1998 – GroobyGirls under it’s previous name had been operating for just under two years and had original content being sent in from Bob Maverick in California and The Commander in Texas. And then came Tony Vee. And everything changed. The guy was an animal.  Based in NYC, he’d been a cab driver, and when he came to work with us, was working for the transit authority.  He was as New York as you can get, and to this 28 year old from England, despite having a 21 year old age gap, we clicked instantly over our love of trans girls, dive bars and making porn.  The amount of new models that Tony could get was astounding.  With NYC being cheaper to live in the 1990s and 2000s, there were a lot more girls living in the city and Tony had the moxie and wherewithal to find them, and to encourage them to shoot with him.   Every week I’d get a package of films sent through to London, and the excitement of getting them processed and seeing these fantastic girls to upload to the site, and that was when a lot of growth happened on the sites. Girls like Bambam, Amanda, Mirca, Amber,  Jennifer Revlon, Skylene, Joelly and Simone – many who became stars down the line with other companies (especially for Joey Silvera at Evil Angel) were found and first shot by Tony in NY.   I visited multiple times with him, and we’d go shooting together, and many of those original VHS and then DVD’s were shot by Tony and myself in the 2000s. We’ve never had a producer who could shoot so much in a weekend trip to Florida, or a few days in New York and he had as much to do with the growth of this site, and the trans digital age, then any other individual.   I’ve bunches of funny stories with or about him – which I’ll save for a book – but one memorable one, was stumbling out of a dive bar in Hell’s Kitchen one afternoon and we literally fell over a girl.  After picking ourselves up and apologising, we realize it’s a trans girl working the streets and not 30 mins later, she’s doing her first shoot with us.   Anyone who has followed trans porn for any amount of time has seen Tony’s work.  It’s impossible to avoid, he simply was that prolific and it was because of the amount of black and ethnic models he found, that we were able to open BlackTgirls as a sister site to GroobyGirls, offering a platform for those models, and a place for the fans to see only what they wanted, amazing new ebony trans women. On GroobyGirls alone he’d shot over 1400 sets and an equal amount on BlackTgirls.    Here’s a small list of some of the names we may never have heard of, if it wasn’t for Tony Vee: Lisa Kage, Jessica Host, Amber Vaughn, Carmen Cruz, Doll, Baby Doll, Mystique, Raquel Chambers, My Lady Love, Allanah Starr, Jesse Flores, Chrissy Snow, Pamela, Taliha, Ashley George, Danni Daniels, Karabella, Melania, Jane West, Tiffany Star, Kitty Kaiti, Sadie Hawkins, Kelly Clare, Chriselle Love, Annalise Rose, Melody Melendez and many, many more. He came with us on trips to New Orleans, Thailand and Brazil and if Tony was there, there would always be a story – whether getting robbed on the beach, or ending up almost marrying two girls or getting into trouble with Thai bar girls, you could be guaranteed he’d be at the centre.  He retired from shooting in 2015, aging, the amount of paperwork and the demands of shooting in a new age were just taking the enjoyment out of it for him.  He moved to Thailand for a while, and then back to Las Vegas.  Remaining friends with Joey Silvera, who would say that he was Tony’s biggest fan. Tony and I drifted over the last few years, mostly we didn’t align politically and Tony was never a one for taking discussions lightly (and neither do I) which is shame, as he was always welcome at our events and I would have loved to see him in his final years.  I believe he was 76 when he died.  He lived his life under his own terms, he wasn’t afraid of an argument or putting his views over, he loved the adult industry and getting to know Joey (and John) was a highlight for him, he was generous, he was good to the models – and we should all respect him for helping build the industry he did. Rest in peace, Tony Vee. “He was A quintessential New Yorker and opinionated as they get. He had an amazing work ethic and libido, he was far more prolific at the age I am now than I will never be. RIP” – Frank (FranksTgirlworld) “Tony Vee has passed … one of the OG shooters our NYC for Grooby.  A livin legend.  And a very good friend” – Joey Silvera “He couldn’t walk down the street without picking up whoever was passing by, if they so much as looked at him, he said he can’t help it, even in the morning after the night before!”  – Grooby  Tech “RIP to Tony Vee. I emailed back and forth with him when I was in my early twenties (maybe 21). I’m about to turn 50. Seems like he lasted a long time!” – Radius Dark “That’s very sad news! I definitely looked up to him when I first started shooting and even before. I think the first images I ever saw of Grooby’s in late 90’s were Tony’s shoots. Always had fun hanging out with him. When he moved to LA for a bit we would go out to the trans bars together and he was like a kid in a candy store. He was great. RIP Tony Vee” – Buddy Wood