Andrew Edge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andrew Edge
A photo of Andrew Edge that was taken in Vienna, Austria, in 1996.
A photo of Andrew Edge that was taken in Vienna, Austria, in 1996.
Background information
Birth name David Andrew Edge
Born 8 December
Origin Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Genre(s) Pop, dance, synthpop
Instrument(s) Percussion, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active Until Present
Label(s) Arista Records
Ten Records/Virgin Records
EMI
BMG
Associated acts Thompson Twins, Savage Progress, YoYo, Rainhard Fendrich
Website www.andrewedge.com andrew-edge.blogspot.com

Andrew Edge is a musician from Leeds, England. Edge moved to London in the late 1970s, and joined the Thompson Twins. After one year Edge left the group and joined Viva Lula, which released three singles (on Arista Records). Edge then joined Savage Progress, which supported the Thompson Twins on a tour of Britain in 1984, and in the same year embarked on a month-long tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, to support their album and single releases there.

Although a percussionist, Edge changed to vocals and writing songs after he moved from London to Linz, Austria. He has been involved in pop music, dance, synth pop and ballads. He still lives in Austria.

Contents

[edit] Leeds

Edge started playing drums at the age of 15; his first musical job was at the East Leeds Working Mens' Club (now Seacroft Green Social Club) at weekends for £19 a week.[1][2] Edge took drum lessons from drummer Doug King, and also Geoff Myers, as Myers was a noted drum teacher in Leeds, and played with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra.[3] Edge later worked with musicians from the Leeds College of Music in the group GPO (with Dave Cass, who later worked with Jive Bunny) as well as local Working Men's Club bands, like Street Choir.[4] This involved playing as much as 7-8 performances a week, as well as having a full-time job.[5]

[edit] London

Photo of Viva Lula in New York, February 1983. Lloyd, Edge, Dias, Kamen, Isaacs.
Photo of Viva Lula in New York, February 1983. Lloyd, Edge, Dias, Kamen, Isaacs.

Edge moved to London in the late 1970s and played with a variety of groups. As the Thompson Twins drummer, "Pod" Podgorski, had decided to stay in Chesterfield, they auditoned for drummers at The Point Studio in Victoria, London. Edge stayed with the Thompson Twins for a year when the band was still a quartet, with Tom Bailey (bass/voc) Pete Dodd (gtr/voc) and Jon Roog (gtr).[6][7]

Edge later played drums for Viva Lula (Arista records) with David Lloyd (voc/gtr), Allan Dias (bass), Carol Isaacs (kybds), and Chester Kamen (gtr). Kamen is the brother of pop singer Nick Kamen.[8][9] Viva Lula toured with Big Country in Great Britain in 1982, and played a head-lining tour of east coast America for 6 weeks in early 1983. Edge started using the name Andrew Edge, because the singer of Viva Lula, Lloyd, thought it would be too confusing to have two members of the same group called David.[10] Arista dropped the group after three singles, so Edge joined Savage Progress.[11]

Savage Progress' "Heart Begin to Beat" single cover (1984). From top: Kenton, Morant, Isaacs, and Edge.
Savage Progress' "Heart Begin to Beat" single cover (1984). From top: Kenton, Morant, Isaacs, and Edge.

After signing a publishing contract with Rupert Merton's Point Music (the same publishing company as the Thompson Twins) the band signed a contract with '10 Records' (a subsidiary of Virgin Records) and released their first single, "My Soul Unwraps Tonight".[12][13] The first album—Celebration—was partly-produced by Paul "Wix" Wickens, who later played/plays keyboards for Paul McCartney. Savage Progress joined the Thompson Twins on the "Into The Gap" tour of Britain (February, 1984) as support act, and in October of the same year they went on a tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, to capitilize on the success of their single releases.[14][15][16][17] Edge also played as a session musician for bands like The Chills ("Pink Frost") Julian Cope ("Lunatic and Fire Pistol") and Freur ("Doot Doot", which was first produced at the Point Studio by Alex Burak).[18][19][20]

[edit] Linz

The YOYO album cover. Cellnig, Raffetseder, Edge, Riener, Raffetseder.
The YOYO album cover. Cellnig, Raffetseder, Edge, Riener, Raffetseder.

Edge moved to Linz, Austria, in the late 1980s, and recorded a piece called Experiment 501 – investigating the magic of the right steps, in 1989, with inter-active artist Sam Auinger, which was presented as an a cappella piece for the Chemie Linz (Agrolinz Melamine International) and ÖMV (OMV Aktiengesellschaft) companies.[21] Edge then sang for the Austrian band Camorra, with Peter Androsch (gtr) Robert Spour (kybds) Sandy Sonntagbauer (bass) and Andreas Luger (drums). Androsch went on to become a well-known opera and classical composer in Austria, and Spour would compose for the annual Linz Klangwolke (Sound Clouds) festival.[22][23][24][25][26]

Edge later formed the band YOYO in Linz, and signed a record contract with EMI records in Vienna.[27] In 1991, the band released an album, a cassette album, and a CD, which was the last time a band's music was released on all three formats in Austria. They played as the headlining act at the Linz Fest in 1991.[28] They were played often on the radio in Austria with their cover version of the Joe South song, "Games People Play".[29]

The Northern Sky CD cover.
The Northern Sky CD cover.

Edge later worked with Robert Ponger, who was producer of Falco, and Austrian duo Paper Moon.[30][31] Edge's collaboration with Ponger lasted three years, but Edge later only used two songs from 12 demo songs for his solo CD for BMG records, (Austria) called, Northern Sky (1996).[32][33][34][35] Edge played drums on the CD, but credited himself as David Edge/percussive engineering.[35]

Edge sang backing vocals for LaLa Brooks (formerly of The Crystals) on her BMG (Austria) CD "LaLa Brooks & Friends" in 1994.[36] In 1997, Edge sang Silent Night (in German) with Rainhard Fendrich, which has been released every Christmas since then.[37][38]

Edge has worked with Mojique v2.0,[39] Karli Möstl,[40] Bob Zabek,[41][42] The Royal Drive Affair,[43] and is now working on a solo CD with Judy Klausner (percussion).[44][45][46] Edge taught English to students at the BFI,[47] (evening classes for wishing to attain the Matura, which is the Austrian status for A levels) but now teaches at the MCE company, which is part of the Voestalpine steel company.[48]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Seacroft Green Social Club. Leeds on line. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  2. ^ Seacroft Green Social Club (map position). Google. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  3. ^ Gallant, David. Gary Husband - Drums. Jazzwise. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  4. ^ Welcome to my website. Dave Cass. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  5. ^ Andrew Edge. Blogspot. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  6. ^ Diary of Notable Musical Events. info net calendar. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  7. ^ Andrew Edge Homepage. Andrew Edge. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  8. ^ Sheehan, Tom. PIL people. Fodderstompf. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  9. ^ New Items. MEM Records. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  10. ^ Dad Sings the Blues cover. Vinyltap. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  11. ^ Savage Progress - Celebration. Discogs (1984). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  12. ^ Rupert Merton. Rupert Merton. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  13. ^ Ten Records Ltd. (10 Records). Discogs. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
  14. ^ 1984 Tour Dates. Geocities (1984). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  15. ^ My Soul Unwraps Tonight. Germancharts (1984). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  16. ^ Savage Progress. Austrian charts (1984-09-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  17. ^ Swiss Charts: Savage Progress. Swisscharts (1984-07-15). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  18. ^ Pink Frost. Amplifier. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  19. ^ Alex, Burak. Alex Burak. Alex Burak. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  20. ^ Alex Burak. Alchemea. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  21. ^ Edge Andrew, Auinger Sam (1989). Experiment 501 – investigating the magic of the right steps. Sam Auinger. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  22. ^ Androsch, Peter. Music scores of Peter Androsch. di-arezzo. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  23. ^ Peter Androsch. IMDb. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  24. ^ Peter Androsch. Discogs. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  25. ^ Seiser, Franz (2000-09-02). Act Opera. Franz Seiser Experience. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  26. ^ Biographie Peter Valentin (German). Klangwolke. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  27. ^ EMI: Company Details. SRA (1990). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  28. ^ Künstlerinnen und Künstler Linzfest 1991 (in German). Linz Kultur (1991). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  29. ^ Yoyo. SRA (1990). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  30. ^ Ponger as Producer. Austriancharts. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  31. ^ Paper Moon Homepage. Paper Moon. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  32. ^ Andrew Edge northern sky. Musik Sammler. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  33. ^ Andrew Edge / northern sky. AZ. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  34. ^ Lichtenburger, Bernhard (1996-10-15). Der bewegte Sänger (article in German). OÖN. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  35. ^ a b Northern Sky, by Andrew Edge, CD Liner notes (1996, BMG Records, Austria, 4321-37102-2)
  36. ^ Lala Brooks & Friends. Music Stack. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  37. ^ RainHard Fendrich in the Austrian Charts. Austriancharts (1997-01-12). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  38. ^ Damit die Stille Nacht nicht stumm bleibt. OÖ Nachrichten (1997-12-22). Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  39. ^ Mojique v2.0 on ORF m4.orf.at- Retrieved: 3 August 2007
  40. ^ Karli's Home page karlmoestl.com - Retrieved: 2 August 2007
  41. ^ Zabek's myspace page profile.myspace.com - Retrieved 18 October 2007
  42. ^ Bob Zabek: an interview profile.myspace.com - Retrieved 18 October 2007
  43. ^ The Royal Drive Affair. RocketTheme. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
  44. ^ Workshop Performances. Judy Klausner. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
  45. ^ Karli Möstl CD discogs.com - Retrieved: 30 July 2007
  46. ^ Walkner-Möstl CD discogs.com - Retrieved: 30 July 2007
  47. ^ BFI Close to You (German). BFI. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  48. ^ Education & Training (German). MCE. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.

[edit] External links