Andy Partridge

born on 11/11/1953 in Malta

Andy Partridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Andy Partridge

Andrew John "Andy" Partridge (born 11 November 1953 in Mtarfa, Malta) is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to fame as a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the pop/new wave band, XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised.

Solo work and collaborations

In addition to his work with XTC, Partridge has released one solo album on Virgin Records in 1980 called Take Away/the Lure of Salvage.Several tracks appear to have XTC backing tracks reworked much in the way the Go + EP resembled portions of Go 2, XTC's second album.Partridge has also released demos of his songs under his own name in The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album and the "Fuzzy Warbles" album series on his APE House record label. Eight individual volumes of Fuzzy Warbles are now available, as well as the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album, which includes a bonus ninth disc Hinges. He has collaborated (as performer, writer or record producer) with numerous recording artists, including Martin Newell, with whom he recorded and produced an album in 1993 entitled The Greatest Living Englishman released in Japan as a duo album. He has additionally lent his experience and talents to artists that include Super Squarecloud, Peter Blegvad, Harold Budd, Jamie Cullum, Stephen Duffy, Terry Hall, The Heads, Charlotte Hatherley, Robyn Hitchcock, Jen Olive, The Residents, Thomas Dolby, David Yazbek, Miles Kane, The Nines, Pugwash and fellow Swindon musicians Meat Beat Manifesto. In 2010, Partridge released a limited edition CD of music inspired by science fiction illustrator Richard M. Powers' art titled POWERS.[1] In 2012, Partridge's collaboration with Mike Keneally bore fruit as the album Wing Beat Fantastic, a Mike Keneally release where 8 of the songs were co-written with Partridge.[2]

Partridge served as the producer for the English band Blur during the recording of Modern Life Is Rubbish. He was replaced by Stephen Street at the insistence of their record label, Food. Partridge also wrote four songs for Disney's version of James and the Giant Peach, but was replaced by Randy Newman when he could not get Disney to offer him "an acceptable deal".

Approaching music differently

In 2004, Partridge contributed the song "I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls" as the theme music to the short-lived TV comedy Wonderfalls. In 2006, a song he and Robyn Hitchcock collaborated on "Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)", which was released on the Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 album Olé! Tarantula. He has also released music as part of a trio known as Monstrance, made up of his guitar, Barry Andrews (an early member of XTC) on keyboards, and Martyn Barker on drums. The group has released an album of the same name, as well as a download-only EP known as Fine Wires Humming a New Song. All songs were completely improvised, without overdubbing and recorded live in the studio.

Radio and film

Partridge was a regular performer on BBC Radio 1 in the mid-1980s. He has had acting roles, including a character named "Agony Andy", a spoof aunt on the Janice Long show, and he also contributed comedic sketches to Saturday Live and Studio B15, and was a regular panelist on both Roundtable and The Great Rock'n'Roll Trivia Quiz. He has also presented the pilot for an ITV children's quiz show, Matchmakers. He contributed additional material to the Channel 4 incarnation of Armstrong and Miller's sketch show.

Personal life

Partridge and his ex-wife Marianne have two children. Daughter Holly is a guitarist, singer and songwriter. Son Harry Partridge is an Internet animator best known for his comedic short Saturday Morning Watchmen.[3]

Since his divorce, Partridge has been in a long-term relationship with Erica Wexler, the daughter of American screenwriter Norman Wexler (of Saturday Night Fever, and Serpico fame) and niece of record producer Jerry Wexler. Partridge met Wexler in 1994, shortly after she had split from artist Roy Lichtenstein.[4] He's also the executive producer of her forthcoming album Sunlit Night.

Influence

Partridge has been cited as an influence by John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers in the 2002 issue of Total Guitar magazine, who cited him as an influence on the sound of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' album By the Way.[5]

Partridge mixed recordings for the band Captains of Industry. In 2007 he collaborated with former XTC bandmate Barry Andrews on the Shriekback album Glory Bumps. In 2008, Partridge began working on a collaborative album with Robyn Hitchcock [6] and Mike Keneally, and various solo projects. He has been conducting an ongoing series of online interviews about his songs with writer Todd Bernhardt on the XTCfans pages of MySpace, and plans to release a book based on the interviews, featuring additional content and images.

References

  1. Sample Andy's Powers. Retrieved on 14 August 2012.
  2. "Wing Beat Fantastic"
  3. Interview with Harry Partridge - Kittysneezes
  4. 'Roy didn't want a woman. He liked them young and juicy': Lichtenstein's secret lover on being the muse behind his nudes, Stephanie Theobald, London Evening Standard, 18 February 2013, accessed 19 February 2013
  5. "John Frusciante interview in Total Guitar magazine" NME Accessed 2008-04-7
  6. "Post-punk legends team up for new album" NME Accessed 13 March 2008

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Andy Partridge

  • Andy Partridge on Twitter
  • APE House Records official site (needs Macromedia Flash)
  • Official site of Erica Wexler, Partridge's partner
  • Audio interview with Andy Partridge on the Sodajerker On Songwriting podcast
  • Rundgren Radio online 2 hour audio interview with Andy Partridge 2008
  • Audio interview (April 2009) at BBC Wiltshire
  • Andy Partridge on RPM BBC West TV programme clips showing Partridge touring his hometown of Swindon, and talking about giving up playing live.
XTC
Andy Partridge | Colin Moulding
Dave Gregory | Terry Chambers | Barry Andrews
Discography

Studio albums White Music (1978) | Go 2 (1978) | Drums and Wires (1979) | Black Sea (1980) | English Settlement (1982) | Mummer (1983) | The Big Express (1984) | Skylarking (1986) | Oranges and Lemons (1989) | Nonsuch (1992) | Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999) | Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (2000)

The Dukes of Stratosphear releases: 25 O'Clock (1985) | Psonic Psunspot (1987) | Chips from the Chocolate Fireball (1987)

Compilations, instrumentals, demos, live and tribute albums: Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982 (1982) | Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982 (1982) | The Compact XTC (1987) | Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80 (1990) | Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers (1990) | BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1992) | Drums and Wireless: BBC Radio Sessions 77-89 (1994) | A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC (1995) | Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-92 (1996) | Upsy Daisy Assortment (1997) | Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions (1998) | Homespun (1999) | Homegrown (2001) | Coat of Many Cupboards (2002) | Instruvenus (2002) | Waspstrumental (2002) | Apple Box 2005

Fuzzy Warbles albums: Fuzzy Warbles Volume 1 (2002) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 2 (2002) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 3 (2003) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 4 | (2003) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 5 (2004) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 6 (2004) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 7 (2006) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 8 (2006) | Hinges (2006)

This page was last modified 07.04.2014 16:23:37

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