Andrew Powell
Encyclopedia
Andrew Powell - musical composer, arranger and performer - was born 18 April 1949 in London
, England
of Welsh parents.
and György Ligeti
at Darmstadt
in Germany before taking a masters degree in music Kings College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he joined an electronic music group, Intermodulation, with Roger Smalley
, Tim Souster
and Robin Thompson, and joined the local progressive rock group Henry Cow
, formed by Fred Frith
and Tim Hodgkinson
, in which he alternated between bass and drums.
at the Royal Albert Hall, London. He later worked with several orchestras, including at Covent Garden and with the London Symphony Orchestra
, London Philharmonic Orchestra
, BBC Welsh Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
where he worked with Pierre Boulez
. He had also begun working as a session player, as well as founding the group "Come to the Edge" with Robin Thompson and Morris Pert
, which performed regularly with the Japanese percussion virtuoso Stomu Yamashta
.
Andrew's career as an arranger began at this time and his first commission was the debut album for Cockney Rebel
; he also arranged their next two albums and worked with other artists including Leo Sayer
, John Miles
("Music"), Donovan
, Cliff Richard
("Miss You Nights
"), Al Stewart
("Modern Times", "The Year of the Cat", "Time Passages", "Russians and Americans" and "Between the Wars"), David Gilmour
, Chris Rea
, Mick Fleetwood
, The Hollies
, and others.
He worked on the first album by The Alan Parsons Project
("Tales of Mystery and Imagination
") as arranger, conductor and composer, and subsequently on all but one of their albums and with Alan Parsons
when the group broke up. He has performed live with both Parsons and Stewart. He also made an orchestral album from The Alan Parsons Project
's songs : "The Philharmonia Orchestra Plays The Best of The Alan Parsons Project" in 1983. He arranged orchestration for Ambrosia
's Parsons produced "Somewhere I've Never Traveled", his work being featured on "Cowboy Star" and Dance With Me George" in particular.
Powell produced
Kate Bush's
debut album The Kick Inside
(1978), which included the song "Wuthering Heights
"; he also produced, with help from Bush, her second album Lionheart (1978).
Other artists he has worked with include Chris De Burgh
, Nick Heyward
, Michael Crawford
, Elaine Paige
, The Hollies
and Kansas
.
He wrote the soundtrack
for the movies Ladyhawke
and Rocket Gibraltar
and has been involved in many other movie and TV projects as well.
He has conducted orchestras and ensembles all over the world, including the Philharmonia Orchestra
, the London Symphony Orchestra
, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony, the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra and the München Kammeroper - as well as the Black Dyke Mills Band and Grimethorpe Colliery Band
.
, Parc & Dare Band and Burry Port Town Band; and the perhaps less accessible album "Stockhausen: Michael's Farewell, etc" with John Wallace.
Of the latest compositions, 'Living Stones', received its world premier at St Davids Cathedral, Wales on 27 October 2007 and 'Glasiad y dydd dros Ben Dinas' at the City of London Festival on 19 March 2008.
He is artistic director of BluestoneArts, a social enterprise company that promotes music, words and visual arts in north Pembrokeshire, Wales.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
of Welsh parents.
Early life
He began taking piano lessons at the age of four and later attended Kings College School, Wimbledon by which time he was also learning the viola, violin and orchestral percussion. He was writing music by the age of eleven and went on to study composition with Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
and György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
at Darmstadt
Darmstadt New Music Summer School
Initiated in 1946 by Wolfgang Steinecke, the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt , held annually until 1970 and subsequently every two years, encompass both the teaching of composition and interpretation and include premières of new works...
in Germany before taking a masters degree in music Kings College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he joined an electronic music group, Intermodulation, with Roger Smalley
Roger Smalley
Roger Smalley AM is a British-Australian composer, pianist and conductor. Professor Smalley is currently a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in Perth and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney.-Biography:Smalley was born in Swinton, Lancashire,...
, Tim Souster
Tim Souster
Tim Souster was a British composer best known for his electronic music output.- Background :Born Timothy Andrew James Souster in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, Souster was educated at Bedford Modern School and New College, Oxford...
and Robin Thompson, and joined the local progressive rock group Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
, formed by Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
and Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds and keyboards. He is best known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968...
, in which he alternated between bass and drums.
Musical career
After leaving Cambridge he performed as a soloist at the PromsThe Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
at the Royal Albert Hall, London. He later worked with several orchestras, including at Covent Garden and with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, BBC Welsh Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
where he worked with Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
. He had also begun working as a session player, as well as founding the group "Come to the Edge" with Robin Thompson and Morris Pert
Morris Pert
Morris David Brough Pert was a Scottish composer, drummer/percussionist, and pianist who composed in the fields of both contemporary classical and jazz-rock music...
, which performed regularly with the Japanese percussion virtuoso Stomu Yamashta
Stomu Yamashta
Stomu Yamashta Stomu Yamashta Stomu Yamashta (born is a Japanese percussionist, keyboardist and composer. He is sometimes credited as Stomu Yamash'ta. His father was the band director Kiyoharu Yamashita (1907–1991)....
.
Andrew's career as an arranger began at this time and his first commission was the debut album for Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.-Career:...
; he also arranged their next two albums and worked with other artists including Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, John Miles
John Miles (musician)
John Miles is an English rock music vocalist, songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player, best known for his 1976 Top 3 UK hit single, "Music".-Career:...
("Music"), Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
("Miss You Nights
Miss You Nights
In 1994, Cliff Richard released a new version of the song as a double A side single as "All I Have To Do Is Dream/Miss You Nights"."All I Have to Do Is Dream" originally by The Everly Brothers was recorded as a live duet with Phil Everly, and "Miss You Nights" as a live solo version...
"), Al Stewart
Al Stewart
Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
("Modern Times", "The Year of the Cat", "Time Passages", "Russians and Americans" and "Between the Wars"), David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, Chris Rea
Chris Rea
Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
, Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
, The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
, and others.
He worked on the first album by The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
("Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the debut album by the progressive rock group The Alan Parsons Project, released in 1976. The album's avant-garde soundscapes kept it from being a blockbuster, but the interesting lyrical and musical themes — retellings of horror stories and poetry by...
") as arranger, conductor and composer, and subsequently on all but one of their albums and with Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
when the group broke up. He has performed live with both Parsons and Stewart. He also made an orchestral album from The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
's songs : "The Philharmonia Orchestra Plays The Best of The Alan Parsons Project" in 1983. He arranged orchestration for Ambrosia
Ambrosia (band)
Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in southern California in 1970. Ambrosia had five Top Forty hit singles between 1975 and 1980.-Formation and inspiration:...
's Parsons produced "Somewhere I've Never Traveled", his work being featured on "Cowboy Star" and Dance With Me George" in particular.
Powell produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Kate Bush's
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
debut album The Kick Inside
The Kick Inside
-Personnel:*Kate Bush: Piano, Composer, Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals*Ian Bairnson: Guitar, Vocals, Background Vocals, Bottle*Paddy Bush: Harmonica, Mandolin, Vocals*Barry DeSouza: drums*Stuart Elliott: Drums...
(1978), which included the song "Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (song)
"Wuthering Heights" is a song by Kate Bush released as her debut single in January 1978. It became a No.1 hit in the UK singles chart and remains her biggest-selling single. The song appears on her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. The B-side of the single was another song by Bush named "Kite" -...
"; he also produced, with help from Bush, her second album Lionheart (1978).
Other artists he has worked with include Chris De Burgh
Chris de Burgh
Chris de Burgh is a British/Irish singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red".-Early life:...
, Nick Heyward
Nick Heyward
Nick Heyward is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the frontman of the early 1980s band Haircut One Hundred, and also had a briefly successful solo career after he left the band in 1983.-Haircut One Hundred:Nick Heyward formed Haircut One Hundred after the...
, Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer. He has garnered great critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film, and stagework on both London's West End and on Broadway in New York City...
, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
and Kansas
Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
.
He wrote the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for the movies Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke is a 1985 fantasy film directed by Richard Donner, starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film marked the second 20th Century Fox film to be co-produced and co-released by Warner Bros.. The first was The Towering Inferno; this time Warner got the U.S...
and Rocket Gibraltar
Rocket Gibraltar
Rocket Gibraltar is an American film released in 1988, directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Burt Lancaster and Patricia Clarkson. In the movie, an aging patriarch reunites his entire family for his birthday, but personal and social problems abound.-Cast:...
and has been involved in many other movie and TV projects as well.
He has conducted orchestras and ensembles all over the world, including the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
, the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra , is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1895 as an amateur orchestra, under the name Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957, and became a professional orchestra in 1974 under the funding...
, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony, the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra and the München Kammeroper - as well as the Black Dyke Mills Band and Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band...
.
Recent work
More recent work has included arranging and conducting Wouter Van Belle's work 'Wow & Flutter' as well as writing for brass bands including the Grimethorpe Colliery BandGrimethorpe Colliery Band
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band...
, Parc & Dare Band and Burry Port Town Band; and the perhaps less accessible album "Stockhausen: Michael's Farewell, etc" with John Wallace.
Of the latest compositions, 'Living Stones', received its world premier at St Davids Cathedral, Wales on 27 October 2007 and 'Glasiad y dydd dros Ben Dinas' at the City of London Festival on 19 March 2008.
He is artistic director of BluestoneArts, a social enterprise company that promotes music, words and visual arts in north Pembrokeshire, Wales.
External links
- http://andrewpowell.com Official website
- http://www.colonnesonore.net/cmslab/index.asp?id=406&sezione=articoli&sottosezione=interviste&operazione=view Interview: Ladyhawke
- http://www.woutervanbelle.com/ Van Belle: Wow & Flutter
- http://www.colf.org/event-details.cfm?e=464 City of London Festival: Glasiad y dydd dros Ben Dinas
- http://www.cc-cw.org/andrew_powell_english.htm Composers of Wales - Andrew Powell