Tony Friel

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Tony Friel

| image =

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| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|5|4|df=y}}

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| origin = Birkenhead, England

| instrument = Bass guitar, guitar

| genre = Punk rock, new wave, post-punk, synth-pop

| occupation = Musician

| years_active = 1976–present

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| associated_acts = The Fall, Contact, the Passage, the Teardrops, Woodband Streetband

}}

Tony Friel (born 4 May 1958)[http://www.visi.com/fall/bio/biography.html The Fall online – Previous band members & producers (A–Z), Tony Friel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205052605/http://www.visi.com/fall/bio/biography.html |date=5 February 2009 }} is an English bass guitarist, known for his role in different new wave bands.

He attended Heys Boys Secondary School, where he met Martin Bramah and attained an art O-Level. He and Bramah shared many interests. In the mid-1970s, they were introduced by their friend Barbara Smith to her brother Mark E. Smith and his friend Una Baines. Smith, Baines, Bramah and Friel shared interests in music, and formed their first band, the Fall.{{Cite book|last1=Middles |first1=Mick |last2=Smith |first2=Mark E. |title=The Fall| page=64 |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-7119-9762-4 }} Friel remained until December 1977, then he left.

After the Fall, Friel formed a project called Contact and a band called the Passage. In late 1978, he and his former Fall bandmate Karl Burns joined the Teardrops, a group which included Buzzcocks bassist Steve Garvey. They released the Leave Me No Choice EP, and in 1980, the Final Vinyl album, before breaking up.

In subsequent years Friel played with R&B bands. Later he was member of the Woodbank Streetband.