes, he began freelance writing as a music journalist and a satire columnist for USF's newspaper, The Oracle. Never leaving his interest in music, Anthony began writing feature articles and performance/record reviews for local music publications.

It was during this time that Anthony began experimenting with creating music again, buying studio time at a local recording studio and working closely with recording engineer/guitarist George Harris, who decided to take him on as a project. Together, the two took some of Anthony's raw song ideas and polished them up, eventually recording some to create a four-song EP, called, Under No Flag, with Anthony writing lyrics and performing vocals, while George and other musicians played the instruments.

The result was four impressive recordings that started to garner some local, and some not so local praise. In 1994 Anthony was awarded an art grant through the Pinellas County Arts Council to produce, market, and distribute professional copies. Soon after the release, Anthony was asked to perform live with a guitarist and violinist on the local community radio station as a featured artist, and was featured artist on another radio program, along with playing coffeehouses.

Throughout the years, Anthony has remained active musically, singing in various acoustic duos/trios that played in bars/resorts in the Tampa Bay area, but only occasionally plays out anymore, focusing more on writing essays, memoirs, lyrics and articles.

Please feel free to read the works of Anthony Rain Starez and listen to his recordings on this website. Read an article he wrote for the Tampa Tribune here.

Anthony is easily contacted via Email: TonyFla1@yahoo.com

In order to see the whole picture, you must look outside the frames.