Robert Charles Andrews

born on 20/6/1949 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Alias Bob Andrews

Bob Andrews (keyboardist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bob Andrews (keyboardist)

Robert Charles "Bob" Andrews (born 20 June 1949, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, U.K.[1]) is an English keyboardist and record producer.

Early years

Born just outside Leeds, Yorkshire, Bob grew up in the district of Kirkstall, attending the small, local church elementary school, St Stephens. He started piano lessons at age seven after his mother detected his enthusiasm for banging on his grandmothers neighbour's piano. He switched teachers at age 11 to a local piano master, Charles Seed. Passing the 11+-entrance exam to attend grammar school, Bob learned ukulele to play in a skiffle group formed at school. At 13, he discovered Chuck Berry and the Stones, stopped piano lessons, and learned to play bass and electric guitar. By 1965, At age 16, he had been kicked out of high school (for having long hair), secured a job as a trainee surveyor, and with a newly minted Farfisa organ, was gigging 5 nights a week.

The Young Musician

Bob became a professional musician in October 1966, spending two years working in Germany and Spain, in nightclubs and on U.S. military bases. In 1968 he returned to London and played organ for P.P. Arnold's backing band, next landing a position with pop act Kippington Lodge, which evolved into the band Brinsley Schwarz.

Brinsley Schwarz

Brinsley Schwarz toured continuously throughout the early seventies, including supporting Paul McCartney and Wings on the Red Rose Speedway tour.[2] Their six album releases for Capitol and United Artist Records became cult favorites on both sides of the Atlantic (see Brinsley Schwarz discography). Their sound was heavily influenced by American roots idioms like rhythm n blues and country. Named for guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, the band was central to the emergence of the pub rock genre, widely perceived as a rejuvenation of traditional rock n roll energy and songwriting values in the face of music scene then dominated by prog-rock and bands playing bloated versions of Mussorgsky.

The band launched careers critical to the developing punk rock scene; Nick Lowe emerging as an important solo artist and producer, Brinsley Schwarz and Bob Andrews going on to help found the Rumour with Graham Parker.

Graham Parker and The Rumour

The Brinsleys, as they were affectionately known, broke up in April 1975. Bob and Brinsley, together with guitarist Martin Belmont from the recently defunct Ducks Deluxe, met at a club called the Hope and Anchor, and decided to form a new band. Martin knew a bass player and drummer, Andrew Bodnar and Steve Goulding respectively, whose band (BonTemps Roulez) had also split up. They started to rehearse down at the Newlands Tavern in Peckham, London and called themselves the Rumour, after the song by The Band. Dave Robinson, soon to be Stiff Records impresario and former Brinsleys manager, introduced them to Graham Parker and Parker also started rehearsing with them at the Tavern. A decision was made to keep the two acts separate for contractual purposes - publishing and record deals - and the band recorded a live record at Marble Arch and the first Graham Parker record, Howling Wind, at the end of 1975, and by the beginning of 1976, singer and band were on tour.

Bobs keyboard playing was central and critical to the sound and success of the Rumour. Where later bands in the developing punk genre often pared their ensemble sound down to guitar, bass and drums, the Rumour had an expansive, sophisticated way with arrangements, which traded heavily on their immersion in the sounds of American soul music and the work of Bob Dylan (especially with the Band) and Van Morrison.

In his tenure with the Rumour, Bob recorded five critically lauded and influential records (see Graham Parker discography) and toured the world relentlessly, moving from warm up slots with acts like Thin Lizzy to their own headlining tours.

During and After The Rumour

In addition to his work with the Rumour, Bob played sessions throughout the Seventies, always a sought after player for his piano and organ work.

In 1979, Bob stopped touring with the Rumour following tours in support of the Squeezing Out Sparks album.

In 1978, through an acquaintance with her manager, Bob co-produced (w/Brinsley Schwarz) the first album from Carlene Carter. In 1979, Stiff Records boss Dave Robinson[disambiguation needed], who managed Bob on and off throughout the seventies, enlisted Bob as producer for Stiff artist Jonah Lewie. This partnership produced, among other recordings, a major U.K. chart smash, Stop The Cavalry which reached the No. 3 position in the charts in December 1980.[3] The song also charted in twelve other countries. Actually an anti-war song, Cavalry included the line I wish I was at home for Christmas. When coupled with its seasonal release (and the productionss subtle use of sleigh bells) it contributed to the songs perception as a Christmas song, and it remains a widely requested seasonal favorite in the U.K. Bob also produced the band Ten Pole Tudor as part of his relationship with Robinson and the seminal Stiff label.

The success of Stop the Cavalry introduced an era of varied, often eccentric, Bob Andrews productions. Between 1984 and 1986, with production partner Colin Fairley [4] and new manager Jake Riviera, Bob worked on several top twenty singles (and even a re-released number one in the U.K. in 1993). In 1988, with a new manager, Pete Hawkins, Bob was recruited for production work with Lee Mavers and his band, The La's. Although he never got the chance to finish their album, his production of their song "There She Goes" cracked the Billboard top fifty, has been featured in innumerable films, and has become an enduring staple and power-pop classic.

In 1991, Bob produced tracks for artists like Katrina and the Waves and Helen Watson. He was at the helm as producer for Young at Heart, the number one U.K. smash by Scotlands The Bluebells in 1993.

In addition to his success as a producer, Bob was in constant demand as a session player. He played on Maxine Nightingales 1975 hit Get Right Back. His brilliantly angular jazz inflected piano playing was a highlight of his friend and former band mate Nick Lowes hit Breaking Glass in 1977; and his Hammond organ solo was featured on Sam Browns No. 1 hit Stop, from 1986.[5]

In 1992 he moved to New Orleans in Louisiana, USA.

A Man About Town (New Orleans)

Looking for a change of pace, Andrews followed his muse to a city central to his own musical inspirations, moving to the United States, specifically the musical city of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1992.

Opportunities for production work were limited initially, but the thriving local music welcomed his skills as a keyboard player, and Bob built a reputation as sideman for a host of top New Orleans live acts, including John Mooney's Bluesiana, Jumping Johnny Sansone, The Royal Fingerbowl, The Hank Sinatras, Paula and The Pontiacs, Timothea and Marva Wright, One of the highlights of his life as a working musician in New Orleans was his several opportunities to play with one of his musical heroes, Alan Toussaint. With Toussaint as producer, Bob contributed to sessions with the recently controversial Michelle Shocked. Bob continues to play live dates and studio sessions he played on all tracks of Marianne Faithfulls 2011 CD Horse and High Heels recorded in New Orleans - but these past five years have seen him concentrating more and more on singing and playing piano as a solo act.

The RKR-CB Partnership

In recent years, Bob has released several CDs, In New Orleans in 2006 and Chills and Fever in 2010. In 2011, he initiated a writing partnership with lyricist and song designer Robin Hunn, known as RKR-CB. They collaborated on two projects, Shotgun (spring 2012) and Invisible Love (fall 2012), both book/CD collaborations. RKR envisioned the CD/book combo as a multi-media creative platform to promote music, lyrics, and visual art. She hoped to inspire other artists and musicians to collaborate on similar projects. The books juxtapose beautiful, striking images of New Orleans with provocative lyrics. Both present edgy, evocative tales of love, sex, and drama, told through the vision of RKRs two black Labradors canines serving as narrative voices and muses. The CDs feature Bob and RKRs friends, a veritable whos who of New Orleans musicians (Jermal Watson, John Mooney, Alex McMurray, Cornell Williams, Matt Perrine, Carlo Nuccio, and Red Priest). These musicians are often taken outside their familiar idioms, and placed in a new configuration playing Bob and RKRs music, an intoxicating gumbo of Bobs Pub Rock roots and the steamy funk and blues of New Orleans. Bob plays keyboards, of course, but many of the rhythm guitar parts as well. The songs are written on guitar with an ear to capturing the simple, simmering, sexy swing of vintage Rolling Stones.

RKR-CB Productions is an independent label; creative financing was utilized for these projects to accommodate the prolific pace. Bob and RKR received a Threadhead Cultural Foundation grant for Shotgun, and a grant from the prestigious New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation for Invisible Love. Invisible and their last new project together, "Set the Hammond on Fire", both received funding through Kickstarter campaigns. Set the Hammond on Fire was released in October 2013. The global CD release performance for Set the Hammond on Fire took place in London on October 28, 2013.

In 2012, Bob left New Orleans and moved to New Mexico, where he still resides and plays frequently with talented local musicians such as Hillary Smith, Chris Dracup, and John Carey, as well as frequent solo shows.

The Rumour Reunites

In 2010, a documentary about Graham Parker and the Rumour was shown in NYC and several members flew in for the preview. A little impromptu gig was devised. and the Kippington Lodge Social Club played at the Lakeside Lounge to a packed audience. Later in the year, Parker asked the Rumours drummer and bass player, Steve Goulding and Andrew Bodnar, if they would like to play on his new record. Steve suggested asking the rest of the band to come play on it, and a reunion album Three Chords Good was made in July 2011. At about the same time, the film director, Judd Apatow, asked Parker if he would like to appear in his latest comedy, This is 40, portraying an aging rocker whose career stalled. Parker told him of the reunion, and Apatow wrote the entire band into the script. Parker and the Rumour have toured on the back of the film release in the US and in the UK this past fall.

References

  1. [Bob Andrews (keyboardist) at All Music Guide Allmusic.com profile]
  2. Birch, Will (2003). No Stopping Til Canvey Island, Virgin Books Ltd.
  3. http://www.officialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1980-12-20/
  4. Colin Fairley | Credits | AllMusic
  5. Bob Andrews at All Music Guide
This page was last modified 22.03.2014 19:50:27

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