Andy M Wright (born 1962) is a London-based

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 ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, and arranger who has worked with international artists such as

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...

and

Mick Hucknall Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career ...

, Simple Minds, Jeff Beck, Eurythmics, Dave Stewart,

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski ( mk, Тодор "Тоше" Проески, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian multi-genre singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Macedonian and Balkan music scene, Proeski's music wa ...

Atomic Kitten Atomic Kitten is an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon, Jenny Frost and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart ...

Imelda May Imelda Mary Higham (born Imelda Mary Clabby, 10 July 1974), professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Known primarily as a singer, she also plays the bodhrán, guitar, bass guitar and tambou ...

, and

Andreas Vollenweider Andreas Vollenweider (born 4 October 1953) is a Swiss harpist. He is generally categorised as a new-age musician and uses a modified electroacoustic harp of his own design. He has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Carly Simon, Luciano Pavarotti and ...

. Since the mid 1980's, he has worked as a programmer, keyboard player, session musician, musical arranger, and notably, a producer on projects spanning multiple music genres.

Early career

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Wright played and performed in various bands and worked for a keyboard and equipment rental company in London, delivering and setting up instruments and studio gear for recording sessions. During this time he became proficient in the latest technologies then in use - and, already an accomplished keyboard player and musician, he was subsequently employed at

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

, London, over several years. Whilst at Trident he played and programmed keyboards on sessions for many of the major acts of the time, and generally began to learn the art of recording and production.

The 1990s

During the 1990s, Wright set up his first recording studio in London's Primrose Hill. As a musician/producer/programmer, he worked on

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

hit "America: What Time Is Love?" followed by a programming stint with

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

on their album ''

Protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

''. 1995 also saw the beginning of Wright's long working relationship with

on the album ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

''. his work helping to spawn a number one hit single "

Fairground Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...

". During this period, Wright also collaborated on pop records for

Shakespear's Sister Shakespears Sister is an alternative pop and rock musical duo based in the United Kingdom that was formed in 1988 by singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey, a former member of Bananarama. Shakespears Sister was initially a solo act, but became a duo ...

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at a ...

, Sinead O'Connor and

Alisha's Attic Alisha's Attic were an English pop duo of the 1990s and early 2000s. The two members were sisters Shelly McErlaine (born Poole) and Karen Poole, born in Barking and Chadwell Heath respectively. Their father is Brian Poole of 1960s group Brian ...

. He also has a co-production credit with Tom Jones on the album ''The Lead and How To Swing It'' with

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music fro ...

and U2 producer

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

. In 1999, Wright was involved in the production of the Eurythmics album ''

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

'' which included the hit singles " I Saved the World Today", " 17 Again" and the title track "Peace".

2000 onwards

In 2000, Wright began working with noted guitarist Jeff Beck. The resulting album, '' You Had It Coming'', produced the Grammy award-winning track "Dirty Mind" in the best rock instrumental performance category. Concurrently, Wright also produced the single " Reach" for

S Club 7 S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The gro ...

as well as " Bring It All Back". In 2001, Wright's production of

's "

Eternal Flame An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can ...

" reached number 1 in the UK charts. Wright followed this with production of

Gianna Nannini Gianna Nannini (; born 14 June 1954Who Is Who
''Bello e possibile'' ...

's album ''

Aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

'' in 2002. In 2003, Wright and Jeff Beck worked together again on the eponymously titled album ''

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

''. This produced the Grammy winning track, "Plan B", also in the best rock instrumental performance category. Wright's productions in 2003 also included "

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

", the first single to be released from the album '' Home'' by

, as well as working on " A Thousand Beautiful Things" for Annie Lennox, plus the song "Caruso" for the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti on the album "Ti Adoro". 2004 / 2005 involved extensive work for Simply Red including co-production of the album '' Simplified''. In 2006, Wright began his collaboration with Macedonian artist

on songs for the album '' The Hardest Thing''. Following Proeski's death in October 2007, ''The Hardest Thing'' was released posthumously in January 2009, going on to notable success throughout the Balkan region. He also worked with Soho Dolls, the Icelandic group,

Nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pe ...

, and further projects for Simply Red. In 2007, he contributed to ''

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

'', for Simply Red. In 2008, Wright worked on production of Mick Hucknall's first solo album post-Simply Red: '' Tribute to Bobby''.

Highlights from recent projects

The following are some of the notable projects that Wright has either produced or co-produced in the years since 2009.

Musical credits

An extensive list of Wright's work is catalogued on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Andy 1962 births English record producers English songwriters Simply Red members People from Arnold, Nottinghamshire Living people Missing middle or first names Date of birth missing (living people)