Andrew Edge (born David Andrew Edge) is a musician from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, England. He moved to London in the late 1970s, and joined the

Thompson Twins Thompson Twins were a British pop band formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kin ...

. After one year Edge left the group and joined

Uropa Lula Uropa Lula were a British pop group, consisting of David Lloyd (vocals and guitar), Allan Dias (bass guitar), Pete Fromm (keyboards), Andrew Edge (drums/percussion), Chester Kamen (guitar), and Carol Isaacs (keyboards). The group were manag ...

, who released three singles (on

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

) and supported Big Country on a tour of Britain. Edge then joined

Savage Progress Savage Progress was a pop group in the 1980s from England that had hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The band was founded by Rik Kenton (b. 31 October 1945, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) Glynnis (voc) Ned Morant (perc.) Carol ...

, who supported the Thompson Twins on a tour of Britain in 1984. Edge changed to vocals and writing songs after he moved from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, Austria. He started the group YOYO in 1990, bass/vocals Andreas Raffetseder, guitar/vocals Christoph Raffetseder, guitar Manfred Cellnigg, drums Hans Riener signing with EMI records, before working with Robert Ponger (producer of Falco). Edge later released a solo album in 1996; ''Northern Sky'', on BMG records (Austria). Edge released a CD in 2011 under the name

Drumsing Drumsing is a duo of musicians featuring Andrew Edge and Josef 'Judy' Klausner. The duo perform with percussion and vocals, and no other musical instruments. Drumsing was formed in Linz, Austria, in 2008. It took two years to write songs and rec ...

, with percussionist Judy Klausner.

Leeds

Edge took drum lessons from Leeds drummer Doug King, and also Geoff Myers, as Myers was a noted drum teacher in Leeds, and played with the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Edge later worked with musicians from the

Leeds College of Music Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

in the group GPO (with Dave Cass, who later worked with

Jive Bunny Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were a British novelty pop music act from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The face of the group was Jive Bunny, a cartoon rabbit who appeared in the videos, and also (as a human being in a costume) did pro ...

), as well as local Working Men's Club bands, like Street Choir.

The Thompson Twins

The Thompson Twins auditioned for drummers at The Point Studio, 9 Eccleston Street, Victoria, London. Edge played with them for eighteen months with Tom Bailey, Pete Dodd and Jon Roog.

Uropa Lula

Edge later played drums for

(later called Viva Lula), with David Lloyd (voc/gtr), Allan Dias (bass), Pete Fromm (kybd) Carol Isaacs (kybd), and Chester Kamen (gtr) who is the brother of pop singer

Nick Kamen Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and model. He was best known for "Turn It Up" from 1989, the singles " Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and " I Promised Myself" from 199 ...

. Uropa Lula toured with Big Country in June 1983. Arista Records released two singles by the group: ''Our Love Has Just Begun'' B/W ''I've Suddenly Remembered Something'' (ARIST476, 1982) as Uropa Lula. (Musicians: Lloyd, Fromm, Dias & Edge) ''Fell Upon A Jewel'' B/W ''She Appears to Vanish'' (ARIST498, 1983) as Uropa Lula. (Musicians: Lloyd, Dias, Edge, Isaacs and Kamen). Arista later dropped the group, and Edge joined Savage Progress.

Savage Progress

Savage Progress signed a contract with 10 Records (a subsidiary of

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

) and released their first single, "My Soul Unwraps Tonight". Their first album was ''Celebration''. Savage Progress joined the Thompson Twins on their "Into The Gap" tour of Britain (February, 1984) as support act. In October of the same year they went on a tour of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, to capitalize on the success of their single releases.

Session drummer

Edge also played as a session musician for bands like

The Chills The Chills are a New Zealand rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band is essentially the continuing project of singer/songwriter Martin Phillipps, who is the group's sole constant member. For a time in the 1990s, the act was billed ...

("Pink Frost")

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side pro ...

(" Lunatic and Fire Pistol") and Freur ("Doot Doot", which was initially produced at the Point Studio by Alex Burak). Edge also worked again with Dodd and Roog from the Thompson Twins in a band called Big View, recording a single called ''August Grass'', which was released on Point Records (owned by Merton, the Thompson Twins publisher) in 1982. Edge played a two-week tour of France with the Australian group

Died Pretty Died Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, is an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays Ron Peno (lead singer) and Brett Myers (lead guitarist and backing vocalist) in Sydney in 1983. The band was briefly called Final Solution. Thei ...

in 1986, as drummer Chris Welsh had broken his foot in London.

Linz

Edge moved to

in the late 1980s, and recorded a piece called ''Experiment 501 – Investigating the Magic of the Right Steps'', in 1989, with interactive artist Sam Auinger, which was presented as an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

piece for the Chemie Linz (Agrolinz Melamine International) and ÖMV (OMV Aktiengesellschaft) companies. Edge then sang for the Austrian band Camorra, with Peter Androsch (guitar) Robert Spour (keyboards) Sandy Sonntagbauer (bass) and Andreas Luger (drums).

YOYO

Edge later formed the band YOYO in Linz, signing with EMI records in Vienna. They played as the headlining act at the ''Linz Fest'' in 1991, and supported

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

at a concert in Linz.

Solo

Edge later worked with Robert Ponger, who was producer of Falco, and Austrian duo Paper Moon. Ponger arranged for Edge to support

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

at the Arena, Vienna. Edge's collaboration with Ponger lasted three years, but Edge only used two songs (from 12 demo songs) for his solo CD on BMG records (Austria) called, ''Northern Sky'' (1996).

Session singer and songwriting

Edge sang

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

for LaLa Brooks (formerly of

The Crystals The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", " ...

) on her BMG (Austria) CD ''LaLa Brooks & Friends'' in 1994. In 1997, Edge sang ''Silent Night'' (in German) with Rainhard Fendrich. Edge has worked with Mojique v2.0, Karli Möstl, Bob Zabek, Edge recorded a CD with Josef 'Judy' Klausner (percussion) featuring only voice and percussion.Walkner-Möstl CD
discogs.com - Retrieved 17 November 2016

References

External links

Andrew Edge at Blogspot.com
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CD listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edge, Andrew 1956 births Living people Musicians from Leeds People from Seacroft English rock drummers English session musicians English male singers English new wave musicians English songwriters English expatriates in Austria Thompson Twins members