The high-powered businessman who sparked a Sydney-wide Covid scare after visiting a number of BBQ shops across the city while unknowingly infectious with the Delta variant has released a single poking fun at his notoriety.
Apollo Global Management’s Australian boss Tom Pizzey, 59, was identified as a potential superspreader of the Delta variant after visiting Barbeques Galore stores in Annandale and Casula.
Mr Pizzey was dubbed ‘BBQ Man’ because of his trip across Sydney – that also included a visit to a butcher in Bondi Junction and a service station to pick up gas in Mascot – while he was unknowingly infectious with the new variant. He was at the time the first local to catch Delta within Australia.
Now Mr Pizzey’s high-powered mates in 80s cover band The Distractions have penned a debut song, ‘BBQ Man’, in tribute to their guitarist and the year of Covid.
But the official launch of the song in Bondi Bowling Club on Saturday had to be cancelled at the last moment – because of fears over the latest Covid outbreak.
Intensely private finance boss Tom Pizzey, 59, (pictured) sparked a Covid scare in May when he criss-crossed the city to visit BBQ shops while one of Australia’s first Delta cases
Mr Pizzey became Covid famous seven months ago when NSW Health revealed the trail of potential hotspots he had left behind over the course of one weekend.
His QR code check-ins detailed he had made several trips to various BBQ shops in the city’s west, despite living in a $10milliion Woollahra mansion in Sydney’s east.
But when it was revealed he worked for multi-billion dollar international private equity firm Apollo Global Management, speculation ran riot.
City experts suggested the investment guru was not just buying a BBQ for his dinner – but buying the whole BBQs Galore chain that was up for sale at the time.
The gossip was later dismissed and Mr Pizzey has remained tight-lipped about the matter ever since while he and his wife Anna spent two months recovering from the virus.
But now the high-flying finance boss’s secret life as a wannabe 80s rocker has been unmasked in the video teaser for the band’s new debut single.
The clip for the song, believed to have been shot in a park in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, celebrates the end of lockdown – and features the singalong chorus: ‘He’s the BBQ Man’.
Mr Pizzey’s QR code check-ins detailed he had made several trips to various BBQ shops in the city’s west – including BBQs Galore in Annandale (pictured)
The video shows Mr Pizzey wearing an apron while dancing behind a park BBQ and holding sausages in tongs in each hand.
‘I’ll be honest, man, it gave me a fright,’ sings the vocalist in the classic 80s-style Aussie rock anthem.
‘We won’t miss Gladys at 11am, social distance, lockdown – goodbye to them.
‘For all we knew, we had it too – he’s the BBQ man…’
It adds: ‘They thought they knew, the BBQ man, Such a zoo, the media crew, not up to you, poor BBQ man…’
The band have been going since 2015 after it was put together by professional guitarist Jeff Lenham through his company CEO Music.
Mr Pizzey’s high-powered mates in 80s cover band The Distractions have penned a debut song, ‘BBQ Man’, in tribute to their guitarist and the year of Covid
The rockers include tech boss Mike Boyle of HP Australia on drums with Peter Garrett-lookalike Peter Burns, CEO of Next Practice medical centre chain, on vocals.
The Distractions also feature TAL insurance chief commercial officer Andrew Howard on bass, and Creative Director at CHE Proximity agency Mark Tallis on rhythm guitar.
Mr Pizzey is described by the band as ‘originally a crafty left-handed tennis player with an outrageously hard-to-play kicking serve, Tom’s hidden talent has always been for another wooden device, the electric guitar.
‘When the idea of forming a band came up, Mark Tallis asked Tom to dust off his old stratocaster and join in for a jam.
‘Now, Tom (or ‘Pizz’) is officially our technological leader for stage electronics alongside his three striking instruments, the sunburst Telecaster, the big red Gibson 335 and recently, the baby blue Dusenberg Mike Campbell Starplayer with racing stripes.
Tom Pizzey (pictured) is described by the band as ‘originally a crafty left-handed tennis player, Tom’s hidden talent has always been for another wooden device, the electric guitar’
‘Tom is, at heart, a rhythm and blues man, loving to solo from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and anything classic or new that rocks.’
The band says they formed to recreate the magic of a great pub rock night out in Sydney in the 80s.
They said they wanted to play ‘songs you knew, that you could rock along with and that the girls could get up and dance to.
‘So our gigs are as much about what you want to hear as what we want to play – from classic to brand new,’ they say on their website.
‘We have a solid following so our gigs are great nights out – good crowds, great songs with a focus on everyone enjoying themselves.’
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