Tony Reno

Tony Niemistö (born 10 February 1963 in Danderyd, Stockholm County) is a semi-retired Swedish musician, best known as Tony Reno, the original drummer in the rock band Europe.^[1] He played on Europe's first two albums, Europe and Wings of Tomorrow. He parted company from the band before the second leg of the Wings of Tomorrow tour in 1984. He was replaced by Ian Haugland.

In 1986 Niemistö joined the sleaze rock band Geisha, replacing Mikkey Dee. Niemistö changed his stage name to Tony Lace, but eventually he went back to using his real name. Geisha released the album Phantasmagoria in 1987, before splitting up two years later. Geisha's vocalist Yenz Cheyenne then formed the band =Y=, which Niemistö joined. They released an EP, =Y= in 1991, and an album, Rawchild in 1992.

Tony had not participated in anything related to Europe for 29 years. That activity drought ended in 2013, when the group was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of their original album. Tony autographed 30 copies of a canvas replica of the 1983 album's cover, and then later on took part in a 10-guitar auction(of which the proceeds from 'The Final Countdown' guitar benefitted the efforts of the 'Medicins Sans Frontiers' organization in the Phillipines), where he autographed the guitar containing art of the debut album. ^[2]

Niemistö is currently living in Vallentuna, Sweden,^[3] where he works for a computer company.

Discography

Europe

• Europe (1983)
• Wings of Tomorrow (1984)

Geisha

• Phantasmagoria (1987)

=Y=

• =Y= (1991)
• Rawchild (1992)

References