Tony Ashton
| Tony Ashton | |
|---|---|
Tony Ashton at the Hotel Post, Zermatt, Switzerland on New Year's Eve 1972
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward Anthony Ashton |
| Born |
1 March 1946 Blackburn, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 28 May 2001 (aged 55) London, England |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer, artist |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboard, vocals |
| Years active | 1959–2001 |
Edward Anthony "Tony" Ashton (1 March 1946 – 28 May 2001) was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer, producer and artist.
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Ashton spent his formative years in the seaside town of Blackpool where his parents had an upright piano. When he was a child, his mother sent him to piano lessons. At the age of 13 in 1959, whilst Ashton was a student at St. George's School, Blackpool, he joined a local group, The College Boys, on rhythm guitar and piano. When Ashton left school at the age of 15 he was already an accomplished pianist. He played in a jazz trio, The Tony Ashton Trio with drummer John Laidlaw and bass player Pete Shelton in 1961 and 1962 at the Picador Club in Blackpool. Although his work began during the Beatles era, his roots lay firmly in soul, jazz and the blues. After playing with various Blackpool bands, Ashton was invited to join the Liverpool group The Remo Four as organist and vocalist. The group spent some time being the resident band at the Star Club in Hamburg; they followed this with a US tour accompanying the Beatles. They recorded some singles but their best work came in 1966 when they released their album Smile. Before they broke up in 1968 they backed George Harrison on his album Wonderwall.
At the end of the 1960s Ashton formed a new group with Remo drummer Roy Dyke and bass player Kim Gardner. They called themselves Ashton, Gardner and Dyke. Their music, which was all composed by Ashton, was a fusion of R&B and jazz. The trio recorded three albums, but gained recognition in the United Kingdom in 1971, when the single "Resurrection Shuffle" reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. Following this 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 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."
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