Tony Ashton - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tony Ashton was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

, singer, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

and artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

Biography

Born Edward Anthony Ashton, he spent his formative years in the seaside town of Blackpool where his parents had an upright piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

. When he was a child, his mother sent him to piano lessons. When Tony dropped out of school at 15, he was already an accomplished pianist

Pianist

. He played in a jazz trio, 'The Tony Ashton Trio' with drummer, John Laidlaw and bass player, Pete Shelton in 1961-62 at the 'Picador Club', Blackpool. Although his work began during the Beatles era, his roots lay firmly in soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

and the blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

. After playing with various Blackpool bands, Tony was invited to join the Liverpool group the Remo Four as organist/vocalist. The group spent some time being the resident band at Hamburg's legendary Star club (Germany), followed by a US tour accompanying the Beatles. They recorded some singles but their best work came in 1966 when they released their album Smile. Before their break-up in 1968, they backed George Harrison on his album Wonderwall.

Career

In the 1970s, Ashton formed a new group with Remo drummer Roy Dyke and bass player Kim Gardner. They called themselves Ashton, Gardner and Dyke

Ashton, Gardner and Dyke

Ashton, Gardner and Dyke were a power rock trio, most popular in the early 1970s. They are best remembered for their song, "Resurrection Shuffle", a transatlantic Top 40 success in 1971...

. The trio

Trio (music)

Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

recorded three albums, but gained recognition in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

in 1971, when the single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

"Resurrection Shuffle" reached number three on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. Their music, which was all composed by Ashton, was a unique fusion of R&B and jazz and very innovative and ahead of its time. After such a sudden success, they failed to get any more hit singles and broke up in 1973. Ashton said: "The hit backfired on us and we ended up playing cabaret again. The best thing we did was playing with Herbie Mann

Herbie Mann

Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...

at Ronnie Scott's. We wanted to be an album band, but once you've got a big hit, you're in the pop league."

Ashton also played with "The Executives", the "College Boys", "Mastersounds" and on sessions with Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

, George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

, Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

.

Tony met Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

in the early 1970s, when the last recording of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke was a collaboration with keyboardist

Keyboardist

Jon Lord

Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...

on the soundtrack for a b-movie called The Last Rebel. In the meantime, Ashton had appeared on Jon Lord's first solo album Gemini Suite in 1971. In 1973, Ashton joined the group Family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

for their last album and tour. That same year, he and David Coverdale

David Coverdale

David 'Jack' Coverdale is an English rock singer, most famous for his work with the his own hard rock band Whitesnake which achieved massive commercial success.-Early life:...

and Glenn Hughes were guest vocalists on Jon Lord's second album Windows. Tony became close friends with Jon Lord. In the summer of 1974, during a break in Purple's busy touring schedule, Tony Ashton and Jon Lord recorded their album First of the Big Bands. This project was launched with a gig at the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

the same year and the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

taped a special live appearance at Golders Green Hippodrome

Golders Green Hippodrome

Golders Green Hippodrome was built in 1913 by Bertie Crewe as a 3000-seat Music Hall, to serve North London and the new tube rail expansion into Golders Green....

in London. The album of this show is a tour-de-force groovy, rhythm and blues, boogie piano and Hammond organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

, big band fest. Tony also contributed to Roger Glover

Roger Glover

Roger David Glover is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist and lyricist for the hard rock band, Deep Purple.-Early career:...

's Butterfly Ball project. In these years, Ashton and Lord found a second home in Zermatt

Zermatt

Zermatt is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of about 5,800 inhabitants....

, an alpine resort in Switzerland, sometimes to ski, but more often to offer giant and brilliant non-profit gigs in a unique complex (one hotel-two night-clubs-two restaurants and four pubs) called "Hotel Post" which was run by American-born Karl Ivarsson. Ashton managed to come to the place almost until his death, and Jon is still a regular visitor even if the "(in)famous" hotel doesn't exist anymore.

In August 1976, when Purple split, Jon Lord and Ian Paice found themselves with a lot of free time on their hands and a need to steer away from the hard rock scene. The logical step to take was to call on their old friend Tony Ashton. The result was the formation of Paice, Ashton, Lord (P.A.L.), a band rooted in funk, jazz and rock. The line-up was completed by future Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

guitarist Bernie Marsden

Bernie Marsden

-External links:*...

and bass player Paul Martinez

Paul Martinez

Paul Martinez is a session bassist and songwriter, best known for his work for Robert Plant, Jackie Edwards, Dave Edmunds, George Harrison, Maggie Bell, Peter Gabriel, among others...

. They recorded Malice In Wonderland in Munich and a nation-wide tour of the UK was set in motion. Unfortunately the tour was cancelled halfway because of big financial losses. The band broke up leaving Ashton without a record deal and not many future prospects.

During the eighties Ashton co-hosted a TV show with Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman

Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

called "GasTank". Every week, there were guests ranging from Phil Lynott

Phil Lynott

Philip Parris "Phil" Lynott was an Irish musician who first came to prominence as a founding member, principal songwriter, and frontman of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy....

to Ian Paice who sat in with the show's in-house band led by Ashton and Wakeman. In between performances, the guests were interviewed by Wakeman. In 1984, Ashton was given a very small budget to record an album for EMI in Switzerland. The result was the album Live In The Studio, recorded in less than three days. After that, Ashton went through some hard times due to ill health and lack of work. Although he continued to gig here and there, he did not release anything until 1988 with a single called "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning". In 1986 he married Sandra Naidoo and adopted her daughter Indira.

Last years

By the early 1990s, Tony Ashton had got back on his feet and began to develop his second career, as an artist, specialising in idiosyncratic drawings and more elaborate paintings. He had always dabbled in art as a minor hobby but became very serious about it, thanks to his mother in-law who owned an art gallery. Many of Ashton's paintings were bought by the television presenter and DJ Chris Evans for exhibition at his art gallery, Well Hung, in Notting Hill

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

. Apart from selling a lot of paintings (ink drawings and oil/acrylic), his work can be seen on the covers of various CDs, including his maxi-single Mr Ashton Sings Big Red and Other Love Songs. In 1996, Tony played in some gigs in Germany and reunited with Bernie Marsden. Together they played at various Festivals (in Norway and in the UK). In 1999, when he became seriously ill, a special benefit concert was recorded and filmed at EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

's Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

, featuring the many diverse talents of a number of Tony's friends and colleagues over the years, including Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Micky Moody

Micky Moody

Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founded the Moody Marsden Band, and later, The Snakes...

, Bernie Marsden, Howie Casey

Howie Casey

Howard William "Howie" Casey is a British rhythm and blues and rock saxophonist. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as a member of Derry and the Seniors, the first rock and roll band from Liverpool to play clubs in Germany, and later, as leader of the renamed Howie Casey and the...

, Chris Barber

Chris Barber

Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...

, John Entwistle

John Entwistle

John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

, Zak Starkey

Zak Starkey

Zak Starkey is an English rock drummer. He is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Starr's first wife Maureen Starkey Tigrett. He is also well known for his unofficial membership in the English rock band The Who, with whom he has performed and recorded since 1996. He is also the third...

, Pete York

Pete York

Pete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...

, Zoot Money

Zoot Money

George Bruno Money, known as Zoot Money is a British vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band...

, Joe Brown

Joe Brown (singer)

Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...

, Geoff Emerick

Geoff Emerick

Geoffrey Emerick is an English recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with The Beatles' albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road...

, Mike Figgis

Mike Figgis

Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...

and Ewan McGregor

Ewan McGregor

Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

. In the early nineties, Ashton also wrote the first of a planned trilogy of books, which has tales of various aspects of his career including Paice Ashton Lord, the Gastank TV series, and his love affair with Zermatt in Switzerland, which he first visited with Ashton Gardner & Dyke in 1970, and which gave him the title for the book: Zermattitis: a musicians' guide to going downhill fast. It will be published in mid-November 2011 by Wymer Publishing, as a limited edition with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased film of Ashton Gardner & Dyke, including a live performance from Montreux Jazz Festival 1970.

Tony Ashton died from cancer on 28 May 2001 at his home. He was 55. Shortly before he sent this message:

Dear everyone,
Thanks for all the messages and enquiries -
recent tests show the cancer has spread
and I've decided to refuse further treatment and come home.
So - thanks to all, have a drink for me - cheers and bollox...
- Tony Ashton.

Discography

Major Works

Smile -The Remo Four (1966 - CD:1996)
Ashton, Gardner and Dyke -Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (1969 - CD:1995)
The Worst of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke -Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (1970 - CD:1994)
The Last Rebel - Soundtrack -Music composed by Tony Ashton and Jon Lord; performed by Ashton, Gardner and Dyke with Jon Lord & the Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra (1971 - CD:2002)
What a Bloody Long Day It's Been -Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (1972 - CD:1994)
It's Only a Movie -Family (1973)
The First of the Big Bands -Tony Ashton and Jon Lord (1974 - CD:1988)
Malice in Wonderland -Paice, Ashton and Lord (1977)
Live in Studio -Tony Ashton (1984 - CD:1994)
BBC Live in Concert -Paice, Ashton and Lord (1977 - CD:1992)
BBC Live in Concert -Tony Ashton and Jon Lord (1974 - CD:1993)
Big Red and Other Love Songs -Tony Ashton (1995)
The Big Freedom Dance -Tony Ashton (1996)
The Best of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke -Ashton, Gardner and Dyke (1999)
Tony Ashton and Friends: Live at Abbey Road (2000)
Tony Ashton and Friends: Endangered Species Live at Abbey Road (DVD:2000)

Other Sessions

Gemini Suite -Jon Lord with The London Symphony Orchestra; conductor: Sir Malcolm Arnold; vocals: Tony Ashton (1971 - CD:1987)
Windows -Jon Lord; Lead vocal: Tony Ashton (1974)
Before I Forget -Jon Lord; vocals: Tony Ashton (1982)
Unlucky Boy -Chicken Shack (1994)
Live at the Studio -Tony Ashton (1994)
Butterfly Ball -Roger Glover and Friends (DVD 2006)
Wizard's Convention -Eddie Hardin and Friends (1999)
Buzzard -Tucky Buzzard (1974)
The Creeper -Stan Webb's Chicken Shack (1978)
BBC Live in Concert -Family; keyboards and backing vocals: Tony Ashton (1973 - CD:1991)
Mad Dog -John Entwistle (1975 - CD:1996)
Rigor Mortis Sets In -John Entwistle
Broken Glass -Stan Webb (1975)
Roadie's Concerto -Chicken Shack (1981)
One and One is One -Medicine Head (1973)
Abyss -Jimmy Thomas (1973)
Rainbow -McGuiness Flint (1973)
Thru a Five -Medicine Head (1974)
If it was so Simple -Longdancer (1973)
My Way on the Highway -Guitar Shorty and Otis Grand
Otis Grand
Otis Grand is an American blues musician, best known for his album, Perfume and Grime .-Biography:Although born in Beirut, Grand has spent much of his life in the United States...

(1991)
Wind in the Willows -Eddie Hardin and Friends (1995)
Wizard's Convention 2 -Eddie Hardin and Friends (1995)
Wizard's Convention 3 -Eddie Hardin and Friends (1997)
The Masters: Wizard's Convention -Eddie Hardin and Friends (2 CD Set, 1999)

External links

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