Andy Bell (singer)

Andrew Ivan "Andy" Bell (born 25 April 1964) is the lead singer of the English synthpop duo Erasure. His solo career includes the albums Non-Stop, Electric Blue & "iPop".

Andrew Ivan Bell grew up in the Dogsthorpe area in Peterborough. His family still resides in the city and surrounding areas such as Market Deeping. Bell was educated at the King's School in the city.

In 1985, while selling women's shoes and performing in a band called the Void, he responded to a newspaper advert that was looking for a singer. Vince Clarke had been Bell's "hero"; Bell was successful in his audition and together they formed the group Erasure. The pair have sold over 25 million albums worldwide.

Bell has also donated time and made recordings for charities. These included Ferry Aid's cover of "Let It Be" (1987); a cover of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot", that was included in 1990s Red Hot + Blue album to raise funds for AIDS and HIV research; re-making Lene Lovich's "Rage" alongside her to be included in PETA's album (1991) in favour of a wildlife campaign; and performing twice on Big Spender's Red Hot and Dance events to support various AIDS projects (in both December 1994 and November 2004). Bell also performed on the True Colours Tour 2008.

Bell sang the role of Montresor in the opera The Fall of the House of Usher by Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, released in 1991 and reissued with a new recording in 1999.

Bell's first solo album was announced in July 2005. He signed a worldwide solo recording contract with Sanctuary Records, and announced details of his debut album, which was released on 3 October 2005 and entitled Electric Blue. The album featured fourteen tracks, including three duets, with Claudia Brücken of Propaganda and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters.

The first single, "Crazy", released on 26 September 2005, included club remixes from his Erasure partner Vince Clarke, plus Cicada, MHC and King Roc. Electric Blue was co-written and recorded throughout 2004 and 2005 with Manhattan Clique (Philip Larsen and Chris Smith) who have worked with Erasure, Moby, the B-52s, Stereophonics and Goldfrapp.

Bell released his second solo album, Non-Stop, on 7 June 2010. It was co-written and co-produced by Bell and Pascal Gabriel, who previously remixed "It Doesn't Have to Be" for Erasure. It also features a collaboration with Perry Farrell.

Using the pseudonym Mimó, Bell released two Pascal Gabriel-produced singles on Mute Records: "Running Out" (2009) and "Will You Be There?" (2010) prior to his second solo album. The name, used as a "tribute to good friend Tomeau Mimó”, was not used on any subsequent solo releases, as a legal block was issued against Bell by another artist already using the Mimó name. Both songs will appear on Non-Stop. Both of these singles have since been re-branded as Andy Bell.

In June 2011, he appeared on the second season of ITV series Popstar to Operastar and finished in fifth place.

In August 2016 he appeared on the Atlantis cruise line from Venice to Barcelona.

Bell is openly gay, and had a longtime partner in Paul M. Hickey. Bell told Melody Maker in 1986, "I don't want to go out of my way to talk about it but I'm not going to pretend I'm not [gay]. I won't portray a heterosexual in videos and we're consciously doing lyrics that could apply to either sex". He told Barry Walters of Seventeen, "I want to be known as a good performer but it's important to me to take a stance. If you're doing music, you should use it for something and have substance. Being gay and open about it is my substance".

On 17 December 2004, Bell publicly announced that he has been HIV-positive since 1998. In a 2007 interview, he remarked that there is a complacency among gay men about HIV:

There are definitely HIV-positive people who meet other HIV-positive men, and like still having unprotected sex. I think it must be quite hard for young gay men because there is so much for them now to do–there are so many saunas and stuff like that for them to go to, and it's so easy to get it."

Bell suffers from avascular necrosis, which is unrelated to the HIV infection. He has had both hips replaced, which keeps him from "pogoing around" in more recent performances.

His partner, Paul Hickey, died on 11 April 2012 at the age of 62.

Albums

• 2005: Electric Blue (SANCD382) No. 119 UK, No. 12 US Top Electronic Albums
• 2010: Non-Stop No. 134 UK, No. 12 UK Dance Album Chart
• 2014: iPop with Shelter (CD/Digital) No. 47 iTunes UK Pop Album Charts
• 2014: Torsten the Bareback Saint (CD Hardback Book)
• 2015: iPop Deluxe with Shelter (CD/Vinyl/Digital)
• 2015: Variance – The 'Torsten The Bareback Saint' Remixes (CD/Digital)
• 2016: Torsten The Beautiful Libertine (CD/Digital)
• 2016: Variance II – 'Torsten The Beautiful Libertine' Remixes (CD/Digital)

Singles

• 2005: "Crazy" No. 35 UK, No. 3 US Hot Dance Club Play
• 2006: "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" No. 96 UK
• 2009: "Running Out" (as Mimó)
• 2010: "Will You Be There?" (as Mimó) No. 27 US Hot Dance Club Play
• 2010: "Call on Me"
• 2010: "Non-Stop"
• 2013: "Breathing love" cd part 1 and cd part 2 with Isaac Junkie
• 2014: "Aftermath (Here We Go)" with Dave Aude: No.1 on the US Dance Club Songs chart
• 2014: "Beautiful" with Shelter
• 2014: "I Don't Like"
• 2014: "Friend" with Shelter
• 2014: "Fountain of Youth"
• 2015: "Weston-Super-Mare"
• 2016: "True Original" with Dave Aude
• 2016: "My Precious One"
• 2016: "Queercore" (Matt Pop Remix)
• 2016: "We Were Singing Along To Liza" (Shelter Remix)

Remixes

• 2008: Yazoo – "Nobody's Diary (Andy Bell & Jc Remix)"

• Chart Log UK – Weekly Updates Sales 2010
• Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 52. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
• "Hot Dance Club Songs". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.