Anthony Earle Peter Butler (born 13 February 1957)
is a British bassist, best known for his work with Scottish
rock band
Big Country. He has also worked with
On the Air,
The Pretenders
Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...
,
Roger Daltrey, and
Pete Townshend, among others.
Early life
Butler was born at
Hammersmith Hospital in
White City, London, England.
His parents had emigrated to England from the
Caribbean island of
Dominica.
Career
In the late 1970s Butler joined the short-lived band
On the Air which also included drummer
Mark Brzezicki and
Simon Townshend (the younger brother of
The Who's guitarist
Pete Townshend). On the Air released two singles in 1980 and toured with the Scottish band
The Skids, which was where Butler met
Stuart Adamson. In 1982 Butler joined Adamson's new band
Big Country with his drumming partner Mark Brzezicki, which went on to enjoy success internationally during the 1980s and 1990s, he remained in the band until the end of 2000.
He also did session work with other artists including
Pete Townshend,
Roger Daltrey and
The Pretenders
Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...
among others, and declined an invitation by
Chrissie Hynde to join The Pretenders.
A warm-up bass riff Butler used was incorporated into The Pretenders' "
My City Was Gone" and was also co-opted by ''
The Rush Limbaugh Show'' as its opening theme.
In 2007, to celebrate 25 years of Big Country, Butler reunited with founder members
Bruce Watson and
Mark Brzezicki to embark on a tour of the UK. He became lead vocalist for the first time, taking over from the deceased Stuart Adamson. The band toured during 2010–11 with
Mike Peters of
The Alarm on vocals. Butler left Big Country again in 2012, citing differences with his bandmates, to be replaced by former
Simple Minds bassist
Derek Forbes.
Butler moved to
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
with his family in the 1980s and became a further education teacher in the 2000s.
As of 2017, Butler ran courses in music at
Petroc College in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
.
While Butler did not join The Pretenders permanently, he did a couple of sessions with the Pretenders out of which came the 1982 singles "My City Was Gone" and "Back on the Chain Gang."
In 2017/18 Butler released an autobiography and a solo album ''My Time''.
Discography
Solo albums
Tony Butler has released three solo albums:
*''The Great Unknown'' (1997)
*''Life Goes On'' (2005)
*''My Time'' (2018)
References
External links
Official websitePretenders 977 Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Tony
Living people
1957 births
Big Country members
Black British rock musicians
English people of Dominica descent
English rock bass guitarists
Male bass guitarists
Musicians from London
People from Shepherd's Bush
The Pretenders members