DJ Fat Tony has played some of the world's biggest clubs, entertaining the world's biggest stars. But behind the glitz and glamour of his music career was a terrifying descent into drink and drugs oblivion.
He has shared in harrowing detail the highs and lows of his extraordinary life in his best-selling autobiography I Don't Take Requests. This week the DJ, real name Tony Marnach, heads to Manchester to talk about his life and work in a Q&A event at Selfridges to celebrate the launch of the new paperback edition of the tome.
Talking to the MEN ahead of the event, Tony admits it was hard to be so open about his traumas, but was necessary for him to move on and help others fighting addiction.
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When the book was originally released last year it shot straight into the bestsellers list, leaving him stunned. He says: "I thought it would maybe sell a thousand copies, but no, within the first week it was a Sunday Times bestseller.
"It was mindblowing, it wasn't really what I thought would happen.
"It's not a book of fairytales, it's trauma and honesty and a book of redemption. For a book like this, to the fact I've been completely honest and not tried to whitewash anything, it's testament to what it's about.
"People struggle with the truth, and to understand the truth sometimes. We'd much rather sugar coat things, but the one thing not sugar coated was me.
"A year on, I've really found self-compassion now, the things that I looked at as shaming and trauma, it's no longer my trauma. I've dealt with it, the more I talk about it the more power that comes from it.
"I can't change the past but I can change today and tomorow and I like to be in control of that. What the book has done has made me open my eyes wider.
"We lead by example and that's the magic of being in recovery. The more open and honest about addiction and how I stay clean the more I help more people.
"Anyone who has gone through any addiction illness, or drug abuse, the more people who come through that and talk through that, it helps.
"I'm now 16 and a half years sober. And to think back then I couldn't stay 16 minutes sober."
His book draws a vivid portrait of Britain’s street culture from the 1980s to the noughties. He describes his childhood on a London estate where he became embrolied in petty criminality, and writes in harrowing detail about abuse he suffered.
He would go on to spend his teenage years parading the Kings Road in trendy (but stolen) clobber, worked as a receptionist at a brothel, hung out with Leigh Bowery and Andy Warhol, and created his drag persona, before becoming a DJ to stars like Prince and Madonna. But his hedonistic lifestyle spiralled into a life-threatening drug addiction.
Being paid huge sums of money a night as a DJ, he would go on to fritter hundreds of thousands of pounds away on drink and drugs. His dependency on crack cocaine would get so bad he would become psychotic and, convinced creatures were living in his gums, would try to pull his own teeth out.
Naturally, that figure of over £1mn spent on his addiction during the wild, hedonistic years tends to grab headlines when he conducts interviews even now. Was it really £1mn I ask? He says: "In 28 years of using it was probably over £1mn to be honest.
"I was earning and spending so much money DJing, the amount I was earning was ridiculous, you have to remember it was at the height of the superstar DJ era. We were making so much money and I was not equipped to deal with it.
"Money would come and go - so that £1mn figure, it's not a boast, it's actually the opposite of a boast.
"I know the downside of that life, I no longer crave drink and drugs in my life and I want to help others to know there's a way out."
Tony's journey to sobriety was a long and difficult one. But he has learned much about himself, and others, along the way.
He says: "People ask how can I still DJ, how do I go to a party and not have a drink? How can you have a social life when everyone drinks or take drugs?
"For me I'm the problem, the party isn't. I know I have a problem with drinks and drugs, I want to have a good time, I don't want to go out and have a bad time - people have this preconception that without alcohol you can't go out and have a good time, but that's rubbish it's total c***."
He's looking forward to returning to Manchester, a city he has partied in many times over the years, on Friday night for his special guest appearance at Selfridges on Exchange Square. He will be in conversation with co-author Michael Hennegan, before performing an exclusive DJ set for guests - with tickets available for £10 which includes the paperback version of the book.
It will be the last chance to hear him talking about the book, he says. "Once this influx of book tour is over I'm not going to be doing anymore. It's time for me to move on.
"Don't get me wrong the book is incredible and if anyone wants to talk to me about those isues it's important, but I also want to kind of get on and play music."
As for the title of the book? It's one most DJs will relate to. He laughs: "It's like asking a chef to change the incgredients, you just don't do it."
And one reason Tony always loves to head to Manchester is because his favourite soap is set here. "I love Coronation Street," he says. "I think Maureen Lipman is great in it and Mary is probably my favourite. There's a few characters I can't stand though, like Stephen the serial killer I mean how many serial killers can you have on one street?"
Join DJ Fat Tony and co-author Michael Hennegan in conversation on Friday, May 26 at 6pm on Level 1 Men's Department, Selfridges, Exchange Square, Manchester. Tickets via Eventbrite cost £10 and include a copy of I Don't Take Requests, a Q&A panel discussion, as well as a live DJ set.
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