Andi Fraggs (born Andrew Fraggs Bennett; 7 April 1986 in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England) is an English singer-songwriter and

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. After contributing to musical projects featured on television and radio in the UK and the US, Andi released his first solo single in 2010. His debut album, ''Always First'', followed in 2012 and included the popular single "Beautiful Feeling". Fraggs has performed at many notable venues and events around the UK, and supported such artists as

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

Hazel O'Connor Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''. Caree ...

David Hoyle David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

and Go West. In 2015, he took part in the national selections to represent

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

with "One Song". His second album, ''Pure'', was released in 2016.

Career

Andi Fraggs grew up in

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

and moved to London at the age of 20. He contributed vocals to Koolwah's 2007 single "Fashion" which was used in a promotion for

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and appeared on the accompanying compilation. It was also featured on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

TV show ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'', and has since been also featured in Channel 5's ''Fashionista Diaries'', ''

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''s TV advert and ITV's

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coverage. Around that time, Fraggs worked on an album which was eventually shelved due to creative differences. Andi's first solo single, the

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

"Addiction"/"November", was released in November 2010 on his own label Twenty20Sound and reached number 1 on the

Play.com Rakuten.co.uk is a website owned by Rakuten, that operated as an online marketplace until August 2016. The website replaced Play.com, which was originally established in Jersey as an online retailer of entertainment products. Rakuten had purch ...

pre-order dance chart. His next single, "The Way I Feel", was presented at the international Midem music festival in France and featured on the official companion compilation. In June 2011, Fraggs released "Reality", a charity single for the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

organisation

London Friend "London Friend is the UK’s oldest LGBT charity dedicated to the health and mental well-being of the LGBT community in and around London and the South East." History London Friend was originally a part of Friend which was a befriending offshoot ...

, followed by a fundraising show at

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

Madame Jojo's Madame Jojo's was a nightclub and venue for cabaret, burlesque, drag shows, and live music located on Brewer Street in the Soho area of the City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Ki ...

. He also performed at

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

festivals in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. In autumn that year, he supported

on her UK concert tour taking in major venues across the UK, such as Glasgow's Classic Grand and London's

O2 Academy Islington The O2 Academy Islington, formerly known as the Carling Academy Islington, is an indoor music venue situated in the N1 Shopping Centre accessible via Upper Street and Liverpool Road, in the London Borough of Islington. It is run by the Academy ...

, and opened for

at the

Royal Vauxhall Tavern The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is a Grade II listed gay entertainment venue in Vauxhall, London. It is also known as the RVT. It is South London's oldest surviving gay venue. History The RVT was built between 1860 and 1862 at Spring Gardens, Kennin ...

. He released a new single, "Beautiful Feeling",

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed by Massimo Paramour, which went on to become one of the tracks of the year on

Gaydar Radio GaydarRadio is a podcast on Mixcloud streaming service, which used to be a Digital radio in the United Kingdom, British digital radio station for homosexuality, gay men, lesbians and gay friendly people, on Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB multip ...

. Fraggs supported Toyah again during her spring 2012 dates, and self-released his debut album, ''Always First'', in April 2012. In summer that year, the video for the track "If It's Wrong" went viral on YouTube, accumulating over 80,000 views in just one day. The singer performed at several Pride events, including Norwich and Leicester. In October, he embarked on the Only Love Tour, supporting both Toyah and

. In early 2013, Fraggs began publishing a series of features and interviews for an online magazine ''Polari'', interviewing such well known cultural figures as

Christina Crawford Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939) is an American former author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, '' Mommie Dearest'', which described the alleged abuse she was subjected to by her adoptive mother, film star Joan C ...

and

Kate Pierson Catherine Elizabeth Pierson (born April 27, 1948) is an American singer, lyricist, and founding member of the B-52s. She plays guitar, bass and various keyboard instruments. In the early years, as well as being a vocalist, Pierson was the main ...

The B-52's The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, k ...

. In July, he performed to around 18,000 people in London's

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

and Soho as part of London Pride. In late 2013, he supported the band Go West. In February 2014, Andi Fraggs returned with a new single, "Visions", followed by the songs "Rain Comes Soon" and "Blue". They were to feature on a forthcoming album, also titled ''Visions'', which eventually wouldn't be released. In December 2014, Andi's track "One Song" was shortlisted in the national selections to represent

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

. He stated that the song, co-written with Massimo Paramour, was created with the theme of building bridges between nations and the 60th anniversary of Eurovision in mind. To promote the song, Fraggs appeared on major television and radio channels in Moldova and Romania. The song received strong public support, with more online poll votes than any other entry, but the jury stated that they were looking for a more traditional entry for Moldova, and "One Song" was eliminated. Throughout 2015, the singer released videos for the new songs "I'll Still Be There" and "Once More (With Feeling)", and by that time performed under the simply Fraggs. He released the new single "Only the Moment" in January 2016, and his second album, ''Pure'', was self-released in July 2016.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Tours

* 2011: From Sheep Farming to Anthem Tour (supporting

) * 2012: The Changeling Resurrection Tour (supporting Toyah Willcox) * 2012: Only Love Tour (supporting Toyah Willcox and

)

References

External links

Official Page
on YouTube
Andi Fraggs
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraggs, Andi 1986 births 21st-century English male singers 21st-century English singers English dance musicians English electronic musicians English gay musicians English male singer-songwriters English record producers English singer-songwriters English LGBTQ rights activists Living people Musicians from Merseyside