Andrew John Connell (born 26 July 1961) is an English musician and composer. Along with
Corinne Drewery, he is part of the duo that makes up
Swing Out Sister.
Born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, England, Connell played in the Manchester
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...
band The Immediates, before joining
new wave funk pioneers,
A Certain Ratio
A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...
. He was also a member of the Manchester-based jazz/pop band
Kalima who were signed to
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...
, whilst he was also a member of A Certain Ratio. A few years later he teamed up with former
Magazine drummer
Martin Jackson and
Greg Wilson, and they released an inventive electronic album called ''UK Electro'' in 1984.
Swing Out Sister began in earnest in 1985, when Connell and Jackson teamed up with
Corinne Drewery. Since the band's establishment, he has been the main composer and arranger for Swing Out Sister's music, including the UK and US top ten hit, "
Breakout".
Apart from his work with Swing Out Sister, Connell has produced and arranged music for other artists, and recently he wrote the
musical score for a short film called ''The Knickerman'', directed by
Sonja Phillips. He also contributed to
Quando Quango's album, ''Pigs & Battleships''.
Most recently, Connell and Drewery have been promoting their latest album, ''
Almost Persuaded Almost Persuaded may refer to:
* "Almost Persuaded," a gospel song written by Philip Paul Bliss
* "Almost Persuaded" (song), a 1966 song by David Houston
* ''Almost Persuaded'' (album), a 2017 album by Swing Out Sister
{{disambiguation ...
''.
An avid Manchester City fan, Connell is an occasional contributor to ''The Man City Show Podcast'' alongside Nigel Rothband and Rob Behrens.
References
External links
Andy Connell's Internet radio station on LIVE365.com*
Official Swing Out Sister website
1961 births
Living people
Swing Out Sister members
English keyboardists
English pianists
English composers
Musicians from Manchester
Sophisti-pop musicians
21st-century pianists
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