WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Tony Di Bart

Tony Di Bart wanted to ‘do it’. Do what. is the question? The real thing?(!)

Antonio Carmine Di Bartolomeo is probably too long for a record sleeve, so Antonio, who was actually born on the outskirts of London in 1964, shortened it to Tony, kept the “Di” and the first four letters of his surname. He made the move from being a bathroom salesman to the pop charts in 1993 when he released his debut single, “The Real Thing”, although this was not a success initially. Thankfully, the track was remixed by The Joy Brothers and reissued in April 1994 and this time it found a following. The song climbed its way to the very top of the UK singles chart, if only for one week, in May.

“The Real Thing” was also a top ten hit across most of Europe and made a brief appearance on the US Club chart. Tony followed this with the forcefully titled “Do It” later in 1994. This reached the top ten in Belgium but only No.21 in the UK. After that, it was downhill for Tony as his debut album, “Falling For You”, and a total of four more singles all failed to chart. A remix of “The Real Thing” was launched in 1998, this rising to No.51 in the UK, while Tony’s popularity in Belgium continued into the 21st century with the single “I’ll Take You There”, which gave him a third top ten hit there. Following a couple more non-album tracks in the early 00’s, Tony decided to call it a day and presumably returned to selling bathrooms.

He pops up from time to time at 90’s revival festivals and performs his number one hit at gigs and clubs “when requested” to do so. Tony Keeps his fans up-to-date with his movements via social media, where every day is still 1994 and where he seems to enjoy the good life as well as the real thing!