Tony Ashton

English rock pianist, keyboardist, singer, composer and producer, later also painter and cartoonist. Born: 1 March 1946 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK. Died: 21 May 2001 in London, England, UK. He spent his formative years in Blackpool where he played with various local bands and formed The Executives (2). Early in 1965, he 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 Hamburg; they followed this with a US tour accompanying The Beatles. At the end of the 1960s, he formed a new group with drummer Roy Dyke and bassist Kim Gardner. They called themselves Ashton, Gardner & Dyke. When the band broke up in 1973, he briefly joined Family (6). He played on sessions with Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and Jon Lord. He passed through the ranks of Chicken Shack, John Entwistle's Rigor Mortis, and Medicine Head (2). In August 1976, when Deep Purple split, Jon Lord and Ian Paice combined with Ashton. The result was the formation of Paice Ashton & Lord. During the 1980s, he co-hosted a TV show with Rick Wakeman. By the early 1990s, he began to develop his second career as a painter. His work can be seen on the covers of various CDs. He died from cancer at his home. In 1986, he married Sandra Naidoo.