Ashton, Tony

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire. Tony's childhood passed in the coastal city of Blackpool. When he was a child, his mother gave him to study piano. At the age of 13, in 1959, while still a student at St. George's School in Blackpool, he joined the local band The College Boys , playing rhythm guitar and piano. When Ashton graduated from high school at the age of 15, he was already an experienced pianist. He played in a jazz trio, together with drummer John Lydlov and bassist Pete Shelton in 1961 and 1962 at the Picador Club in Blackpool. Although his career began during The Beatles , Tony's aspirations were in the spirit of jazz and blues. After playing with various Blackpool bands, Ashton was invited to join The Remo Four as an organist and vocalist. The group was for some time a resident group at the Star Club in Hamburg . This was followed by an American tour, as an accompaniment to The Beatles . The Remo Four recorded several singles, but their best work appeared in 1966 when they released the Smile album. Before they split up in 1968, the band took part in George Harrison's solder album Wonderwall Music .

In the late 1960s, Tony Ashton formed ^{[1] a} new band with drummer Roy Duke and bassist Kim Gardner , which they called Ashton, Gardner and Dyke ^[2] . Their music, written by Ashton , was a fusion of R&B and jazz . The trio recorded three albums. Their single “Resurrection Shuffle” reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in 1971 and became a classic ^[1] . Ronnie Wood (bassist of The Rolling Stones ) once expressed a wish ^[3] that the song “Resurrection Shuffle” would sound at his funeral ^[3] . However, after such an unexpected success for the Ashton trio , Gardner and Dyke no longer released singles and split up in 1973.

Ashton became a session musician, performing with Jerry Lee Lewis , George Harrison , Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney . When Ashton, Gardner and Dyke broke up in 1973, Ashton briefly joined the Family group and made a significant contribution to the recording of their latest album, “It's Only a Movie” . As a keyboard player and organist ^[4] he took part in the recording of George Harrison 's first solo album “ Wonderwall Music ” ^{[5] [6]} .

Tony has known the members of Deep Purple since the early 1970s. During the recording of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke 's latest album, Tony was at the same time passionate about working with John Lord on the soundtrack for the movie “The Last Rebel” ^{[7] [8]} . Ashton then participated in the recording of John Lord 's first solo album Gemini Suite in 1971. In 1973, Ashton joined the Family band to record their latest album and tour. In the same year, Tony , David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes were invited as vocalists to record John Lord 's second solo album, Windows . Tony was a close friend of John Lord. ^[9] In his interview, Holger Shukai ( Can bass player) claimed that Tony Ashton came to the house of John Lord and George Harrison even in their absence, as he had the keys with him ^[10] . In the summer of 1974, during a break in the busy schedule of Deep Purple , Tony Ashton and John Lord recorded their joint album First of the Big Bands ^[11] . Tony also assisted Roger Glover in shaping the Butterfly Ball project .

In August 1976, when Deep Purple broke up, John Lord and Ian Pace had too much free time, and the result was the formation of Paice Ashton & Lord ^{[12] [13]} , a group based on funk, jazz and rock. The composition was supplemented by Bernie Marsden (later the Whitesnake guitarist) and bassist Paul Martinez . In 1978, they recorded Malice In Wonderland ^[14] in Munich , and embarked on a nationwide UK tour. Unfortunately, the tour was canceled halfway due to large financial losses. The group broke up.

In the 80s, Tony Ashton hosted a television show with Rick Wakeman called GasTank . The show was broadcast every two weeks, and each episode featured new guests, from Phil Linott to Ian Pace , who played with a home band from the show, led by Tony Ashton and Rick Wakeman (also included Tony Fernandez and Hour Kronk ). Between performances, Rick Wakeman interviewed guests. In 1984, Ashton was given a very small budget to record an album for EMI in Switzerland. The result was the Live In The Studio album, recorded in less than three days. After that, hard times began for Tony Ashton due to poor health and lack of work. Although he continued to play here and there, he did not release anything until 1988. In 1986, he married Sandra Naidu and adopted her daughter Indira . Last years he was engaged in painting. He died of cancer on May 28, 2001 at his home in London at the age of 55.

Session Work