Tony Clarkin (born Anthony Michael Clarkin, 24 November 1946) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist of the rock band Magnum. He has been the primary songwriter throughout Magnum's history, writing all of the material on their 19 studio albums.
Clarkin was born and grew up in the Shard End area of Birmingham, which spawned a number of bands tagged with the 'Brum Beat' label. Leaving school to train as a Ladies hairdresser he soon quit to join his first band The Boulevards with former school friends.
Formed in 1972, Magnum have undergone several changes in personnel over the years, however the core of vocalist Bob Catley and guitarist/songwriter Tony Clarkin remain today.
Magnum began as the house band at Birmingham’s famous Rum Runner night club (later the home of Duran Duran).
They began to develop their own style by playing Clarkin's songs at a residency at The Railway Inn, in Birmingham's Curzon Street, in 1976. Joining Clarkin and Catley were drummer Kex Gorin and bassist Dave Morgan (later a member of ELO) and Mark Stanway keyboard player joined in 1980 and remains to date. Their most notable success during these early years was the Jeff Glixman produced Chase The Dragon (1982) which reached #17 in the UK, and included several songs that would be mainstays of the band's live set, notably "Soldier of the Line", "Sacred Hour" and "The Spirit".
Tony Clarkin (born 3 November 1952) Limerick City, is a Stage, Television, Film, Radio and Voice Actor. He is the father of Actress/Writer and Film Producer Dina Clarkin and father-in-law of Actor Todd Carty. Clarkin has two grandchildren, James Carty and Thomas Carty.
Clarkin acted with the Limerick City College Players. Tony Clarkin is the voice over for Puffs Tissues commercials for American and Canadian television. Clarkin has also voiced John West Foods, Guinness, Dolland and Aithison, Britvic AME, William and Mary television series, Murphys Beer, The Sunday Times series, Lifescan Europe, and Jeys New Bloo Fusions and many others on radio, television and cinema. Clarkin was a member of the Abbey Theatre school of acting. He performed in a production of William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet at the Gate Theatre Dublin, directed and produced by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir.
Stage work includes Hamlet and Macbeth, Polonius in Hamlet, Salerio in The Merchant of Venice, Marcellus in Hamlet, Thomas Becket in Murder in the Cathedral, Eilif in Mother Courage and Her Children, Roat in Wait Until Dark, Estragon in Waiting for Godot, Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet, King Henry II in Becket, Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical Scrooge!, King Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons, and Bill Sikes in Oliver!.