Andrew Edge

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Andrew Edge
A photo of Andrew Edge that was taken in Vienna, Austria, in 1996.
Background information
Birth name	David Andrew Edge
Born	8 December
Origin	Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Genre(s)	Pop, dance, synthpop
Instrument(s)	Percussion, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active	Until Present
Label(s)	Arista Records Ten Records/Virgin Records EMI BMG
Associated acts	Thompson Twins, Savage Progress, YoYo, Rainhard Fendrich
Website	www.andrewedge.com andrew-edge.blogspot.com

Andrew Edge is a musician from Leeds, England. Edge moved to London in the late 1970s, and joined the Thompson Twins. After one year Edge left the group and joined Viva Lula, which released three singles (on Arista Records). Edge then joined Savage Progress, which supported the Thompson Twins on a tour of Britain in 1984, and in the same year embarked on a month-long tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, to support their album and single releases there.

Although a percussionist, Edge changed to vocals and writing songs after he moved from London to Linz, Austria. He has been involved in pop music, dance, synth pop and ballads. He still lives in Austria.

[edit] Leeds

Edge started playing drums at the age of 15; his first musical job was at the East Leeds Working Mens' Club (now Seacroft Green Social Club) at weekends for £19 a week.^[1][2] Edge took drum lessons from drummer Doug King, and also Geoff Myers, as Myers was a noted drum teacher in Leeds, and played with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra.^[3] Edge later worked with musicians from the Leeds College of Music in the group GPO (with Dave Cass, who later worked with Jive Bunny) as well as local Working Men's Club bands, like Street Choir.^[4] This involved playing as much as 7-8 performances a week, as well as having a full-time job.^[5]

[edit] London

Photo of Viva Lula in New York, February 1983. Lloyd, Edge, Dias, Kamen, Isaacs.

Edge moved to London in the late 1970s and played with a variety of groups. As the Thompson Twins drummer, "Pod" Podgorski, had decided to stay in Chesterfield, they auditoned for drummers at The Point Studio in Victoria, London. Edge stayed with the Thompson Twins for a year when the band was still a quartet, with Tom Bailey (bass/voc) Pete Dodd (gtr/voc) and Jon Roog (gtr).^[6][7]

Edge later played drums for Viva Lula (Arista records) with David Lloyd (voc/gtr), Allan Dias (bass), Carol Isaacs (kybds), and Chester Kamen (gtr). Kamen is the brother of pop singer Nick Kamen.^[8][9] Viva Lula toured with Big Country in Great Britain in 1982, and played a head-lining tour of east coast America for 6 weeks in early 1983. Edge started using the name Andrew Edge, because the singer of Viva Lula, Lloyd, thought it would be too confusing to have two members of the same group called David.^[10] Arista dropped the group after three singles, so Edge joined Savage Progress.^[11]

Savage Progress' "Heart Begin to Beat" single cover (1984). From top: Kenton, Morant, Isaacs, and Edge.

After signing a publishing contract with Rupert Merton's Point Music (the same publishing company as the Thompson Twins) the band signed a contract with '10 Records' (a subsidiary of Virgin Records) and released their first single, "My Soul Unwraps Tonight".^[12][13] The first album—Celebration—was partly-produced by Paul "Wix" Wickens, who later played/plays keyboards for Paul McCartney. Savage Progress joined the Thompson Twins on the "Into The Gap" tour of Britain (February, 1984) as support act, and in October of the same year they went on a tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, to capitilize on the success of their single releases.^{[14][15][16][17]} Edge also played as a session musician for bands like The Chills ("Pink Frost") Julian Cope ("Lunatic and Fire Pistol") and Freur ("Doot Doot", which was first produced at the Point Studio by Alex Burak).^[18][19][20]

[edit] Linz

The YOYO album cover. Cellnig, Raffetseder, Edge, Riener, Raffetseder.

Edge moved to Linz, Austria, in the late 1980s, and recorded a piece called Experiment 501 – investigating the magic of the right steps, in 1989, with inter-active artist Sam Auinger, which was presented as an a cappella piece for the Chemie Linz (Agrolinz Melamine International) and ÖMV (OMV Aktiengesellschaft) companies.^[21] Edge then sang for the Austrian band Camorra, with Peter Androsch (gtr) Robert Spour (kybds) Sandy Sonntagbauer (bass) and Andreas Luger (drums). Androsch went on to become a well-known opera and classical composer in Austria, and Spour would compose for the annual Linz Klangwolke (Sound Clouds) festival.^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

Edge later formed the band YOYO in Linz, and signed a record contract with EMI records in Vienna.^[27] In 1991, the band released an album, a cassette album, and a CD, which was the last time a band's music was released on all three formats in Austria. They played as the headlining act at the Linz Fest in 1991.^[28] They were played often on the radio in Austria with their cover version of the Joe South song, "Games People Play".^[29]

The Northern Sky CD cover.

Edge later worked with Robert Ponger, who was producer of Falco, and Austrian duo Paper Moon.^[30][31] Edge's collaboration with Ponger lasted three years, but Edge later only used two songs from 12 demo songs for his solo CD for BMG records, (Austria) called, Northern Sky (1996).^{[32][33][34][35]} Edge played drums on the CD, but credited himself as David Edge/percussive engineering.^[35]

Edge sang backing vocals for LaLa Brooks (formerly of The Crystals) on her BMG (Austria) CD "LaLa Brooks & Friends" in 1994.^[36] In 1997, Edge sang Silent Night (in German) with Rainhard Fendrich, which has been released every Christmas since then.^[37][38]

Edge has worked with Mojique v2.0,^[39] Karli Möstl,^[40] Bob Zabek,^[41][42] The Royal Drive Affair,^[43] and is now working on a solo CD with Judy Klausner (percussion).^[44][45][46] Edge taught English to students at the BFI,^[47] (evening classes for wishing to attain the Matura, which is the Austrian status for A levels) but now teaches at the MCE company, which is part of the Voestalpine steel company.^[48]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• My Soul Unwraps Tonight video
• CD by Edge
• CD listing