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"I love playing bass and reaching people souls with my music. Music is a part of me and that's what I have to share with the people of the world."

Tony Saunders is an American bass player and keyboards player in the genres of jazz, gospel and world music. He is a composer, arranger, and music producer, and head of his own studio, Magic Castle.

Saunders comes from a musical family. His world famous keyboardist father, Merl Saunders, got him started at an early age. He began singing at the age of five, and played piano from age eight. Herbie Hancock and Sly Stone were among Saunders’ early teachers, and Sly gave Saunders an organ at the age of ten. At age fourteen he began playing the bass.

In the 1969 he, his brother Merl Saunders Jr., and his sister Susan Saunders recorded a jingle for the San Francisco Giants under the name The Man Child Singers. They also appeared in the Joseph Dolan Tuotti musical Big Time Buck White (which featured Muhammad Ali and Donald Sutherland among others), with music and lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr. and musical direction by Merl Saunders. The Man Child Singers performed and recorded the songs Right On and Mighty Whitey from that play on a 45 produced by his father's label Summertone Records. This single was included in the compilation CD Home Schooled: The ABCs Of Kid Soul in 2007.

Tony received his first piano lesson from Herbie Hancock, and was awarded a fellowship at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music for piano. His first bass guitar was a gift from Tom Fogerty, brother of John Fogerty and rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He graduated from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco. He received an Emmy with his father for the children's special Soul Is, a PBS documentary featuring Black poetry accompanied by Saunders on the bass.

At age eighteen he began playing with his father and Jerry Garcia, and was a featured musician in Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band, and other projects of his father's. Legendary bassist Chuck Rainey, Jack Cassidy and John Kahn all took interest in Saunders’s ability. John Kahn turned Saunders on to James Jamerson, and Saunders modeled his playing around all of his teachers. Other influences include Stanley Clarke, Alphonso Johnson, Rufus Reid, Ralphe Armstrong, and current favorite Marcus Miller. This has led to a very flexible and diverse style.

Saunders has scored movies, corporate videos, TV shows and commercials, and produced many CDs, primarily out of his own studio, Magic Castle. He wrote the music to the stage play Zetta, performed in San Francisco by the American Conservatory Theatre, and also assumed the role of musical director for the show. He was the musical director of Rock Justice, written by Bob Heyman and Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship. Artists collaborating with him on recent projects have included Mavis Staples, John Lee Hooker and Austin "Auggie" Brown, the nephew of Michael Jackson.

Saunders has been influenced by Gospel music since he was a young child. He studied under choir director Leon Patillo. Saunders met the Hawkins family when he was 14, and credits them with not only inspiring him to play bass but with giving spiritual guidance to his life. He played with Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins and Tramaine Hawkins and the Love Center Choir in the 80's, and released He Lifted Me Up, his first gospel project, in 2005. Among the other Gospel artists Saunders has played with are Andrae Crouch, the Clark Sisters, the late Reverend James Moore, Daryl Coley, James Cleveland and the Williams Brothers. His most recent Gospel project features Derrick Hughes, Alfreda Lyons-Campbell, and Saunders' longtime friend, gospel bassist/drummer Joel Smith (Walter and Ed's nephew).

Saunders has worked with and performed on behalf of several charitable and social issues oriented organizations including the Seva Foundation, the Rex Foundation, Rock for Hope, the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, and the Rainforest Action Network.

Bands featuring Tony Saunders include Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band, Band of Gypsies with Buddy Miles, Zero, Robert Winters & Fall, Tony Saunders & Paradize, M.R.L.S., and Heartlanguage. A re-launch of the Rainforest Band as a tribute to Merl Saunders took place at the 29th Starwood Festival on July 25, 2009, the site of their last performance, featuring Tony Saunders, guitarist Michael Hinton, and other members of the Rainforest Band and other Saunders’ projects. Also appearing were Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum and Douglas "Val" Serrant on steel drum and djembe.

Saunders has received two Emmy awards. He also won the New York Film Festival's Grand and Silver Award for educational compositions.