Ursula (band)

Andrew Cash (born January 22, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and former politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for the Toronto-area riding of Davenport from 2011 to 2015. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Cash grew up in Toronto where he and Charlie Angus founded the Toronto punk band L'Étranger. In the late 1990s he wrote for the Toronto weekly ''Now''.

Music career

When L'Étranger broke up in 1986, Cash signed to Island Records as a solo artist. His first release on the label was a reissue of L'Étranger's last recording, ''Sticks and Stones''. He released three albums as a solo artist, including ''Boomtown'', which appeared on the RPM 100 Top Albums chart in 1989. He had a number of hits, including "Time and Place", "Boomtown", "What Am I Gonna Do with These Hands", "Smile Me Down" and "A Lot of Talk". In 1993, his album ''Hi'' was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario.

He then formed the band Ursula, who released the album ''Happy to Be Outraged'' in 1995. However, that band was not successful, and broke up after just the one album.

Around the same time as Ursula's demise, however, his brother Peter Cash also decided to leave his band, Skydiggers. Both available at the same time for the first time in their careers, Andrew and Peter decided to write and record together, and released their debut album as The Cash Brothers, ''Raceway'', in 1999.

Since 1999 Cash provided the soundtrack music for various television shows, mostly Canadian. He also wrote for the Toronto-based ''Now'' magazine. In 2000 he collaborated with Hawksley Workman and Jason Collett on ''Chrome Reflection'', an album credited to Bird. In 2007 Cash released his latest solo album ''Murder=''.

Political career

On October 5, 2009, Cash was nominated as the New Democratic Party candidate for the Toronto-area Davenport electoral district, in preparation for the 41st Canadian general election. At the time, the House of Commons was controlled by a minority government, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that could fall at any time; in this unpredictable election situation Cash was a candidate for over a year and half.

When the election was called, on March 26, 2011, his main campaign issue was that Davenport's incumbent MP, Mario Silva, was not a "full-time" MP. Cash campaigned with two main slogans, "Cash for Toronto" and "Trade your Silva for Cash", with a focus on "issues of precarious employment, especially with regards to freelancers and people who are working serial contracts." Near the end of April, both ''The Toronto Star'' and ''The Globe and Mail'' newspapers started to predict that Cash might win, ending 49 years of continuous Liberal representation for that electoral district. On May 2, he defeated Silva, becoming a caucus colleague of his former bandmate Charlie Angus, who is the MP for Timmins—James Bay since 2004.

Cash lost his seat in the general election held October 19, 2015, one of many New Democrats who were swept away when the Liberal party came from third place to form a majority government. In the 2019 federal election, he attempted to win his seat back, coming second to the incumbent, Julie Dzerowicz.

Discography

* ''Time and Place'' (1988) (#57 CAN)
* ''Boomtown'' (1989) (#57 CAN)
* ''Hi'' (1993)
* ''Happy to Be Outraged'' (1995, credited to Ursula)
* ''Chrome Reflection'' (2000, credited to Bird)
* ''Murder='' (2007)

Electoral record

References

External links

*

CanConRox entry

Andrew Cash Music
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cash, Andrew
1962 births
Living people
Canadian male singers
Canadian rock singers
Canadian singer-songwriters
Musicians from Toronto
New Democratic Party MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Politicians from Toronto
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian male singer-songwriters