Tony Ashton
Tony Ashton ( born March 1, 1946 in Blackburn, † 28 May 2001, London ) was a British rock singer and keyboardist. In 1962 he formed his first band, the college boys. This was followed in quick succession The Excheckers, Lee Walker and the Travellers, Jimmy Justice and the Excheckers, Master Sounds, John Berri Seven, Mike Hurst and the Method, and Remo Four. In 1963, he had recorded his first album with the Excheckers.
1968, the Remo Four parted then and Ashton founded with Kim Gardner and Roy Dyke Ashton, Gardner & Dyke. After this project in 1972 failed Ashton teamed up with Jon Lord of Deep Purple. The two had already in 1971 composed the soundtrack for the Western The Last Rebel, Ashton also be heard on two albums of Lords: Gemini Suite (1971 ) and Windows (1973). In 1974, she then took on the album First of the Big Bands that sparked little enthusiasm in the music press. In 1973 Ashton was also briefly hired by Roger Chapman's band Family, which the two albums BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert emerged and It's Only a Movie.
1976 Ashton then formed with Lord and Ian Paice ( Deep Purple also ) the Paice Ashton Lord Rock Band PAL, short. They hired Paul Martinez (bass ) and Bernie Marsden ( guitar). The band, however, broke up again quickly.
Ashton then worked with, among others with the Wings, Chicken Shack and Charlie Ainley and played with Rick Wakeman of Yes. He helped out at Hardin & York, played on Roger Glover's Butterfly Ball and performed with Chris Barber. In 1991, he was listening to Pete York's Super Blues album. For the recordings of the children's musical Wind in the Willows brought him Eddie Hardin into the studio. He assisted with John Entwistle Studio Quartet Rigor Mortis and helped Eberhard Schoener in Munich. In 1997 he joined with Long John Baldry on tour. As a composer he was still active, he composed in 1979 along with Florrie Palmer The Heat Is On for Noosha Fox (1983 Agnetha Fältskog played a cover version of the song on).
His solo works were by the critics not good at neither Live in the Studio (1984 ) nor the single Mr. Ashton Sings Big Red and Other Love Songs (1995 ) initiated in the critique of enthusiasm. A final single was released in 1996: The Big Freedom Dance is a tribute to John Lennon.
End of the 90s he suffered more and more cancer. In order to earn even enough he had to devote himself to painting. For example, the cover comes from Wind in the Willows by him.
On 28 May 2001 Tony Ashton died in London from cancer.