Tony Blackburn
Birthday:
January 29, 1943 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK
Birth Name:
Antony Kenneth Blackburn
Height:
173 cm
Born in the town of Guildford, Surrey in 1943, Tony was educated at Millfield Public School in Somerset and Bournemouth College. The son of a doctor from Lilliput near Poole, Dorset, he made his first appearance in public with the Jan Ralfini Dance Orchestra at the Bournemouth Pavilion while still at College.In 1964, Tony joined pirate broadcaster ...
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Born in the town of Guildford, Surrey in 1943, Tony was educated at Millfield Public School in Somerset and Bournemouth College. The son of a doctor from Lilliput near Poole, Dorset, he made his first appearance in public with the Jan Ralfini Dance Orchestra at the Bournemouth Pavilion while still at College.In 1964, Tony joined pirate broadcaster Radio Caroline as a DJ. He rapidly became successful on the basis of his informal, American influenced presentation in the face of the much more staid style of his contemporaries. After a spell on Radio London, where he really made his name, Tony was hired as the first of a new generation of DJs for the BBC's newly established pop station, Radio One in 1967. The first DJ heard on the new station that was to change the face of British music, his "Breakfast Show" programme soon became popular, ensuring that he rapidly became a household name (who can forget Arnold the dog!) and ran for 10 years. Also in 1967, Tony started a 17 year run as one of the regular presenters of the TV programme "Top of The Pops".Not content with being a popular DJ, Tony also had a moderately successful career as a recording artist. Although not the strongest of vocalists, he even made the lower reaches of the UK charts twice ("So Much Love" #31 in 1967 and "It's Only Love" #42 in 1969) and three albums of songs were released in the late 60s/early 70s. The last of these, on the RCA label, featured songs written by the best songwriters of the day, including "Chop Chop", "Dusty" and "Cindy" by Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman (famous for writing hits for Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro and Smokie) as well as one of a number of versions of "House of Cards" penned by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue but no further hits were forthcoming.Tony also took over from Ed Stewart presenting the Radio One weekend children's show "Junior Choice" for a while, resulting in an album "Pops for Tony Tots" and eventually moved from the Breakfast Show to the mid-morning slot. Just as he was in danger of becoming passé, he started presenting a soul show on BBC Radio London which re-established his talents as a DJ. By 1988 he was to be heard on Capital Gold in their own "Breakfast Show", winning a prestigious Sony Radio Award along the way.At present, Tony is a member of the Manchester radio station Jazz FM's team and still tours British clubs and universities with his very own 70s style disco. Also he is occasionally to be seen on British TV, particularly in programmes devoted to those heady days of the 70s. Show less «
I try and block punk rock out of my mind. I hated it.
I try and block punk rock out of my mind. I hated it.
[on "Kayleigh" by Marillion] That is a great sound, isn't it?
[on "Kayleigh" by Marillion] That is a great sound, isn't it?
[on Sir Jimmy Savile] He was just a complete one-off. I think he was a bit of a lonely character as well. In the privacy of his own life I d...Show more »
[on Sir Jimmy Savile] He was just a complete one-off. I think he was a bit of a lonely character as well. In the privacy of his own life I don't think he had very many friends. I've never known anyone quite like him. He was a blunt speaking Northerner, but also kind and very respectful. Show less «
[on Dusty Springfield] She made such fantastic music, and I've always loved black soul music, but I think she was the first white soul singe...Show more »
[on Dusty Springfield] She made such fantastic music, and I've always loved black soul music, but I think she was the first white soul singer in this country really. And she did a lot for soul music. Show less «
I was divorced for 17 years and in that time I was lonely, I lived by myself and I experienced loneliness. I think it's quite a good thing t...Show more »
I was divorced for 17 years and in that time I was lonely, I lived by myself and I experienced loneliness. I think it's quite a good thing to have had that because I think then you can feel the way other people feel and I think a lot of people listen in to the radio for a friend. Show less «
I'm not a religious person but if there is a God out there I could probably say to him "although I didn't quite believe in you, hey I haven'...Show more »
I'm not a religious person but if there is a God out there I could probably say to him "although I didn't quite believe in you, hey I haven't been too bad, let me in!" Show less «
[in 2014] I don't go along with that line "they don't write songs like they used to". I think they do but I mean I think the Sixties and Sev...Show more »
[in 2014] I don't go along with that line "they don't write songs like they used to". I think they do but I mean I think the Sixties and Seventies were special, but there's still some great songs coming out. Show less «
I introduced Motown into this country on the pirate ships because nobody was playing it.
I introduced Motown into this country on the pirate ships because nobody was playing it.
[on John Peel] I think I started out badly with John. His programme was much more minority and I always saw Radio 1 as a pop music station f...Show more »
[on John Peel] I think I started out badly with John. His programme was much more minority and I always saw Radio 1 as a pop music station for everybody, so I suggested that John should be on Radio 3. And I meant that as a serious thing but he took it badly. Show less «
Tony Blackburn's Photos
