We became friends during the Peter Maffay MTV Unplugged tour, sharing the same sleeper coach. I was impressed by his historical knowledge and sense of humor. Besides, Tony is someone who brings positive energy to every band. After 7 weeks of playing stadiums and arenas we all started to behave like stadium rockstars, bluffing about our imaginary planes, marriages, groupies, cars and drugs problems. But as soon as Tony started to talk about the music business, history, drugs, his third wife or touring with his band Rainbow we all listened because we knew what he told us was actually true!
A true one-of-a-kind stadium motherfucker. He’s the only rockstar that calls me on my birthday to sing a song for me, which makes me proud. On top of that I am allowed to call him Mariah.
We recorded the flugelhorn solo at his home studio in Germany after a cosy lunch withTony and his wife Marion.