Although frequently overlooked in Roxy Music, Andy Mackay supplied saxophone and oboe while helping shape several of the band’s compositions, among them the major success “Love Is the Drug.” His input tended to recede behind the commanding profiles of vocalist Bryan Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera. Born July 23, 1946, in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, England, Mackay swapped a treasured childhood telescope for an alto saxophone and entered the college outfit Nova Express. At Reading University he crossed paths with Brian Eno and the pair briefly contemplated forming a group, yet Mackay soon departed for Rome, Italy, to teach English, interrupting their plans. On his return he found Ferry in search of a keyboard player; Mackay offered to define the sound through oboe and saxophone, Ferry consented, and the core of Roxy Music began to assemble. A random encounter with Eno on a bus eventually brought the latter into the fold. Mackay continued teaching by day while performing with Roxy Music at night. In 1974 he also completed the instrumental solo album In Search of Eddie Riff and married his girlfriend Jane. During the mid-’70s he wrote and produced the score for Rock Follies, the British television series depicting a fictional female rock band, resulting in two LPs; the first entered the U.K. charts at number one. Mackay sustained his work with Roxy Music while issuing further projects, including the 1978 solo album Resolving Contradictions and the 1981 book Electronic Music: The Instruments, the Music & the Musicians. After Roxy Music disbanded in 1983, Mackay moved to Ireland with his family. The following year he joined Manzanera and singer James Wraith in the Explorers, a venture that never approached Roxy Music’s commercial or critical standing and dissolved by 1986. Mackay subsequently resumed recording as a solo artist.
