Tony’s stunning show enthrals Irish fans
Tony Christie has enjoyed an outstanding career in the music business and is currently celebrating his 'Life of Music' tour.
“He still has it you know!” was one of the abiding comments overheard on exiting from The Helix, DCU, Dublin after the Tony Christie concert on January 26th last. A full house was entertained and engrossed into the theme of the event, 'A Life of Music - Celebrating 80 Years', a Pat Egan Promotion, which straddled six decades of music and song, from the now 80-year-old Christie.
For over two hours, Tony sang, danced and enthralled the audience with his extensive repertoire and performance. His energy knows no bounds, and for a man who has admitted to the early stages of dementia, there was no sign of any slowdown on stage. He introduced each song with an interesting narrative, most of which were his own hit recordings, but he did pay tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior with great renditions, excellently backed up by his band.
Towards the finale, Tony reflected on the one that got away. , like his most famous and best-selling record, , was written by Neil Sedaka and was offered to his management at the time, but instead, it went on to be a huge success for Andy Williams and The Carpenters.
The Jarvis Cocker song, , also made famous by Tony, was performed on the night, with great descriptive light-footed moves. A special tribute was made to Sue, his wife of 56 years, with the 1976 hit Sue was in the audience.
Tony truly brought the house down with his final song, , which all and sundry joined in and were dancing in the aisles.
The encore featured his charity single, , a collaboration with ex-Police singer/songwriter Sting, to raise funds for dementia research.
It was an absolutely fantastic night to remember and a fine gentleman to boot whom we were fortunate to meet backstage.
Tony Christie is a true legend within music and continues to enjoy an illustrious career that has spanned over 60 years and is still going strong.
Born Anthony Fitzgerald in Yorkshire in 1943, Tony is of strong Irish descent, with Mayo and Galway roots. He started his musical career in his late teens in a duo called The Grant Brothers, and until 1969 fronted various bands, singing in nightclubs and bars all around Sheffield and beyond. But his career path was not taken from the sky as both his grandparents were musicians and he grew up listening to Irish traditional music and airs.
In 1969, Tony signed up with MCA Records, and then came his hits such as , , and so many more. He changed his surname to Christie after watching film goddess Julie Christie who starred in the 1965 movie .
The 1970s were a very busy and successful decade for Tony, who sold over 10 million records in that period. The 1980s saw a slowdown due to the change in musical tastes. He was honoured with the Die Golden Europa award by a German Radio station for superb showmanship.
The 1990s saw Tony make a comeback that led to more hits such as the song . During that time he and his family moved to live in Spain and he continued to tour across Europe.
Soon after his return to Lancashire in the early 2000s, a phone call came from comedian Peter Kay that reinvigorated Tony’s career and introduced him to a whole new generation with his old hit , which he re-recorded in 2005 in aid of the charity Comic Relief, along with and .
He also got into the football spirit with , thereby fitting into many categories of music: country, folk, easy listening, and even some classical.
Tony remains one of the most popular and successful solo artists still going today. Having recorded more than 50 albums, he recently cut two more LPs in Nashville, USA, one of which, , is being launched this month to be followed later in the year with his second collection of . His ‘Life in Music’ tour continues all around Britain and Germany during the Spring and Summer.
