BIOGRAPHY
THE STORY SO FAR...
Andrew grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire and has always had a love of music which goes back to watching his father perform as a bass guitarist in a number of well known Midlands bands in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
After leaving College, Andrew initially worked as a disc-jockey at hotels including DeVere, Best Western, Britannia and The Queens Moat House providing entertainment for their corporate clients which included: Cooper and Lybrand and The News Corporations Sun Newspaper. In the early 1990s the karaoke craze swept the UK and as part of the 'Karaoke Crew' they provided karaoke nights to a number of entertainment venues including the Superbowls operated by 'Northern Leisure'.
Andrew grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire and has always had a love of music which goes back to watching his father perform as a bass guitarist in a number of well known Midlands bands in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
After leaving College, Andrew initially worked as a disc-jockey at hotels including DeVere, Best Western, Britannia and The Queens Moat House providing entertainment for their corporate clients which included: Cooper and Lybrand and The News Corporations Sun Newspaper. In the early 1990s the karaoke craze swept the UK and as part of the 'Karaoke Crew' they provided karaoke nights to a number of entertainment venues including the Superbowls operated by 'Northern Leisure'.
In 1993 with fellow musician Mark Walker of Eclipse Entertainment they formed a 'disco duo' called 'The Smartease', their name derived from the free and easy style. The duo were popular with audiences mainly due to their unique style of dressing up to impersonate the original artist of the songs they performed in a comedy style and singing the latest chart hits of the time. They soon began to perform at entertainment venues with capacity crowds including 'Turners Musical Merry-Go-Round' in Northampton. In 1994 the duo entered the Trevor George Entertainment Showcase at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay, Devon and as a result of their performance and subsequent review in 'The Stage' magazine they were contracted by the Bourne Leisure Group for a summer season at one of Europe's largest holiday parks Haven Devon Cliffs. This was a new experimental entertainment concept entitled 'Chaos' based on the Chris Evans TV show 'Don't Forget Your Toothbrush' with a mixture of music, stand up comedy, gameshows and party dances and the audiance were never quite sure what was about to happen next!.
During this time they supported and worked with a number of artists including; 1981 Eurovision Winners Bucks Fizz (The Fizz) and 1976 winners The Brotherhood on Man as well as supporting, The Nolans, The Drifters, Sheila Furguson (The Three Degrees), The Barron Knights and Candlewick Green.
During this time they supported and worked with a number of artists including; 1981 Eurovision Winners Bucks Fizz (The Fizz) and 1976 winners The Brotherhood on Man as well as supporting, The Nolans, The Drifters, Sheila Furguson (The Three Degrees), The Barron Knights and Candlewick Green.
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In the summer of 1995 through an associate Des Dyer from the band Jigsaw, Andrew began to promote a re-recording of their 1970s hit 'Sky-high' on behalf of Pitstop Promotions. Des Dyer and Steve Fearn performed a comedy duo Fingers n Thumbs on the same music circuit and when Des went to work on Mike Stock's (Stock, Aitken & Waterman) 'Love This Records' record label the re-working of the song was released by Newton and charted on subsequent occasions during 1995 charting on the UK's Official Singles Chart at No 78, 56 and 76.
After a couple of years performing as the Smartease and promoting records on behalf of record companies Andrew's next project was a male vocal trio, although they had no official name and the project was short lived they recorded a number of tracks including a further re-working of the Jigsaw hit 'Sky-high' and a cover of The Real Things 'You To Me Are Everything'.
Andrew continued to make one-off performances in local pubs and clubs and in the 2000s Andrew entered a Talent Competition onboard Norwegian Cruise Lines 'Norwegian Dawn'.
As music streaming services started to become the main media platform for consuming music Andrew concentrated his efforts on becoming a Playlist Curator, his playlists attracted large numbers of followers due to Andrew extensive knowledge of all music genres. Andrew established a social media music blog to promote his playlists and and it was one social media post in particular that grabbed the attention of record producer David Wilks of DWP records on the opposite side of the globe in Australia. Andrew wanted to create pop music and promote through his blog and David knew he had just the right track.
In April 2021 Andrew released the single 'When I'm With You'. An original song written by David Wilks of DWP Records and Odessa Mama Records, the label home of Tamahau and the Disco Pirates, the release was in a classic 'Stock, Aitken and Waterman' (PWL) 80's pop style. The influence of PWL, Kylie, Jason etc. was huge in Australia and swept out around the world during the 1980s. 'When I'm With You' was very popular with DJ's reaching the Top 20 of the Digital DJ Pool Download Chart. The track was later remixed by Sakis and given an official release in early 2022 which boosted the track View the Sakgra Remix Video.
The follow up single 'Everyone Wins' is also an original track written by David Wilks in more of a classic 80s funk jam style released July 2021.
Andrew signed to Crazy Dog Records in May 2022 and is collaborating with David 'Buzz' Buswell the co-writer of the Heritage Chart Number One 'Fallout' by 80s band Tight Fit. A new single written by Andy Hill, produced by David and remixes by Sakis Gravvanis is expected to be released in August 2022.
Andrew is also currently working on plans for PAs, festival and rehearsing a support tour set for 2022/23.
After a couple of years performing as the Smartease and promoting records on behalf of record companies Andrew's next project was a male vocal trio, although they had no official name and the project was short lived they recorded a number of tracks including a further re-working of the Jigsaw hit 'Sky-high' and a cover of The Real Things 'You To Me Are Everything'.
Andrew continued to make one-off performances in local pubs and clubs and in the 2000s Andrew entered a Talent Competition onboard Norwegian Cruise Lines 'Norwegian Dawn'.
As music streaming services started to become the main media platform for consuming music Andrew concentrated his efforts on becoming a Playlist Curator, his playlists attracted large numbers of followers due to Andrew extensive knowledge of all music genres. Andrew established a social media music blog to promote his playlists and and it was one social media post in particular that grabbed the attention of record producer David Wilks of DWP records on the opposite side of the globe in Australia. Andrew wanted to create pop music and promote through his blog and David knew he had just the right track.
In April 2021 Andrew released the single 'When I'm With You'. An original song written by David Wilks of DWP Records and Odessa Mama Records, the label home of Tamahau and the Disco Pirates, the release was in a classic 'Stock, Aitken and Waterman' (PWL) 80's pop style. The influence of PWL, Kylie, Jason etc. was huge in Australia and swept out around the world during the 1980s. 'When I'm With You' was very popular with DJ's reaching the Top 20 of the Digital DJ Pool Download Chart. The track was later remixed by Sakis and given an official release in early 2022 which boosted the track View the Sakgra Remix Video.
The follow up single 'Everyone Wins' is also an original track written by David Wilks in more of a classic 80s funk jam style released July 2021.
Andrew signed to Crazy Dog Records in May 2022 and is collaborating with David 'Buzz' Buswell the co-writer of the Heritage Chart Number One 'Fallout' by 80s band Tight Fit. A new single written by Andy Hill, produced by David and remixes by Sakis Gravvanis is expected to be released in August 2022.
Andrew is also currently working on plans for PAs, festival and rehearsing a support tour set for 2022/23.
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