Today’s the last chance to bid on a stage-worn straw boater and Cartier garment bag at Bonhams’ website.
These, along with a few other items, are being sold by a former employee.
Bonhams shared details of Baz Marshall‘s CV with this website. It starts around 1970, when the young man was a roadie for an obscure band called Sunshine. He then was Deep Purple‘s Stage Manager, touring the world, and joining them in the studio. He was responsible for the movement of equipment and personnel to venues, ensuring that the band and everyone else were in the right place at the right time. After that–and before meeting Elton in 1984–Marshall was Tour Manager, Coordinator, Artist Liaison, Truck Driver, and Transport Manager for acts such as Jethro Tull, Queen, Leon Sayer, the Doobie Brothers, and Frank Sinatra.
His first tour with the Rocket Man was Too Low for Zero, where he served as an Advance Coordinator. That meant moving ahead of Elton, with staff, to hotels, airports, and other establishments (as well as limousines) to make sure the progress of the tour was never affected.
When Elton took a break from the road in 1987, his employee became Transport Coordinator for European legs of tours for David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. He was back with Elton for almost a year before working with the Rolling Stones on their tour.
He and the former Reg Dwight reunited in early 1991. This time he was directly responsible for the headliner and his immediate entourage only (known as the ‘A Party’) with a separate team to look after the band and other personnel with which Baz would liaise on each show. So he was responsible for all aspects of Elton’s travel, private jet charters and logistics.
Baz was on board when the pop vocalist toured with Eric Clapton; then Billy Joel. In 1999, the team for Elton changed, so Baz found himself working with Roger Waters instead. He later resumed his duties with the piano player, and their final tour together was in 2005.
In recent years, Marshall has resided in Australia and worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, The Really Useful Group, although he’s now enjoying life not on the road.
