Born in Guildford, Surrey in 1943, Tony was educated at Millfield Public School in Somerset, and Bournemouth College. The son of a doctor in Lilliput near Poole, Dorset, he made his first public appearance with the Ian Ralfini Dance Orchestra at the Bournemouth Pavilion while at College, and later appeared with various bands in hotels.

Having finished his education, Tony read in the music press that disc jockeys were wanted by a pirate radio station. He applied, got the job, and made his first radio appearance on 25th July 1964 on Radio Caroline South. In 1966, he joined Radio London and introduced the first ever soul programme in the UK.

Tony joined the BBC Light Programme in August 1967 and made his first broadcast on the “Midday Spin” programme. When BBC Radio One commenced broadcasting on 30th September 1967, Tony presented the daily Breakfast Show, and was the first disc jockey on the new network. He hosted the Breakfast Show until 1974 when he took over the morning show for several years, followed by Junior Choice. He remained with Radio One until 1984.

Tony then spent some time at BBC London where his soul programme and consequent weekly club nights called ‘Soul Nights’ became so popular it eventually took over Capital’s ‘Best Disco In Town Nights’. 6000 people were regularly turning up including Stevie Wonder on one occasion who wanted to thank Tony for introducing the UK to soul music. It could be said that Tony commercialised soul music and in the process reinvented BBC Radio London.

He left BBC London in 1988, to join Capital Radio on 2nd July to launch their new Capital Gold station where he presented his soul shows until December 2002. He subsequently presented Soul shows on Jazz, Smooth and the Real Radio Network before moving to the Classic Gold Network in 2003 to front the Breakfast show which he hosted until 2007. He joined the Smooth weekend breakfast show in 2008 and added shows to his repertoire on KCFM in Hull and KMFM across Kent.

In November 2010 he took over the reins on Radio 2’s legendary programme ‘Pick of the Pops’ following its two previous long-serving hosts, Alan Freeman and Dale Winton. Alongside POTP, Tony was the regular host of New Years Eve on Radio 2 as well as dozens of Bank Holiday specials.

He also returned to BBC Radio London to  present a Sunday afternoon soul show and a Sunday afternoon show on the BBC Local Radio network.

In 2017 he took over the presenting duties on Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 –one of the networks highest rated shows. In addition, he presents “Tony Blackburn’s Golden Hour” live on Sunday evenings at 7pm.

In 2018, Tony took his Sounds of the Sixties show on tour with a house band and some great singers playing the biggest hits of the 60s. It has been playing to packed houses up and down the country and dates are already booked in until 2025.

Tony is a legend of the airwaves and has become a household name through his DJ-ing, TV Shows, and he inspired the cult of the radio DJ. His passion for Soul music has been the main underlying factor in most of his shows.

He has thirty-seven awards to his name including, in 1989, the Gold Award for Outstanding Contribution to Radio. He was also awarded the Best Breakfast Show (Contemporary Music) by Sony Radio Awards in 1993 and The Radio Academy Music and Media Award for outstanding contribution to Music and Radio in 1997. In 2014, as he celebrated his 50th year on-air, he was honoured to receive the Gold Award for a 2nd time, becoming the first person in history to get two lifetime achievement awards.

Tony also co-presented ITV’s prime-time show “Animals Do the Funniest Things”which attracted over 7 million viewers on its last showing. Tony has made numerous other television appearances over the years, including the hosting of his own show “Time For Blackburn” in 1969.

He is well remembered for presenting BBC’s world famous “Top Of The Pops” from the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s. He continues to make regular guest appearances on a wide range of television shows;

In 2002 he was crowned ‘King of the Jungle’ in the first ever series of ITV1’s ‘I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here’ and in 2012 he and his dancing partner, David Hamilton, were cruelly robbed by the judges on Let’s Dance…for Sport Relief.

In 2014 he was a star on Pier Morgan’s Life Stories for ITV1 and started hosting VT’s on BBC One’s The One Show.

In 2023 he became a regular member of the BBC Morning Live team.

Tony is represented by Nick Canham