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Tony has been an accomplished solo artist for nearly 15 years following his successful career with Spandau Ballet. On 10 October 2005 he celebrates 25 years as a professional musician – an incredible achievement by any standards. As well as his love for song writing and recording, his real passion lies within the live arena – something he hopes will continue for a very long time.
Being a solo artist with a versatile voice has enabled Tony to work with musicians and within musical areas that are extremely far-reaching and diverse. Tony has worked with a variety of talented producers and musicians. Ron Nevison and Steve Lukather were involved in his very first solo album The State of Play recorded in Los Angeles in the early 90’s. Duran Duran’s Simon le Bon (Tony’s supposed archrival!) very kindly sang backing vocals on Tony’s version of Save a Prayer on the album True Ballads. This album also featured recordings of some of his favourite songs such as Slave to Love, She’s Gone and, one of the most beautiful songs ever written, Woman in Chains.
Over the last 15 years he’s had the privilege of performing with orchestras across Europe and South Americaat events such as ‘The Night of the Proms’ and ‘The British Rock Symphony’, working alongside the likes of Joe Cocker, John Miles, James Brown, Shaggy, Alice Cooper, Jon Anderson (Yes) and The Alan Parsons Project.
Tony’s versatility was further exhibited when he took to the stage at RochesterCastle last July with the 80-strong Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The whole concert was awesome, but the highlights for him were singing Woman in Chains with the brilliant opera singer Alison Buchanan and belting out a fabulous rendition of Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar.
During the 1990’s, Tony and his band were honoured to play for the British Troops in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, the Falkland Islands and Northern Ireland, witnessing first-hand the conditions and pressures the soldiers had to endure.
Tony is actively involved with several charities. In October, he hosted The Shooting Star Ball at The Dorchester, Park Lane performing swing classics with the support of the Paul Moran Big Band and his friends Bobby Davro, Kenny Lynch, Claire Sweeney and Shane Richie.
2004 saw Tony, Martin Fry and Peter Cox perform two concerts to support the Victims of Crime Trust. The first was to the British Police and some of their American colleagues at an anniversary Ball in New York. The audience were all officers who helped bereaved families following the 9/11 tragedy. Then in November, they all performed again in London together with Shane Richie at a fundraising event to help the families of child victims of crime.
As most people know, Tony is a keen footballer who, when time permits, loves to get on the pitch. He managed to combine this passion with two charitable events last year. He played in the pre-match warm-up game at Highbury Stadium for Martin Keown’s charity testimonial - a dream come true. Unbelievably this experience was equalled when he was invited to Florence to play in front of 40,000 Italian supporters at the Artemio Franchi Stadium. His team members included none other than Rod Stewart, Paul Gascoigne, Paolo Di Canio, Joe Jordan and a host of other top name celebrities. Keeping Tony and the guys under control was their manager Claudio Ranieri! Tony’s sponsored charity at this event was the Lowe Syndrome Trust.
Tony also worked with Lionel Ritchie twice last year. First when he performed True for the television programme ‘All Time Greatest Love Songs’. Then, later in the year, they both performed at the Next Charity Ball, along with Suggs from Madness and Alistair Griffin from Fame Academy, in celebration of England’s Rugby World Cup victory.
Last year also saw the release of Tony’s autobiography which achieved top 10 status in the bestsellers list. The paperback version incorporating an additional final chapter is due out in February.
Tony’s contribution to the music industry was officially recognised in October when The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters awarded him with a Gold Badge at their annual ceremony. Additionally, Tony and Peter Cox both received the Best Live Performance Award of 2004 as voted for by the listeners of Radio Forth in Scotland.
2005 got off to a cracking start with Tony recording a BBC Radio 2 comedy programme with the very talented Lee Mack to be aired this Spring.
In May Tony will commence work on his long-awaited jazz swing album. He’s been intending to make this style of album for several years and hopes that his choice of songs, and vocal and musical arrangements will challenge the normal format of current swing and delight not only his existing fans, but also some new ones.
With courtesy of www.tony-hadley.com
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