|
Chris Andrews (Romford, 15 oktober 1942) is een Brits zanger.
Andrews maakte zijn eerste tv-optreden in 1959. Hij schreef tussen 1963 en 1965 verschillende liedjes voor Sandie Shaw. Als zanger had hij in 1965 succes met de single Yesterday Man. Andrews woont een deel van het jaar op Mallorca en een deel van het jaar in het stadje Selm (Noordrijn-Westfalen, Duitsland). Op kasteel Cappenberg bij Selm vond ook zijn bruiloft plaats. In 2007 trouwde hij daar met een Duitse met de voornaam Alexandra. Zij is ook Chris Andrews' manager. In 2016 verwierf Andrews de Duitse nationaliteit, zonder de Britse te verliezen. Early career and songwriting When Andrews was in his mid teens, he had formed his own group, Chris Ravel and the Ravers. One of the records made by the Ravers, which according to Andrews probably only sold around five copies, is said to have been purchased by Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones. On 14 March 1959, he made his British television debut, performing on the Oh, Boy! show. He would later return in April to perform a cover of Cliff Richard's, "Move It". For Adam Faith, Andrews wrote "The First Time" (UK no. 5, 1963) and "We Are in Love" (no. 11, 1964). Meer... |
|
A string of hits for Sandie Shaw followed, including three Top Tens — "Girl Don't Come" (no. 3, 1964/65), "I'll Stop at Nothing" (no. 4, 1965) and "Message Understood" (no. 6, 1965) — and "Long Live Love", which in 1965 remained at number one for three weeks in the UK. "Girl Don't Come" was covered by Cher on her debut album, All I Really Want to Do.
As a songwriter, Andrews has also written "I'll Remember Tonight" for The Mamas & the Papas, "Our Love Has Gone" for The Fortunes and "Heart of Stone" for Suzi Quatro. Solo career Also in 1965, Andrews as a solo artist, reached no. 3 in the UK with the single "Yesterday Man", which peaked in Germany at number one for four weeks; followed up with a no. 13 hit in the UK "To Whom It Concerns". The instrumental section of this song was used as the theme for RTÉ's long-running TV programme, The Late Late Show, until 1999, and a re-arranged version returned as the show's theme music in September 2009. As well as obtaining a high placing in the UK chart, "Yesterday Man" climbed to number one in Ireland and Germany. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Later releases by Andrews were not as successful, but his own hits are seen as early examples of bluebeat influenced white pop music. Although his chart appearances dwindled in Britain by 1966, his chart topping success continued in mainland Europe for a number of years, particularly in Germany, and Andrews often recorded in foreign languages. It is possible that Chris Andrews' huge success in Germany was connected to the fact that his two UK hits, at least, were rhythmically redolent of Oom-pah music (although not intentionally so; see above), thus making them more acceptable to older German audiences who would not have liked many of the other Anglophone songs which became hits there. In South Africa, his later single releases proved particularly popular, with "Pretty Belinda" (1969) and the 1970 45s "Carol OK" and "Brown Eyes" all topping the charts there. "Yo Yo" reached no. 7 at the end of 1970. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Andrews worked mainly as a record producer. Those same four songs all went to number one in Zimbabwe, where surprisingly, Andrews had the most number one singles in any country. Between 2009 and 2013, he released three songs in collaboration with Tobee. These include "Pretty Belinda – Schlauchboot" (2009), "Pretty Belinda – Skilift" (2010) and "White Christmas" (2013). |
| "Pretty Belinda – Schlauchboot" went to 58 on German charts, marking the first time he was on any music chart since 1970 with "Yo Yo".
Andrews remains active in his career as a singer-songwriter, working primarily in Germany, continental Europe and in the United Kingdom. Personal life Andrews was born Christopher Frederick Andrews in Romford, Essex, England. He learned how to play the piano at age five, and switched from blues music to rock and roll at the age of twelve. Inspired by Lonnie Donegan, he also learned how to play the guitar. He lives with his second wife Alexandra, who is also his manager, in Selm, Germany, and Mallorca. Because of the Brexit vote, Andrews also obtained German citizenship in 2016. |