Born in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, England (UK), Andy Bell was educated at the King’s School in the city. He joined the band The Viod for two weeks in the Eighties, before splitting off with bass player Pierre Cope to form their own band, Das Baume (German for ‘The Trees’). They changed their name to Dinger and released one single, ‘Air Of Mystery’. Not long after that, Andy auditioned for Vince Clarke’s new musical venture Erasure. Together they have sold over 25 million albums worldwide between 1985 and now.
Besides Erasure, Andy still does several solo projects. In 1994 he played Judy Garland in a play called The Night We Buried Judy Garland, which was a musical about gay rights. The play ran for a month at the Shaw Theatre in London, with different actors in the role; Andy was only in it for a week.
Bell’s first solo album ‘Electric Blue’ was released in 2005. His second solo album ‘Non Stop’ appeared in 2010.
In June 2011, he appeared on the second season of ITV series ‘Popstar to Operastar’ and finished in fifth place.
In 2013, he released a cover version of Breathing on the British Electric Foundation album ‘Music Of Quality And Distinction Volume 3 – Dark’. Produced by Martyn Ware, the album featured sixteen tracks with a different singer on each track.
Andy Bell about Kate Bush
I love her. Vince and I wanted her to produce ‘Wild’, the album. We did go round to her house, she lived in South London then, and she was very lovely. I couldn’t believe that she was a real person (laughs). She had lots of cats – this was before she had her little boy – but I never got the chance to see her live but all her videos and kind of live performances, and I kind of understand why she retired because she was on TV all the time on every single programme. It was TV saturation. She probably couldn’t go anywhere. I understand that totally because we kindof had our freedom robbed when we did the Abba thing. Kate has always given me goosebumps from when I was seventeen. Her music writing is just phenomenal. I have a bootleg of her, which is Cathy’s Home Demos, and it’s just her playing the piano, singing at home. And her voice is stronger than the produced versions on the records. (Andy Bell – Songs in the key of life. Today FM, 3 April 2018)
