Chris Andrews

Chris Andrews, geboren am 15. 10. 42 in London, startete seine legendäre Karriere bereits mit 15 Jahren. 1961/62 folgten die ersten Shows im Hamburger Starclub, gerade zu der Zeit, als sich die Beatles dort ihre ersten Sporen verdienten. Mit seiner Band Chris Ravell & The Rangers konnte er dann auch sein Schallplattendebüt feiern. Seine sehr erfolgreiche Laufbahn als Songweiter begann mit dem großen Adam Faith – Hit „The First Time“. Neben vielen weiteren Top – Hits für Adam schrieb er dann die großen Erfolge für ‚Sandie Shaw: U.a., „Long Live Love“, „Girl Don’t Come“, „Tomorrow“. 1965 schrieb er für Sandie Shaw einen neuen Titel, den sie aber strikt ablehnte. So ging Chris ins Studio und produzierte sich selbst auf eigene Kosten. Das Ergebnis ist hinlänglich bekannt: Ein Welthit der zur Hymne einer ganzen Generation wurde. „Yesterday Man“ Über 10 Millionen mal verkaufte er sich damals und bis heute dürften es über 100 Millionen sein, zählt man die unzähligen Kopplungen auf LP/MC und CD hinzu.
Nach dem äußerst erfolgreichen Debüt schrieb Chris sich sogleich den nächsten Hit „To Whom It Concerns“. Den nächsten Meilenstein seiner Singer – Songwriter – Karriere setzte Chris 1969/70 mit seiner “Pretty Belinda”. Es folgten weitere Renner mit „Carol Okay“, „Michigan River“, „Yoyo“, „Lazy Days“, „I Love Ya“, „Sugar Daddy“ oder „Do Yoy Wanna Love Me“.
Mit dem Beginn der Oldie – Revival – Welle Ende der 80er Jahre wurde Chris wieder Gast in unzähligen Fernsehshows und viel beschäftigter Künstler bei Großveranstaltungen und Galas.

Hits von Chris Andrews:
- YESTERDAY MAN 23 Wochen Charts – Nr. 1!!
- TO WHOM IT CONCERNS 20 Wochen Charts – Nr. 3
- PRETTY BELINDA 27 Wochen Charts – Nr. 5
- CAROL OK 14 Wochen Charts – Nr. 18
- STOP THAT GIRL 4 Wochen Charts – Nr. 31


Though he is virtually unknown in the United States, Chris Andrews had a fair amount of success in the UK in the mid-1960s as both a performer and a songwriter for other acts. He might be best known as the author of three British Top Ten hits for Sandie Shaw in 1965, "Girl Don't Come," "Long Live Love," and "Message Understood"; he wrote quite a bit of Shaw's other mid-'60s recordings as well. He also wrote Adam Faith's 1963 Top Ten hit "The First Time," and penned some pretty good Merseybeatish singles for Faith's backup group, the Roulettes, in 1963 and 1964.
Though he'd initially come to prominence in the industry as a songwriter, Andrews became a hit singer under his own name in late 1965 with "Yesterday Man," which made no.3 in Britain. That was followed at the end of the same year with the Top Twenty single "To Whom It Concerns," and 1966 saw him score three additional, smaller Top Fifty entries with "Something on My Mind," "What'cha Gonna Do Now," and "Stop That Girl."
As is the case with numerous other British mid-'60s pop acts that had significant overseas success without making a dent in the States — like Chris Farlowe, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich — American British Invasion fans eager to hear hit material that never got exposure in the US might be disappointed by the music. His big hits, and quite a few of his non-hit tracks, were relentlessly happy-go-lucky, lightweight pop tunes with hints of soul and bubblegum, as well as arrangements that fell, as ludicrous as it might seem, between ska and oom-pah marching music. Like Sandie Shaw, he employed Ken Woodman as musical arranger, yet many of his singles were similar-sounding to the point of monotony, much more so than the songs he wrote for others. His high voice was pleasant and shaded with a bit of blue-eyed soul, yet had little opportunity to explore much expressive range given the limited scope of his material. And that material couldn't be blamed on someone else, as it was written by Andrews himself.
Although Andrews didn't have a British hit after 1966, he was extremely popular in Continental Europe in the 1960s, particularly in Germany, and recorded often in foreign languages. The best representation of his 1960s English-language recordings is on Repertoire's 20 Greatest Hits CD.