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ANDY WHITEAppearances:
Irish songwriter Andy White was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father is a writer and his grandmother a piano player. Put the clacking of typewriter keys and the sound of piano music drifting up from the hall together and you just might come up with a songwriter. Socially political and romantically poetical from the very start, concerned with the troubles associated with his time and place, Andy started scribbling lyrics on any piece of paper he could get his hands on. He wrote his first poem when he was nine entitled 'Riots' and picked up a guitar aged 13 after hearing John Lennon singing 'Give Peace A Chance'. 'Religious Persuasion', his first single, was released on Stiff Records in 1985 and instantly entered the charts. Loudly acoustic and precociously word-filled, "Yer man is brilliant" was the Melody Maker album review headline as Andy's first solo album 'Rave on Andy White' was released worldwide in 1986. Since then Andy has recorded eight more solo albums, toured the world and won Ireland's top songwriting award. He has written with Peter Gabriel and Neil Finn, been produced by John Leckie and Kim Fowley and toured with Van Morrison and Mary Black. In 1995, along with his mates Liam O Maonlai (Hothouse Flowers) and Tim Finn (Crowded House) he formed ALT. They recorded an album 'Altitude' released on Parlophone and spent the year touring Australia and New Zealand, Europe and North America. Andy drew from this collaborative musical experience with his next solo album 'Teenage', featuring the singles 'Get Back Home' and 'Between A Man And A Woman'. This was followed in 1998 by a 'Best Of' collection 'andywhite.compilation' which pulled together 12 of Andy's best known songs and added 2 new recordings. ALT reformed to play Japan in December of 1998 and Andy spent most of 1999 touring the with the compilation album in Australia, Canada and WOMAD festivals in Spain, UK and USA. Between Andy's performances at WOMAD festivals at Rivermead in England and Seattle USA, a live recording was made in Real World Studios. Mixing both musical and spoken word performances, 'Speechless' was released on the WOMAD Select label in early 2000 and Andy toured the UK and Ireland with his 'Celtic Ono Band' to celebrate. All of Andy's albums, plus an internet only rarities and b-sides collection entitled 'rare' are available via Andy's website at http://www.andywhite.com A companion volume to the recorded albums is 'The Music of What Happens', Andy's book of collected song lyrics, poems and drawings which is published in Ireland by Lagan Press. Outside Ireland it is available exclusively through the website. Andy's new self-titled solo album was recorded in Dublin with Kieran Kennedy producing and John Leckie mixing. Released in Europe and North America throughout 2001 and Australia and New Zealand early 2002. Hailed as a career-best the album has taken Andy's recorded and performance career to another level. Musicians featured include Liam O Maonlai (Hothouse Flowers, ALT), Robert Malone (David Gray Band), and Nick Seymour (Crowded House), |
