| Andy Sears | |
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Andy Sears |
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| Born | Andreas Konstantine Sears January 16, 1960 Shoreham-by-Sea, England |
Andy Sears (born Andreas Costa [Konstantine] Sears, 16 January 1960, Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex) is a British musician and vocalist/composer of the band Twelfth Night from November 1983 to December 1986, and again from June 2007 to the present day.[1]
Sears was born of Anglo-Greek parentage and grew up in a village that was renowned for rock musicians.
At the age of 11, Sears began studying classical piano at High Trees boarding school, and became a soprano at the local Sidlow Church, Horley, encouraged by the school’s head master, John Norsworthy. In 1973, he turned down an offer of a place at St Paul's Cathedral Choir School, deciding against an ecclesiastical education. He transferred to Sackville School in East Grinstead, where he formed his first band Silva in 1975 with best friend Richard Leeves on guitar, Robert "Shoey" Shoesmith on drums, and Dean Cooke on bass, later adding Keith Lewis on rhythm guitar. Mick 'Woody' Woodmansey, drummer with David Bowie band Spiders From Mars, would often go along to band rehearsals to offer advice and tutorials. At the same time, Sears filled the vocalist role in Tonbridge Public School band Isis, with Julian Dunkley on guitar, Graham Clayton on bass and Tim Bick on drums.
In 1979, Andy and Rick were invited to EMI's Manchester Square studios to record two tracks for the Metal for Muthas album, taking along ex-Grind drummer Alan Valance. Unfortunately, difficulty in finding an adequate bass player in time meant that the tracks, 2000 Lady and Alien Lover were never included. The album went on to launch the career of Iron Maiden. Sears, Leeves and Valance stayed on in London, joining forces with ex-Grind guitarist Bill Muir, and bringing Dean Cooke back in on bass. The band changed their name to 2000, and went into heavy rehearsals at Latimer Road studios, West London. Eventually, internal disputes were to break the band apart, and the members went their separate ways.
Sears moved back to East Grinstead, where he rejoined Dunkley and Clayton in Isis II, along with David Saunders on guitar and Richard Cavalier on drums.
During this period, Sears met and became good friends with ex-Monkees frontman David Jones. Jones was recovering from a hiatus in his career, and the two began living together to co-write material for Jones' subsequent recordings.
In 1982, Pioneer Records released a live album, Hello Davy, featuring two songs co-written by Sears, alongside other songs from Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Neil Sedaka. Sears never received any royalties, either from the album or from the live Japanese shows from which the songs were recorded. Following this, Jones and Sears met with Pete Townshend at Eel Pie Studios to record some more demos.
In mid-1982, Sears replaced Jackie Bodimead in the pomp-rock group Canis Major. The band had been formed in 1976 by Jackie and her brother Tony, influenced by class 70s bands such as Rush, Genesis, Yes, Saga, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Heart and Queen. Jackie left the band in mid-1982 to join She and then Girlschool.
The line up at this time was Tony Bodimead (guitar), Phil Day (keyboards), Nigel 'Nog' Day (bass), Carl Warner (drums) and Andy Sears (vocals). Andy gigged extensively with Canis Major during 1983, but left that summer to be replaced for the last few months of the band’s existence by Brighton-based vocalist Neil Barnett.
Sears joined Twelfth Night in December 1983, and left in December 1986.
After a few years out of the music business, Andy acted as a musical director for a 1991 tribute concert in Athens, featuring Neil Sedaka, The Platters, Bill Haley's Comets, and The Shirelles amongst others. Andy also completed his university degree around this time. In 1992 Andy met up with Clive Mitten and began writing material for a new album. However, in the end they both left the UK after finishing their respective degrees: Sears emigrating to Spain, and Mitten to Australia. Andy became actively involved in various projects in Spain. He recorded three new songs in 1999 ("End of My Blues", "Magdalena", and "Save My Soul") and made a 2004 appearance at the Tiana Festival in Barcelona, originally planned as a Twelfth Night reunion. In 2007, Andy appeared at the Tiana Festival again to pay homage to Xavi Petit, one of the organisers who had died that year. Andy sang "Love Song", accompanying himself on piano. Andy has also been working with Spanish band Galadriel on their new album.
Andy released Souvenir in 2011. It is a limited edition CD coinciding with Andy Sears & Pendragon's 2011 European tour.
Andy will release his next solo album The Dragon Inside in 2012.
With Twelfth Night: