Biography
Though virtually unrecognized stateside, Chris Andrews enjoyed solid mid-'60s success in Britain both as a recording artist and as a writer for fellow performers. He remains chiefly identified with the three British Top Ten smashes he supplied to Sandie Shaw during 1965—“Girl Don't Come,” “Long Live Love,” and “Message Understood”—yet he also composed numerous additional mid-decade tracks for the singer. Andrews likewise authored Adam Faith’s 1963 Top Ten entry “The First Time” and contributed several strong Merseybeat-flavored singles to Faith’s backing band the Roulettes across 1963 and 1964.
Having first gained industry attention through his songwriting, Andrews himself scored a late-1965 hit with “Yesterday Man,” which climbed to number three on the British charts. The year closed with the Top 20 follow-up “To Whom It Concerns,” and 1966 yielded three further, more modest Top 50 placements: “Something on My Mind,” “What’cha Gonna Do Now,” and “Stop That Girl.”
Much like certain other British pop acts of the period—Chris Farlowe, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich—who found substantial audiences abroad yet little traction inside the United States, Andrews may leave American devotees of the British Invasion underwhelmed. His major successes, together with many album tracks, consisted of unfailingly cheerful, lightweight pop confections that nodded toward soul and bubblegum while their arrangements hovered, improbably, between ska rhythms and oom-pah brass-band marches. Sharing Sandie Shaw’s choice of Ken Woodman as arranger, Andrews nonetheless produced singles that grew repetitious to a degree rarely found in the material he crafted for others. His clear tenor carried an agreeable trace of blue-eyed soul yet seldom stretched beyond the narrow emotional palette his own compositions permitted.
Although no further British hits followed after 1966, Andrews remained a major draw across much of Continental Europe throughout the decade, especially in Germany, and frequently cut sides in local languages. The most thorough overview of his English-language work from that era appears on Repertoire’s 20 Greatest Hits collection.
Having first gained industry attention through his songwriting, Andrews himself scored a late-1965 hit with “Yesterday Man,” which climbed to number three on the British charts. The year closed with the Top 20 follow-up “To Whom It Concerns,” and 1966 yielded three further, more modest Top 50 placements: “Something on My Mind,” “What’cha Gonna Do Now,” and “Stop That Girl.”
Much like certain other British pop acts of the period—Chris Farlowe, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich—who found substantial audiences abroad yet little traction inside the United States, Andrews may leave American devotees of the British Invasion underwhelmed. His major successes, together with many album tracks, consisted of unfailingly cheerful, lightweight pop confections that nodded toward soul and bubblegum while their arrangements hovered, improbably, between ska rhythms and oom-pah brass-band marches. Sharing Sandie Shaw’s choice of Ken Woodman as arranger, Andrews nonetheless produced singles that grew repetitious to a degree rarely found in the material he crafted for others. His clear tenor carried an agreeable trace of blue-eyed soul yet seldom stretched beyond the narrow emotional palette his own compositions permitted.
Although no further British hits followed after 1966, Andrews remained a major draw across much of Continental Europe throughout the decade, especially in Germany, and frequently cut sides in local languages. The most thorough overview of his English-language work from that era appears on Repertoire’s 20 Greatest Hits collection.
Albums