Tony O’Malley – genius
Tony O'Malley
OK, I’m biased, but why blog if you’re not? I met Tony about 20 years ago or more and we became lifelong friends. Tony’s been a professional musician since the age of 13. See him here with the pop band Arrival on Britain’s Top of the Pops – he’s the keyboard player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xex5QMaRJcM
Arrival played the legendary Isle of Wight Festival, Miles was there, and Dylan too. Later, Tony formed Kokomo, one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, with him as lead singer, the incredible Dyan Birch, Frank Collins and Paddy McHugh as backing singers. Dylan brought them to New York to be his backing band, after The Band split from him, but it never worked out, and the tracks they did with him, I think, were never released.
Kokomo
Tony is a great songwriter, listen to this great song, Spend Some Time, which he co-wrote with Keef Trouble*Â – and it showcases Dyan Birch’s voice at its brilliant best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=643Ab-bX0PU
You can hear a lot of Tony on youtube.com – my favorite there is Kokomo’s version of the Bobby Womack classic, I Can Understand It, which is in two parts, part one being:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktLsaE1Ln-M
and he has his own website too -Â www.tonyomalley.com
And, here he is in Georgia’s competition to find a song for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest – proof than a true artist can turn base metal (the ghastly Eurovision Song contest) into gold:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PkE8t9WUjE
The tall, young red-haired girl is 16 and really talented, says Tony.
And some of Tony’s new babes:
Tony's New Babes
* Keef Trouble:
Keef Trouble: – Â www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3r2AJyFkvs – also founding member of
Brett Marvin & the Thunderbolts.
And a nice interview Keef made with drumming legend Andy Newmark, who played
on John Lennon’s last album and quite unusually, talks a little about Lennon, very interesting for Lennon
fans:
Nice to find yet another aficionado of the great Tony O’Malley.
I’ve known Tony for 30 years now and have always loved his work.
There is a better link to Dy singing ‘Spend Some Time’ – much improved audio and video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuUlRG4F-A
My Tony-sanctioned You Tube channel is a little bit interesting too:
http://www.youtube.com/user/OMalleyTony
My latest here is Dy, Paddy and Frank doing a bit of backing vocals on Gary Fletcher’s latest. Also on the channel are the ten recent vids I recorded of Tony being interviewed at home and studio about his life and times… quite informative. Also is a complete October 2009 fantastic gig at the 606 Club, featuring songs from ‘The Road Will Rise’. There is too a tribute by Tony to the late Mark Smith (the 1980’s Kokomo bass player) who sadly died early last November… also filmed at Faversham at the same time as Andy Newmark that you mention. Frank Collins also gives a series of interviews about his career, as does Adam Phillips, Tony’s latest guitar player. I shall be updating with other vids of Tony and his friends as time goes by.
Best wishes to you from a fellow Tony O’Malley appreciator.
Jack (Malvern).