Andy Partridge
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
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Andy Partridge
- Genres: Rock
Biography
The primary singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the beloved British art pop band XTC, Andy Partridge was born December 11, 1953, on the island of Malta and raised in Swindon, England. In 1976, he teamed with bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers to form Star Park, later re-christened the Helium Kidz; upon adding keyboardist Barry Andrews and signing to Virgin, the group adopted the name XTC, issuing its debut 3D EP in the fall of 1977. Despite the band's punk-era origins, Partridge's early songs also drew enormous influence from the British Invasion period, resulting in a taut, angular pop sound quite distinct from their contemporaries; XTC's debut album White Music even cracked the U.K. Top 40. Following Andrews' exit, the group recruited guitarist/keyboardist David Gregory before recording their first chart hit, "Life Begins at the Hop"; with the 1979 album Drums & Wires, Partridge's songs turned even closer toward traditional pop, and a year later he issued his debut solo LPs, Take Away and The Lure of Salvage.1980's Black Sea was the first XTC album to crack the American Top 50, while 1982's English Settlement yielded their first British Top Ten hit, "Senses Working Overtime." However, during a resulting tour of the States, Partridge suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by his debilitating stage fright, spending the next year in almost total isolation and announcing the band would never again appear live. When XTC resurfaced in 1984 with the stunning Mummer, Partridge's songs evoked a new pastoral beauty. Its follow-up, The Big Express, boasted even richer production, while in 1985 the group adopted the pseudonym the Dukes of Stratosphear to record 25 O'Clock, a tongue-in-cheek (albeit note-perfect) homage to psychedelia. XTC achieved their greatest commercial and creative success with 1986's Skylarking, a lush, majestic song cycle produced (much to the group's initial frustration) by Todd Rundgren; "Dear God," originally left off the album, became a left-field hit, and the album appeared on countless year-end lists.
Oranges & Lemons followed in 1989, generating the minor hit "The Mayor of Simpleton." The next year, Partridge -- who previously produced records for Peter Blegvad and the Woodentops -- helmed sessions for the Lilac Time and the Mission U.K. XTC's Nonsuch appeared in 1992, but would be the band's last new album for seven years; internal difficulties and label battles kept the group from releasing any new material prior to the 1999 release of the much-acclaimed Apple Venus, Pt. 1. In the interim, Partridge collaborated with celebrated ambient composer Harold Budd on 1994's Through the Hill. That same year, he teamed with fellow British pop eccentric Martin Newell for The Greatest Living Englishman. He also composed a number of songs for the 1996 Disney animated feature James and the Giant Peach, which the studio rejected in favor of music by Randy Newman. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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Andy Partridge
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| Andy Partridge | |
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 Partridge with XTC playing Toronto's Music Hall, February 1980 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Andrew John Partridge |
| Also known as | Sir John Johns, Mr. Partridge |
| Born | 11 November 1953 Mtarfa, Malta |
| Origin | Swindon, Wiltshire, England |
| Genres | New wave music, Pop |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter, Record producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, Vocals |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Labels | Virgin, Idea, APE House |
| Associated acts | XTC, The Dukes of Stratosphear, Monstrance |
| Website | http://www.ape.uk.net |
| Notable instruments | |
| Ibanez Artist Squier Telecaster Martin D-35 |
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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.
Partridge also serves as XTC's de facto art director. Except for the second album, Go 2, the band's album cover art has been based on his ideas. For example, the back cover of Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers took shape after Partridge requested "lots of rusty junk" and proceeded to create a mockup of the band members with it. XTC toured heavily throughout the late-1970s through to 1982. Partridge, suffering from the stresses of the road, and claiming severe stage fright, hit abrupt sobriety after his wife intervened and tossed out his prescribed Valium supply he had been physically dependent upon for over 13 years. This and other personal issues brought the band's tours to a standstill.
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Contents
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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 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 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, and Pugwash. In 2010, Partridge released a limited edition CD of music inspired by science fiction illustrator Richard M. Powers' art titled POWERS.[1]
Losses
Partridge also served initially 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. Other collaborations that failed to bear fruit included unused writing contributions for Sophie Ellis Bextor and a proposed writing partnership with Brian Wilson, which never progressed past a telephone enquiry from Wilson's personal assistant. 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)", 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 has enjoyed periodic popularity as a broadcaster, most notably in the mid-1980s, when he was a regular performer on BBC Radio 1. He has had parts in 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, a guitarist, singer and songwriter, and son Harry Partridge, who is an Internet animator, notable for winning a Newgrounds Tank Award for his movie 'Chuck's New Tux!' and also, popular movie Saturday Morning Watchmen.
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. He's also the executive producer of her forthcoming album Sunlit Night.
Influence
Partridge has been cited as an influence by a number of guitarists, most notably 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.[2]
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 [3] 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]
- ^ "John Frusciante interview in Total Guitar magazine" NME Accessed 2008-04-7
- ^ "Post-punk legends team up for new album" NME Accessed 13 March 2008
External links
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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
- XTC official site (needs Macromedia Flash)
- 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.
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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists
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Mentioned in
Place of General Happiness
(1993 Album by Various Artists)
Go Plus
(1978 Album by XTC)
Through the Hill
(1994 Album by Andy Partridge & Harold Budd)
Through the Hill [2005 Reissue]
(2005 Album by Andy Partridge & Harold Budd)
Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 1978-1980
(1990 Album by XTC)
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