Andy Pratt

During the 1970s Andy Pratt earned widespread critical praise, above all for his self-titled 1973 LP and, most notably, the 1976 album Resolution, which Rolling Stone magazine declared “has forever changed the face of rock.” Although he never achieved the broad commercial breakthrough many expected, Pratt was widely regarded as one of the era’s most distinctive singer-songwriters. Born to an affluent Boston family whose great-grandfather had founded the Pratt Institute, he completed his studies at Harvard in 1968 and soon became active in the Cambridge, Massachusetts music community through bands such as Butter and the Chosen Few. A 1972 demo of “Avenging Annie” preceded his Columbia debut, Andy Pratt, which appeared the following year and drew strong critical notice. After his father’s death Pratt enrolled at Boston’s Life Institute in 1975 in what appeared to be a search for deeper purpose; that same year Columbia dropped him, prompting a collaboration with producer Arif Mardin aimed at capturing the profound personal shifts then under way. The partnership yielded Resolution, issued on Nemperor in 1976. Despite glowing reviews and respectable chart placement the album did not become a major commercial hit. Pratt and Mardin’s next project, Shiver in the Night, adopted a noticeably more commercial direction and enjoyed moderate sales. In 1979 Pratt delivered Motives, his last Nemperor release, which marked his turn toward Christianity while preserving his singular style. He continued issuing recordings through the 1980s and 1990s. Having relocated to Holland in 1987 and married a Dutch woman the next year, Pratt has resided in Belgium since 1996. His output remains largely Christian-themed, and he has described the music as a catalyst for inner healing among those in distress. Renaissance Records brought out the noteworthy Live at the Village Underground 2003 in 2009. Several additional studio albums surfaced on ItsAboutMusic.com in the late 2000s, followed in 2010 by the full-length Andy Pratt Loves You on Forward Motion Records. Throughout the ensuing decade he maintained a steady pace, placing nearly one new album per year on Forward Motion. He moved to Continental Record Services for the 2015 album Do You Remember Me?, and the 2018 EP Horizon Disrupted appeared on Thrift Girl Records.