Tony Ashton News

ASHTON GARDNER & DYKE - THE LAST REBEL Soundtrack

Purple Records are issuing THE LAST REBEL Soundtrack later this year (PUR 309 : April/May 2002). The music score was composed by Jon Lord and Tony Ashton and recorded by Jon and the rest of Ashton Gardner & Dyke in late 1970 at De Lane Lea. The Soundtrack album was issued in 1971 and is now a hard to find item, valued by both soundtrack collectors, as well as Deep Purple and Tony Ashton fans. The CD has been digitally mastered from the album master tapes. A number of bonus tracks and alternate versions are also being included.

More details : Purple Records

The Tony Ashton memorial concert has been set for November 4th, 2001 at the Buxton Opera House. The usual suspect will be there: Ian Paice, jon Lord, Miller Anderson, Colin Hodgkinson, Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden, Zak Starkey, Henry Spinetti, Neil Murray, Jeff Whitehorn, Zoot Money and many, many more!

It's important that we sell this place out and raise the roof in honour of one of the greats.

The box office number is: +44 (1298) 72190 TICKETS £20 -£30 (and more!), the proceeds are in aid of the Tony Ashton Trust.

Sunday 4th November 2001 at Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire, England and Saturday 15th September 2001 at the Hell's Blues Festival in Hell, Norway. The latter event will feature Zoot Money, Miller Anderson, Colin Hodgkinson, Pete York, Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody.

Ashton Gardner Dyke - Let It Roll Live 1971

This CD is now available. It is a live recording from 1971. It stands as a timely posthumous testament to Tony's musical talents and poignantly two of the tracks "I'm dying For You" and "Resurrection Shuffle" were played at the recent memorial service at Tony's funeral. Tony himself was taken by the unusually fast version of The Shuffle and remarked that it must have been "one of those nights when we were desperate to get to the pub".

4) Endangered Species - CD and Video

Sandra Ashton is working with Purple Records on a CD release of the Testimonial concert that took place in June 2000. More details can be found at Purple Records's site.

Sandra is also investigating the best way of packaging and releasing the video footage of this event and various options are currently being considered.

TONY ASHTON PASSED AWAY PEACEFULLY THIS MORNING (MONDAY 28TH MAY 2001) AT HOME. HIS WIFE SANDRA AND DAUGHTER INDIRA WERE AT HIS SIDE.

Last week Tony had sent me the following message to post on the website:

"DEAR EVERYONE,
THANKS FOR ALL THE MESSAGES AND ENQUIRIES - RECENT TESTS SHOW THE CANCER HAS SPREAD AND I'VE DECIDED TO REFUSE FURTHER TREATMENT AND COME HOME. SO - THANKS TO ALL, HAVE A DRINK FOR ME - CHEERS AND BOLLOX - ASHTON."

I am very happy to report that Tony Ashton has recovered from his recent illness after undergoing hospitalization and treatment. In April and May 2000 he performed at London's Pizza On The Park 3 times. Those gigs were enormously successful. Additionally, he participated in the recent Alexis Korner Tribute at the Buxton Opera House in Derbyshire, UK on May 6 2000. Now, a group of his musician friends are putting together a historic recording session at EMI's Abbey Road Studios on June 16 which will be open to a limited number of people by ticket only. The session will be entitled "Endangered Species 2000 Awards Tony Ashton". This event has been organised "in recognition to his service to music and art above and beyond the call of duty free, and to celebrate his recovery from his recent illness".

The Tony Ashton Testimonial Fund has just set up a homepage to promote this very exciting event. After the event, you will be able to see images and read reviews at this site so keep checking it for updates! Click here to have a look!

The scans below appear on this website with the kind permission of Alex Gitlin who maintains the official Eddie Hardin Homepage. They first appeared there because Eddie Hardin is one of the musicians who will participate.

August 6 1999

It has been reported in the news section of www.deep-purple.com that 3/5 of PAL (Paice , Ashton and Martinez) will be appearing for 2 nights at the Hell Blues Festival in Norway on Sept. 10 and 11, 1999. At the official site of the festival, they are billed as Tony Ashton & Legendary Friends. Sounds quite exciting!!!!!!

March 18 1999

My friend Kjell-Tore in Norway tells me that Tony Ashton will be performing with Bernie Marsden on May 1st. The gig will take place on the "Peter Wessel", a cruise ship which goes from Larvik, Norway to Fredrikshavn, Denmark. There are other blues bands performing but Marsden/Ashton are the headliners. The event is being billed as a "Blues Cruise" !

October 5 1998

The last time I contacted Tony, he told me of the possibility of him doing a 6-part TV series. He seemed confident that this was going to happen. I personally hope so! I will keep you informed as I find out more.