Andrew was a finalist in Britain's Got Talent in 2008 and is best remembered as the 'Singing Plumber' from Scotland - the one with the yellow shoes. However, his rendition of Rewind endeared him to millions of viewers (including Simon Cowell) and won him many fans.
When one of my friends who manages Andrew contacted me about producing his debut album, I was skeptical. Although you see some amazing people on Britain Got Talent, we weren't sure that it would align with our musical ideals at Songphonic.
Well, we were wrong.
We agreed to meet Andrew and one day he turned up at the studio - without the yellow shoes. From the very first note he sang, we knew that he was something special. That afternoon we went through probably 20 songs altogether with just the piano and he kept delivering - we were touched and deeply impressed.
So the following 3 months we recorded about 25 songs together. At Songphonic we are surrounded by very talented musicians, songwriters and producers and we were able to focus all this talent on Andrew's album. As we got to know him, a natural musical style emerged and we even wrote songs specially for him which we felt were in tune with his natural talent.
He just kept getting better and better.
During this time Andrew also started to co-write some of the songs which was very rewarding for us. The whole process was very organic, natural and we made sure that we used real live musicians in putting the tracks together - nothing manufactured here.
You can hear an executive sampler of his demo album by clicking the listen button above. Of the 25 songs we recorded, 13 were chosen - a mixture of covers and originals - which showcase Andrew's musicality well. He is like a cross between John Mayer and James Morrison with hints of Joe Cocker.
His demos have received a lot of interest and he is currently in discussions with major labels to take him to the next level. Meanwhile he continues his 'day job' as a plumber in Scotland.
Andrew's project also marks a new direction for us at Songphonic - we like developing, incubating and producing artists but would prefer to partner with a bigger label to do the final release. It is the creation of music we love first and foremost.
Andrew is managed by Nick Fleming & Peter Jamieson and his PR is handled by Max Clifford.
