From W.R."Tony" Duke's obituary.
April 15, 1952 - January 07, 2013
Tony graduated in a class of ten from Paint Rock, Texas and enjoyed minoring in art at UT Austin. Music became his heartbeat. He 'always worked and played in a band' to survive and counted his blessings in knowing and playing with some of the finest musicians in blues and rock from 1970-2000; he is known as 'one of the last real Texas bluesmen' and gained recognition world wide.
He called the mysterious Marfa lights of West Texas his ‘friends’; and he found himself under the lights of stage and fame as a blues bass player. He rode like the wind within the booming music business of the 70's-90's selling and collecting some of the most historic vintage Gibson guitars, playing and working with gentle souls to some of the most infamous musicians and individuals.
Published in over 100 publications throughout the US, UK, Mexico and Canada, he won three songwriting awards and two photo awards. As one of the original Texas Tornados, he achieved notoriety in the Texas Music Hall of Fame. He was "rollin down the road in some cold blue steel" in his lyric line co-written for I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. And, thus, his ever-creative influence on writing, production, stage, band and blues ingenuity of his Dallas based band, Cold Blue Steel. The band's first CD, Drivin to Mexico, was largest independent selling blues release in Texas history.
Legendary electric bass player and Texas Tornado Hall of Famer, Tony's pedigree expands beyond the Tornados to songrwiting and into music history, playing alongside: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Vaughn, Ed King/Skynyrd, James Burton, Ansley Dunsbar, Rick Neilsen, Elliot Easton, Eric Johnson, Ted Nugent, Billy Gibbons, and others.
He sold more 57-60 Les Pauls than anyone else in the business. Clients included Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, the Eagles, Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels, Christopher Cross, Don Felder, Glen Frey, Joe Walsh, John Staheley, BillyGibbons, Ted Nugent, etc. He recovered Jimi Hendrix' strat (and made Rolling Stone magazine).
He played in opening shows, to name a few, for Ringo Star, Bo Diddley, Delbert McClinton and .38 Special. His band was the first caucasian band to play BB King's in Memphis. And, he always remembered his Texas blues roots.
http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/dukes/homepage.aspx
