Andy Gee (born Andreas Gröber, 22 September 1950 in Berlin) is a German guitarist and musician, best known for his time with
Peter Bardens
Peter Bardens (19 June 1945 – 22 January 2002) was an English keyboardist and a founding member of the progressive rock group Camel. He played keyboards, sang, and wrote songs with Andrew Latimer. During his career, Bardens worked alongside ...
,
Steve Ellis and as a temporary member of
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...
.
Career
Gee began playing guitar in 1958, and was a member of a school band in the early 1960s. After passing through a number of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
groups, he moved to Ireland in 1967. He joined
Irish showband
The Irish showband () was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically had seven to ten members, including a rhythm section and a brass section with various combinations o ...
The Nights in 1968, and subsequently played and toured with British band Springfield Park.
He then teamed up with Pete Bardens, and played on his 1969 album, ''The Answer'', also featuring
Peter Green. Gee also featured on Bardens' follow-up album, ''Write My Name in the Dust''. In 1970, Gee joined Follow the Buffalo, and the following year he teamed up with
Steve Ellis and his new band Ellis. Ellis recorded two albums in the early 1970s, ''Riding on the Crest of a Slump'' and ''Why Not?'', before splitting up.
In 1974, after
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
had left Thin Lizzy,
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter for the hard rock band Thin Lizzy. He was known for his distinctive ...
was looking for two temporary guitarists to replace Moore for a tour of Germany. He chose Gee and ex-
Atomic Rooster
Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Their history is defined by two periods: the early-mid-1970s and the early 1980s. The band ...
member
John Cann John Cann may refer to:
* John Cann (politician) (1860–1940), New South Wales politician
* John Cann (athlete) (born 1938), Australian athlete
* John Du Cann
John William Cann (2 June 1946 – 21 September 2011), later known by his stag ...
. During the tour, Gee and Lynott reworked a then-unreleased track, "Suicide", from the single-guitar piece that the band had played with
Eric Bell
Eric Robin Bell (born 3 September 1947) is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founding member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy, of which he was a member from 1969 to 1973. After his time in Thin Li ...
, into a dual-guitar arrangement. The track later surfaced on the ''
Fighting'' album in 1975, with
Scott Gorham
William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after ...
playing Gee's parts.
After the tour had ended, Gee helped Thin Lizzy audition for new guitarists, but was not considered for a permanent role as he was still under contract to a different record company.
Gee subsequently moved to Canada, and played with Avenir and Fighter, and also worked as a session musician on soundtracks for commercials. Moving back to London in 1983, he formed his own groups, Exit, and later Scandal, the latter with
Reg Isidore
Reg Isidore (4 April 1949 – 22 March 2009) was a rock drummer best known for his work with Robin Trower. Isidore was Trower's first drummer and he played on the Robin Trower Band's first two albums '' Twice Removed from Yesterday'' (1973) and ' ...
.
After this he worked for an independent music publishing company until 1994, and then switched genres to
house music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
, releasing several solo albums and working with various notable musicians and DJs, including
Chris Westbrook,
Byron Burke and
Marshall Jefferson
Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house.
Biography
Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record produce ...
.
He is still an independent music publisher, and still records.
Discography
With Pete Bardens
*''The Answer'' (1969)
*''Write My Name in the Dust'' (1971)
With Follow the Buffalo
*''Follow the Buffalo'' (1970)
With Ellis
*''Riding on the Crest of a Slump'' (1972)
*''Why Not?'' (1973)
With Avenir
*''Avenir'' (1975)
Solo (incomplete)
*''Black Kettle's Revenge''
*''In the Face of Adversity''
*''Spirit Higher''
*''Take a Trip with Me''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gee, Andy
1950 births
Living people
Musicians from Berlin
German rock guitarists
German male guitarists
Thin Lizzy members
German session musicians