A year and a half ago, Tony Christie sat down for an interview that changed his life. As he spoke on live daytime TV, the singer revealed that he was one of more than 900,000 people in the UK currently living with dementia. But is he bowing out following his diagnosis? No chance. In fact, the 81-year-old is as busy as he’s ever been.
“I didn’t care. I came out in public live on television. I was talking on Steph’s Packed Lunch when I mentioned that I’d been to see a doctor who said I’d got the beginnings of dementia. She said, ‘Oh, do you mind if we talk about that?’ I was talking about my tour and things, so I said, ‘Yeah, OK.’ So that’s how it came out live on TV,” he tells us.
“I wasn’t ashamed of it. That’s why I talked about it, but since I’ve done that, I’ve been stopped so many times by people in shops and in the streets who say, ‘Oh, by the way, thanks for doing what you did. My husband or my wife or my sister or whatever, they’ve got the same thing and they wouldn’t speak about it but now they’re not ashamed of it any more.’”
Tony Christie has helped others to overcome their fears amid dementia diagnosis (PA)Having been a huge lover of cryptic crosswords for 60 years, it was Tony’s beloved hobby that saw him seek a diagnosis. After his wife Sue noticed that he was having trouble completing his usual puzzles, the (Is This The Way To) Amarillo singer went searching for an answer.
“It was just little things. I’ve always been a big cryptic crossword fan for 50 to 60 years. I started having problems with it. I was also forgetting people’s names who I’d known for donkey’s years. That’s when my wife said, ‘Well, let’s go and see a doctor.’ “I had a scan and they said, ‘OK, it’s the beginning of dementia,’” he explains.
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“I’m on the same tablets that they put me on two years ago, and they’ve not made it any stronger. They’ve held it back. They’re still looking for a cure, and I think they will get a cure in the next few years. Hopefully I’m still here to take it.”
As we speak to Tony, the positivity that he radiates is hard to deny. While dementia is a difficult diagnosis to come to terms with for anybody, the megastar is keen to spread the optimism he carries to other individuals and families who are affected.
“I’m not ashamed of it, that’s the thing. People should never, ever be ashamed of it. Get on with it and just carry on. The only thing I miss is that I was really good at those cryptic crosswords,” Tony says.
“If people think they may have dementia, the first thing is to see a doctor as quickly as possible. If you think you’ve got it, see a doctor and they can help you and give you tablets that can help, which is what I did.”
While music has always been a huge part of Tony’s life, following his diagnosis it has taken on a whole new meaning. With music helping to evoke memories and express feelings, Tony is the first to recognise the unique position that he’s found himself in.
Tony has now become an ambassador for Music For Dementia and is using his platform to not only speak about the disease but to work towards making music a central part of dementia care. Last summer, he recorded a version of Thank You For Being A Friend alongside carers Zoe Antoniades, Gez Ossai, Therese Poteratchi, Graeme Sutherland and Katie Neal on behalf of Music For Dementia.
Most recently, he’s shown his support for Music For Dementia’s Give It A Go campaign, which encourages carers to find out how music may make a difference in their lives when caring for individuals with dementia.
“When I went for the tests I went to see a doctor and she said, ‘You’ve got it,’ because they did a scan of my head and said that I was very fortunate because I’m in the music business and that’s one of the things that people with dementia can have as part of their therapy for it. It won’t cure me, but it can help try to hold it back,” Tony adds.
And although fans across the world may have been left shocked by news of Tony’s dementia, his career is as impressive as it’s ever been. His recent album We Still Shine reached No.2 in the country charts and he’s busy touring and has another album on the way.
“My diagnosis hasn’t affected my work. I am still singing and performing as well as ever. I’ve got a brand new album out which I made in Nashville. We’re planning another album as well, so it’s not affected that side of it,” he says.
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“I’ve been to Nashville quite a few times. We booked to be there for three weeks but we actually made the album in three days, so we didn’t know what to do. I said, ‘Well, let’s record some of my old album tracks and songs because the musicians were unbelievable and make it a separate album,’ which we did.”
Tony Christie and his wife Sue have been married for 56 years (WireImage)
Tony re-released Is This The Way To Amarillo with comedian Peter Kay in 2005 for Comic Relief (PA)Following the success of the album, Tony is on the road again – though this time things are different and his wife Sue is along for the ride. “Touring feels no different to how it did when I was younger. I ignore my age. My wife goes with me everywhere, which is great because she enjoys it and I enjoy her being there,” he says.
“I think I enjoy it more now because in the early days my wife couldn’t come with me because she was with the kids. But now that we have grandkids, she travels with me everywhere.”
And as Tony says, being on tour allows him to transform into his on-stage persona. “I’m a different person on stage than I am off. I’m a completely different person. I become Tony Christie on stage. Off stage. I’m Anthony Fitzgerald and the quiet man is what they call me,” he explains.
With his career spanning six decades, perhaps it’s no surprise that pinning down one particular highlight is a hard task. With more than 40 albums, a Pyramid Stage appearance at Glastonbury and one of the best-selling singles of all time in the UK to his name, Tony’s career is one that most people could only dream of.
“Glastonbury’s one. I’ve played Royal Albert Hall a few times too. I sang (Is This The Way To) Amarillo at the Royal Albert Hall with Neil Sedaka who was performing there and who wrote the song Amarillo for me,” he explains.
During his time in the limelight, Tony has rubbed shoulders with royalty too and recalls one very special occasion when he was invited to Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Grand Order of Water Rats.
“We went to Buckingham Palace and Prince Philip was there because he was the head of the Grand Order of Water Rats. I was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II by Prince Philip, who said, ‘This is Tony Christie and his famous song is Amarillo.’ She went, ‘Oh, we play that song at every party we ever have,’” Tony recalls. “I was staggered and my wife Sue couldn’t speak.”
Having recently celebrated his 81st birthday with a Chinese takeaway and “dry sherry before dinner”, Tony says that he has no desire to hang up the mic. With music in his blood, the career he’s worked so hard to achieve is one that he’s dreamt of since he was a child.
“I used to sing with my grandparents. The Irish side of my family were from Claremorris in County Mayo and they used to visit every few months. My grandmother played the fiddle in the Ceilidh band, and my grandfather played the squeezebox.
“My dad would play the piano and stand me on a stool to sing to them and they’d give me a sixpence. That’s when I decided I was going to be a professional singer. But I’m getting a bit more than six pence now. I get a shilling now,” he jokes.
As for what Tony wants to achieve this year? The answer’s simple. “I want to get out of it into my 82nd,” he laughs. “I just want to keep working. My grandfather used to say, ‘You retire, you die.’ So that’s why I’m not retiring.”
TONY CHRISTIE IS SUPPORTING THE LAUNCH OF MUSIC FOR DEMENTIA’S NEW ‘GIVE IT A GO’ CAMPAIGN WHICH ENCOURAGES CARERS TO USE MUSIC TO HELP MANAGE DEMENTIA SYMPTOMS LIKE ANXIETY AS WELL AS MAKING EVERY DAY THAT BIT MORE ENJOYABLE.
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