Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ANDREWS, Chris

(b '38, Romford, Essex) UK singer-songwriter, producer. Served musical apprenticeship in pre-Beatle Hamburg; in Jack Good's Oh Boy! on UK TV late '50s; formed Chris Ravel and the Ravers for stage work. Regular at London's R&B Flamingo Club early '60s. Wrote Mersey-styled "The First Time' for Adam Faith (UK no. 5, '63); next year teamed with Faith discovery Sandie Shaw to produce and often write hits '64-6, incl. "Girl Don't Come', bouncy no. 1 "Long Live Love' (allegedly written in five minutes), "Message Understood'. Charted in his own name '65 with "Yesterday Man', a song Shaw rejected: made no. 3 UK, went gold in Germany; and "To Whom It May Concern', no. 13 hit. Shaw and Andrews got back together after her "Puppet On A String', '67 Eurovision win with writers/ producers Bill Martin and Phil Coulter; his own "Pretty Belinda' was good worldwide seller '69, though not a UK hit. They faded early '70s. "Puppet' Euro winner had a calypso-derived "oom-pah-pah' style cloned from Andrews' "Yesterday Man'; next year's Martin-Coulter Euro hit (Cliff Richard's "Congratulations') established it as Euro sound, a legacy Andrews didn't deserve. He worked in Europe; returned to UK '77 with Faith as manager, made Epic LP Who Is This Man without much success. Robert Wyatt covered "Yesterday Man' '77.