Andrew John Connell (born 26 July 1961) is an English musician and composer. Along with

Corinne Drewery Corinne Drewery (born 21 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and fashion designer, best known for being the lead vocalist of the band Swing Out Sister. Early life Drewery was born and grew up in Nottingham. She later moved to the Li ...

, he is part of the duo that makes up

Swing Out Sister Swing Out Sister are a British pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song " Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", " Twilight World", " Waiting Game", and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?" Histor ...

. Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, Connell played in the Manchester

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band The Immediates, before joining new wave

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

pioneers,

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

. He was also a member of the Manchester-based jazz/pop band Kalima who were signed to

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...

, whilst he was also a member of A Certain Ratio. A few years later he teamed up with former

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

drummer

Martin Jackson Martin Jackson (born 30 August 1955 in Manchester, England) is a British drummer who has played with several bands from Manchester, although his most successful roles were with Magazine in 1978 with the release of the influential ''Real Life'' ...

and Greg Wilson, and they released an inventive electronic album called ''UK Electro'' in 1984. Swing Out Sister began in earnest in 1985, when Connell and Jackson teamed up with

. Since the band's establishment, he has been the main composer and arranger for Swing Out Sister's music, including the UK and US top ten hit, " Breakout". Apart from his work with Swing Out Sister, Connell has produced and arranged music for other artists, and recently he wrote the musical score for a short film called ''The Knickerman'', directed by

Sonja Phillips Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

. He also contributed to

Quando Quango Quando Quango were a British electronic music group, formed by The Haçienda DJ and Factory Records A&R man Mike Pickering, Hillegonda Rietveld and Reinier Rietveld. Their unique sound influenced the underground dance music scenes in New Yor ...

's album, ''Pigs & Battleships''. Most recently, Connell and Drewery have been promoting their latest album, '' Almost Persuaded''. An avid Manchester City fan, Connell is an occasional contributor to ''The Man City Show Podcast'' alongside Nigel Rothband and Rob Behrens.

References

External links

Andy Connell's Internet radio station on LIVE365.com
*
Official Swing Out Sister website
1961 births Living people Swing Out Sister members English keyboardists English pianists English composers Musicians from Manchester Sophisti-pop musicians 21st-century pianists {{UK-pianist-stub