Andy Fairweather Low

Andy Fairweather Low supplied guitar and vocal support for Eric Clapton's Unplugged album, purchased by seven million listeners, and for the accompanying MTV Unplugged broadcast witnessed by enormous television audiences. Nevertheless, most of those fans remained unaware that Fairweather Low had earlier enjoyed teen idol fame and compiled an extensive body of recordings both with bands and under his own name.

Born in Cardiff, Wales, he founded Amen Corner in the mid-1960s and served as its lead singer. The group placed six singles on the U.K. charts between 1967 and 1969, the largest being the number-one hit "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice." That achievement placed Fairweather Low's attractive features on bedroom walls of teenage girls across Britain.

Amen Corner disbanded at the close of the 1960s and its members formed the more progressive Fair Weather, which reached the charts with "Natural Sinner" in 1970 before splitting in 1971. Fairweather Low then withdrew from music for several years, resurfacing in 1974 as a solo artist and releasing albums through 1980; during this period the singles "Reggae Tune" and "Wide Eyed and Legless" both reached the U.K. Top Ten.

He gradually concentrated on sideman work for prominent British musicians, notably Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd leader, and appeared with the ARMS benefit group in 1987. In 1991 Fairweather Low joined George Harrison and Eric Clapton on a Japanese tour and thereafter remained a member of Clapton's regular backing band. He also began performing with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and, in 2006, toured again with Waters on the Dark Side of the Moon Tour.