Andrew John Richards (born 26 October 1952) is a British-Australian pianist,
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
,
music producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and
keyboardist
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
.
The artists he has played with include
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guit ...
,
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
,
Propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
,
Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
,
Rush,
Annie Lennox
Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...
,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
,
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
,
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vi ...
,
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...
,
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Clark's professional career began during the ...
,
Strawbs
Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock.
They are best known fo ...
,
OMD,
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...
,
Nik Kershaw
Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...
,
T'Pau,
Maddy Prior
Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...
and
Denny Laine
Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...
.
Richards has performed and programmed keyboards on 8 UK No. 1 singles, namely: "
Relax
Relax may refer to:
Aviation
* Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class
Music Albums
* ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003
* ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011
Songs
* "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...
" (1984) and "
Two Tribes
"Two Tribes" is an anti-war song by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records on 4 June 1984. The song was later included on the album '' Welcome to the Pleasuredome''. Presenting a nihilistic, gleeful lyric ...
" (1984) by
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guit ...
, "
Careless Whisper
"Careless Whisper" is a song written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Released on the 1984 Wham! album ''Make It Big'', the single release was credited either to ''Wham! featuring George Michael'' (in North America and several other count ...
" (1984) by
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
, "
The Lady in Red" (1986) by
Chris de Burgh, "
It's a Sin
"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, ''Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's se ...
" (1987), "
Always on My Mind" (1987) and "
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
" (1988) by
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
and "
Spaceman" (1996) by
Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo were an English rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton. Their song " Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late 1995. Released as the band's debut sin ...
.
The movies Richards has worked on include
''
Bridget Jones's Diary
''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding. A co-production of the United Kingdom, United States and France, it is based on Fielding's 1 ...
'' (2001), ''
Touching the Void'' (2003), ''
The Last King of Scotland
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden,
published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction and ...
'' (2006), ''
Slumdog Millionaire
''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...
'' (2009), which gained 2 Oscars for the music, and ''
127 Hours
''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston must find a ...
'' (2010).
On
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
's ''
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (2007)
and ''
Frankenweenie'' (2012), Richards played the
classical organ
Classical may refer to:
European antiquity
*Classical antiquity, a period of history from roughly the 7th or 8th century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. centered on the Mediterranean Sea
*Classical architecture, architecture derived from Greek and ...
in the chapel of his alma mater,
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...
.
Early life
Richards began studying piano at the age of 6. At 8, he went to
Yarlet School in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, England. He also took up the
organ and by age 13, whilst at
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...
(
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
), he dropped piano tuition to focus full-time on the classical organ. He studied with David Gatward in the school chapel which housed a cathedral-sized 4 manual Walker organ.
He left Rugby School at the age of 17 and moved to London where he played with various artists and bands, including the singer
Maggie Nicols
Maggie Nicols (or Nichols, as she originally spelled her name as a performer) (born 24 February 1948), is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer.
Early life and career
Nicols was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, as Ma ...
at her experimental voice and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
workshops at the
Oval House Theatre
Ovalhouse, formerly called Oval House Theatre, was an Off-West End theatre in the London Borough of Lambeth, located at 52–54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW. It closed in 2020, and moved to Brixton, becoming the Brixton House theatre (located ...
. At that time, Richards also took jazz piano lessons with jazz pianist
Howard Riley.
At 19, he returned to
the Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
and studied piano, organ and composition under Dr. Leon Forrester in
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...
. In 1975 he gained an
LRAM
Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) is a professional diploma, or licentiate, formerly open to both internal students of the Royal Academy of Music and to external candidates in voice, keyboard and orchestral instruments and guitar, a ...
in
Pianoforte
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
Teaching and 1976 an
ARCM
Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) is a diploma qualification of the Royal College of Music, equivalent to a university first degree. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or perf ...
in Pianoforte Performance, while at the same time working and playing in a number of semi-professional rock and jazz-rock bands in
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
. After completing his studies with Leon Forrester, Richards taught music at
South Cheshire College.
Career
Strawbs
In October 1977, Richards auditioned for the folk-rock band,
Strawbs
Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock.
They are best known fo ...
.
Pete Solley
Peter Solley (born 19 October 1948, London) is an English musician and record producer. He has recorded with Eric Clapton, Al Stewart and Whitesnake as well as producing records for Ted Nugent, Oingo Boingo, Motörhead, The Romantics, Jo Jo Zep ...
, the producer and keyboard player in the band Paladin spotted Richards playing in the band 'Rock Workshop' in Stoke-on-Trent and recommended him to
Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins (born David Joseph Hindson; 7 January 1945) is an English musician who has been the leader, singer and most-active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.
Career
Cousins is a founder member of the Strawbs, which started out as the S ...
at a time when Strawbs were looking for a full-time keyboardist. A week later, Dave Cousins and the band invited him to join the group.
He toured and recorded with Strawbs, his first gig being at the
Hammersmith Odeon
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...
in London, but the first album that he made with them in 1978 had its release stalled due to management and record company problems. ''
Heartbreak Hill'' was recorded at
Startling Studios in
Ascot,
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
's home. Heartbreak Hill was finally released in 1995.
In 1979,
Tom Allom
Thomas James Allom is an English record producer and sound engineer. His best-known work was in the 1970s and 1980s, working with artists such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Krokus, Loverboy, Def Leppard, Kix and Rough Cutt. Allom is a membe ...
, Heartbreak Hill's record producer, invited Richards to play for the very first time as a session musician on
Michael Chapman's album ''Life on the Ceiling'' at
Sawmills Studios
Sawmills Studios, founded in 1974 by record producer Tony Cox, is a recording studio near Golant on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall.
The studio building is located on its own tidal creek on the banks of the Fowey. Sawmills was one ...
in Cornwall.
Early sessions
In mid-1980, Strawbs split up and Richards became a musician for hire, working and recording with
Maddy Prior
Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...
(from
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...
) and
Denny Laine
Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...
(from
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
) touring both Europe and Scandinavia. He played on sessions for
Junior Campbell
Junior Campbell (born William Campbell Jnr, 31 May 1947) is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, piano player, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of t ...
(from
Marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamo ...
) at Startling Studios and 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 ...
at Pluto Studios with
Keith Hopwood
Keith Hopwood (born 26 October 1946) is an English pop and rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer, businessman and record producer, who served as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocals for the 1960s pop band, Herman's Hermits. Hopwood al ...
where he played keyboards and wrote a number of jingles.
Whilst 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 ...
, he was part of a band called Sneaky Pierre, featuring the cream of Manchester's session musicians which included some members of
Sad Café
Sad Café are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1976, who achieved their peak of popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for the UK top 40 singles "Every Day Hurts", "Strange Little Girl", " My Oh My" and "I ...
, and in 1983 was invited by Mike Stone of
Clay Records
Clay Records was an independent record label founded by Mike Stone in 1980 and based in a record shop in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
History
Clay's first signing was local Stoke punk band Discharge who released the ''Realities of War'' single in ...
to produce the synth-pop band White Door from
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
. It was recorded at Pluto Studios by Phil Bush and was mixed in
Sarm East Studios
Sarm Studios is an independent recording studio in London. Originally founded in east London in 1973, the studio's original location was renamed Sarm East Studios in 1982 when Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn purchased Basing Street Studios from I ...
by
Julian Mendelsohn
Julian Mendelsohn is an Australian record producer, audio engineer and mixer.
Early life
After completing school in Australia, Mendelsohn moved to the United Kingdom. He secured his first job in 1974 at Milner Sound Fulham Rd. Chelsea, run b ...
who was working with
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...
at the time.
Trevor Horn and Relax
In the fall of 1983, Richards was playing keyboards for the show ''Electric Ice'', which was being performed at the
Victoria Palace Theatre
The Victoria Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, opposite Victoria Station. The structure is categorised as a Grade II* listed building.
History Origins
The theatre began life as a small conc ...
by ice skater
Robin Cousins
Robin Cousins, MBE (born 17 August 1957) is a British former competitive figure skater who was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1980. He was the 1980 Olympic champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time World medalist (1978–19 ...
and his troupe of skaters, when he received 2 calls – one from the band
Yes and the other from record producer
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...
via a recommendation from
audio engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
and
mixer Julian Mendelsohn
Julian Mendelsohn is an Australian record producer, audio engineer and mixer.
Early life
After completing school in Australia, Mendelsohn moved to the United Kingdom. He secured his first job in 1974 at Milner Sound Fulham Rd. Chelsea, run b ...
. He auditioned for Yes but immediately began work as Horn's keyboard player in October 1983. The first track they recorded together being
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guit ...
's ''
Ferry 'Cross the Mersey'', written by
Gerry Marsden
Gerard Marsden MBE (24 September 1942 – 3 January 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the Merseybeat band Gerry and the Pacemakers. He was the younger brother of fellow b ...
, and the second was ''
Relax
Relax may refer to:
Aviation
* Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class
Music Albums
* ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003
* ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011
Songs
* "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...
''.
Horn had made 3 versions of "Relax" prior to Richards and guitarist
Stephen Lipson
Stephen J. Lipson (born 16 March 1954) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter. As a record producer, he has worked with many artists including Annie Lennox, Propaganda, Act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Will Youn ...
joining his
ZTT Production 'Theam' in late 1983. Horn left the studio late one night asking for Lipson to erase the multitrack (of version 3) due to lack of progress, but came back into the studio some time later to hear Richards playing a variety of modal chords based around the key of E minor with Lipson playing guitar along to the unerased multitrack. The final version of "Relax" was born and it won Best British Single at the 1985
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
and was at No. 1 in the UK charts for 5 weeks after being banned from
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
, initially by DJ
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
, for being "obscene".
In 1984, as a
keyboard player
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
Richards was at number one in the
UK singles chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
for a total of 19 weeks, performing on Frankie Goes To Hollywood's ''Relax'' and ''
Two Tribes
"Two Tribes" is an anti-war song by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records on 4 June 1984. The song was later included on the album '' Welcome to the Pleasuredome''. Presenting a nihilistic, gleeful lyric ...
'' and
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
's ''
Careless Whisper
"Careless Whisper" is a song written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Released on the 1984 Wham! album ''Make It Big'', the single release was credited either to ''Wham! featuring George Michael'' (in North America and several other count ...
''. This launched his career as both a
Fairlight programmer and a top UK
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
. During the following years, apart from playing the keyboards for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Richards played with bands and artists including
Propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
,
Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
,
Nik Kershaw
Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.
Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...
,
Rush,
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
,
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
,
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...
,
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Clark's professional career began during the ...
,
Seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
and
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vi ...
.
Music production
From the mid 1980s and through the 1990s, Richards continued with his session work but also branched out into
record production
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, producing bands and artists including
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
(with ''
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
'' being at No. 1 in the UK charts for 3 weeks),
T'Pau,
Fuzzbox
Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly ...
,
Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an English pop band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham who rose to fame during the 1980s. Formed in 1978 by brothers Paddy and Martin McAloon and joined by vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player Wendy Smith in 1982, they r ...
,
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...
,
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...
,
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Clark's professional career began during the ...
,
OMD and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
Out of Eden Studios and film score mixing
![Andy Richards, Mike Higham, Derek Frey and Ric Levy at Air Studios, 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Andy_Richards%2C_Mike_Higham%2C_Derek_Frey_and_Ric_Levy_at_Air_Studios%2C_2011.jpg)
In 2000, Richards setup one of London's first bespoke all-digital mixing/recording studios 'Out of Eden' – a partnership between himself and the directors of the late studio complex
Eden Studios
Eden Studios was a commercial recording studio, recording facility in west London. It opened in 1967, originally at 11 Eden Street in Kingston upon Thames (now under the Eden Walk shopping centre), before moving to 20-24 Beaumont Road in Chiswic ...
in
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...
, West London. It was a revolutionary audio concept which was the subject of a number of articles on the web, including The Polymath Perspective. It was here that Richards began the transition from being purely music-based into being involved in music for film and beyond.
In 2005, Richards began a partnership with acclaimed film music editor and producer Mike Higham (who had also worked with Trevor Horn) which has endured as Higham-Richards.
Movie scores
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
mixed in Out of Eden include ''
Bridget Jones's Diary
''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding. A co-production of the United Kingdom, United States and France, it is based on Fielding's 1 ...
'' (2001), ''
Dirty Pretty Things'' (2002), ''
Mona Lisa Smile
''Mona Lisa Smile'' is a 2003 American drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia R ...
'' (2003), ''
Touching the Void'' (2003), ''
Shaun of the Dead
''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed (Nick Frost). The fi ...
'' (2004) and ''
The Last King of Scotland
''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden,
published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction and ...
'' (2006).
Current projects
Richards continues to run his own digital studio, Out of Eden, in West London where he has mixed a number of movie scores, including the
surround
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...
scores for
Danny Boyle
Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including ''Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel ''T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', '' 28 Days Later'', '' Su ...
's ''
Slumdog Millionaire
''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...
'' (2009) (which gained 2
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
) and ''
127 Hours
''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston must find a ...
'' (2010), ''
State of Play'' (2009) and
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
's ''
Frankenweenie'' (2012) and ''
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (2007) (nominated for a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
).
He is currently working on his solo project entitled 'This Time... an imaginary soundtrack' that is due for release in 2019.
Discography
Source:
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Filmography
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
References
External links
Official website*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Andy
1952 births
Living people
English record producers
English rock keyboardists
English songwriters
Strawbs members
Associates of the Royal College of Music