Why the life of John Quigley, chef to stars like Paul McCartney and Tina Turner, has a lesson for us all
The late John Quigley lifted every room he entered and, when you met him, it was a better day
“Hey man, I’m John”, and with those few words chef John Quigley entered my life. It was the year 2000, we were launching a new TV show and John was hired to cook for the guests.
This was before the days of Saturday Kitchen so cooking and talking on live television was a revolutionary concept. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, the location for the show was a glass box on the roof of a shopping centre.
It was freezing in winter, boiling in summer and every crumb had to be carried up five flights of stairs. The practical challenges of that would have broken most chefs but John just sailed through it.
Rock-and-roll approach to food
That was because he’d seen it all. In the 80s, John moved to London to study at Chelsea College of Arts but instead became seduced by kitchen life. At 22, he was the youngest chef ever to appear in the Good Food Guide.
But that wasn’t enough. At that time Anthony Bourdain and Marco Pierre White were turning the world of food upside down and that rock-and-roll approach appealed to John.
What followed was a 10-year stint on the road as the private touring chef for acts ranging from Paul McCartney and Tina Turner to Paul Weller and Guns N’ Roses. Whatever they wanted, John cooked using a kitchen kit that was assembled and dismantled every day, alongside all the concert paraphernalia.
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His stories from that time were eye-watering. Without a dishwasher on tour with The Smiths, John would ask fans if they’d like to have the privilege of washing up for Morrisey before spiriting them backstage to scrub pans and plates. In Norway, Axel Rose decided he wanted to try reindeer so John barbecued a whole one in the venue car park.
The last big tour was with Bryan Adams, a vegan who didn’t like vegetables so inventiveness was the key, with John making almond milk long before it appeared in supermarkets.
Open and honest
After all that, settling down to restaurant life was a breeze, first at Mojo in Glasgow’s Arthouse Hotel where he met his wife, and then in his mothership restaurant Red Onion which has just celebrated 21 years in business.
Always open and totally honest, I last saw John when he came into the BBC to talk to me on the radio about his experience of prostate cancer. The diagnosis had been a shock but he got through the treatment and was evangelical about men getting tested. For days afterwards, I got messages from those who’d heard John and been inspired to act.
At the time, we joked about health being a bit of a snipers’ alley as you get older with no indication of when your turn will come. John died from lung cancer on Sunday. He was just 62.
It’s a tragedy for his wife Gillian and daughters Amy and Rosie and heartbreaking for his family, friends and many admirers in the world of food.
John was the kind of man who lifted every room he entered. When you met him, it was a better day. His early death leaves a huge gap… but what a life. He grabbed it and made the most of every single second and he leaves behind that as a lesson to us all.
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