Tony Ashton.
He was the singer / keyboard player in Ashton, Gardner and Dyke who had a hit with Resurrection Shuffle. When Deep Purple finally split up for good, Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums) decided they wanted to have a 'big band' group with funky bass, girl singers and a brass section. They needed a front man for vocals and keyboards and so turned to Ashton as a good mate of theirs. Unfortunately, he couldn't handle the pressure of being in front of these two legends of music and turned to drink when the live gigs came along. Jon Lord said Tony got so nervous that he turned to large amounts of drink, which made his performances even worse so he drank some more. Finally fell off the front of the stage at which point Lord and Paice called it a day. Shame really, because the only album the made, Malice in Wonderland is a good listen
