Tony Ashton

Edward Anthony Ashton (1 March 1946 – 28 May 2001) was an English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, record composer, producer and artist.

Early life 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, while 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.

Career Ashton played in a jazz trio, the Tony Ashton Trio, with drummer John Laidlaw and bassist 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 band the Remo Four as organist and vocalist. The band 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 studio album Smile. Before they broke up in 1968 they backed George Harrison on his solo studio album Wonderwall Music (1968).

At the end of the 1960s Ashton formed a new group with Remo drummer Roy Dyke and bassist 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 "The 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." In these years, Ashton and Lord found a second home in Zermatt, an alpine resort in Switzerland, sometimes to ski, but more often to provide 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 Lord was a regular visitor until his death even though the hotel did not exist anymore.

In August 1976, when Deep Purple broke up, Jon Lord and Ian Paice combined with Tony Ashton. The result was the formation of Paice Ashton Lord, a band rooted in funk, jazz and rock. The line-up was completed by future Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden and bassist Paul Martinez. They recorded Malice in Wonderland in Munich and a nationwide tour of the UK was set in motion. The tour was cancelled while still in progress because of large financial losses. The band broke up leaving Ashton without a recording contract and poor prospects.

During the Eighties Ashton co-hosted a TV show with Rick Wakeman called GasTank. The show was aired every two weeks and, on each episode, there were guests ranging from Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy to Ian Paice who sat in with the show's in-house band led by Ashton and Wakeman (others were Tony Fernandez and Chas Cronk). In between performances, the guests were interviewed by Wakeman. In 1984, Ashton was given a 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 perform sporadically, 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. In 1996, Ashton played in some gigs in (Germany) and reunited with Bernie Marsden. Together they played at various Festivals (in Norway and in the UK).

In 2000, when he became seriously ill, a special benefit concert was recorded and filmed at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, featuring the many diverse talents of a number of Ashton's friends and colleagues over the years, including Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden, Howie Casey, Chris Barber, John Entwistle, Zak Starkey, Pete York, Zoot Money, Joe Brown, Geoff Emerick, Mike Figgis and Ewan McGregor. 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 of Zermatt in Switzerland, which he first visited with Ashton, Gardner and Dyke in 1970, and which gave him the title for the book: Zermattitis: a Musicians' Guide to Going Downhill Fast. It has been recently published by Wymer Publishing, as a limited edition with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased film of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, including a live performance from Montreux Jazz Festival 1970.

Ashton died from cancer on 28 May 2001 at his home in London at the age of 55.

Discography

Albums Year Title Artist(s) 1974 First of the Big Bands Tony Ashton and Jon Lord 1977 Malice in Wonderland Paice Ashton Lord 1984 Live in the Studio

Live albums Year Recorded Title Artist(s) 1992 1977 BBC Live in Concert Paice Ashton Lord 1993 1974 BBC Live in Concert Tony Ashton and Jon Lord 2006 2000 Live at Abbey Road Tony Ashton and Friends

Videos Year Recorded Title Artist(s) 2007 1977 Malice in Wonderland – Live Paice Ashton Lord 2009 2000 Endangered Species Live at Abbey Road – DVD Tony Ashton and Friends 2011 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival 1970 Ashton, Gardner and Dyke

Singles/EPs Year Title/Tracks Artist(s) 1971 A: "You, Me and a Friend of Mine" B: "I'm Dying for You" 1972 A: "Surrender Me" B: "Sloeback" Ashton and Lord 1972 A: "Celebration" B: "Sloeback" Ashton and Lord 1974 A: "We're Gonna Make It" B: "Band of the Salvation Army Band" Ashton and Lord 1975 A: "The Resurrection Shuffle" B: "Ballad of Mr. Giver" Tony Ashton Tony Ashton and Jon Lord 1976 A: "The Crezz" B: "Sumthin' – Something" 1983 A: "The Resurrection Shuffle" B: "Gimme Some Time to Play" Tony Ashton and Lynda Hayes 1988 A: "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" B: "Samedi Soir Dimanche Matin" 1995 Big Red and Other Love Songs "Big Red" "Travelin Javelin" "Strange Day" "Travelin Javelin Reprise" 1996 The Big Freedom Dance "The Big Freedom Dance" "Travelin Javelin"

Session work/appearances Year Title Artist(s)/Band Notes 1971 Gemini Suite Jon Lord with the London Symphony Orchestra conductor: Sir Malcolm Arnold; vocals: Tony Ashton 1973 One & One Is One Medicine Head It's Only a Movie Family BBC Live in Concert Family keyboards and backing vocals: Tony Ashton Abyss Jimmy Thomas Rainbow McGuinness Flint If It Was So Simple Longdancer Rigor Mortis Sets In John Entwistle 1974 Windows Jon Lord Lead vocal: Tony Ashton Buzzard Tucky Buzzard Thru a Five Medicine Head The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast Roger Glover and Guests 1975 Mad Dog John Entwistle Broken Glass Stan Webb 1976 Wizard's Convention Wizard's Convention 1978 The Creeper Stan Webb's Chicken Shack 1979 Back to the Egg Wings Rockestra member on "Rockestra Theme" and "So Glad To See You" 1981 Roadie's Concerto Chicken Shack 1982 Before I Forget Jon Lord vocals: Tony Ashton 1985 Wind in the Willows Eddie Hardin 1991 My Way on the Highway Guitar Shorty and Otis Grand 1994 Unlucky Boy Chicken Shack 1995 Eddie Hardin's Wizard's Convention 2 Eddie Hardin and Friends 1997 Eddie Hardin's Wizard's Convention 3 Eddie Hardin and Friends 1999 The Masters: Wizard's Convention Eddie Hardin/Wizard's Convention 2006 Butterfly Ball – DVD Roger Glover and Friends