Andy Summers | |
|---|---|
 Summers performing in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Andrew James Summers (1942-12-31)31 December 1942 (age 82) Poulton-le-Fylde,Lancashire, England |
| Origin | Bournemouth,Hampshire, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Guitarist |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | andysummers |
Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock bandthe Police. Prior to joining the Police, Summers had been a member of several bands during the 1960s, includingZoot Money's Big Roll Band,Dantalian's Chariot,Soft Machine, andthe Animals. He spent the first half of the 1970s furthering his musical education, before returning to professional work in 1975, eventually joining the Police two years later. Summers has also recorded solo albums, collaborated with other musicians (including two albums withRobert Fripp during the 1980s), composed film scores, written fiction, and exhibited his photography in galleries. He was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003.[1]
Andrew James Summers was born inPoulton-le-Fylde,Lancashire, England, on 31 December 1942.[2][3]
During his childhood, his family moved toBournemouth, which was then inHampshire. After several years of piano lessons, he took up the guitar[4] at the age of 10.[5] Before being enraptured with the guitar, Summers described himself as an outdoorsy kid growing up in rural England.[6]
In his teens, he saw a concert byThelonious Monk andDizzy Gillespie in London that left a lasting impression.[7] By 16, he was playing in local clubs, and by 19, he had moved to London with his friendZoot Money to formZoot Money's Big Roll Band.[4] In his teens he played jazz guitar and was influenced byKenny Burrell,Jimmy Raney,Wes Montgomery,Charles Mingus, andMiles Davis.[5]
Summers' professional career began in the mid-1960s in London as guitarist for theBritish rhythm and blues band Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, which eventually came under the influence of thepsychedelic scene and evolved into theacid rock groupDantalian's Chariot.[8] In September 1966, Summers was the first guitarist encountered byJimi Hendrix after landing in the UK.[9] The young Summers is portrayed in fiction as one of the "two main love interests" in Jenny Fabian andJohnny Byrne's 1969 bookGroupie, in which he is given the pseudonym "Davey".[10]
After the demise of Dantalian's Chariot, Summers joinedSoft Machine for three months in the summer of 1968 and toured the United States.[11] For a brief time in 1968, he was a member ofthe Animals, then known asEric Burdon and the Animals, with whom he recorded one album,Love Is. The album features a recording ofTraffic's "Coloured Rain", which includes a 4 minute and 15 second guitar solo by Summers. The LP also included a reworked version of Dantalian's Chariot's sole single "Madman Running Through the Fields".
After five years in Los Angeles, mostly spent studyingclassical guitar and composition in the music programme atCalifornia State University, Northridge, from which he graduated in 1972, he returned to London with his American girlfriend, Kate Lunken.[12]
In London Summers recorded and toured with acts includingKevin Coyne,Jon Lord,Joan Armatrading,David Essex,Neil Sedaka andKevin Ayers. In October 1975 he participated in an orchestral rendition ofMike Oldfield'sTubular Bells.[citation needed]
In 1977 Summers was invited by ex-Gong bassistMike Howlett to join his bandStrontium 90, but was soon coaxed away by future Police bandmatesSting andStewart Copeland.[13] According to Copeland, Summers met him and Sting when the three worked together as session musicians. Later, when Summers by chance encountered Copeland on theLondon Underground the two went for coffee, and Summers told Copeland, "Stewart, you and that bass player (Sting), you've got something. But you need me in the band - and I accept."[14]
Summers achieved international fame as the guitarist for the Police, which he joined in 1977, eventually replacing original guitaristHenry Padovani. Emerging from London's punk scene, the Police gained international renown with many hit songs, including "Message in a Bottle", "Roxanne", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Every Breath You Take", and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". During his time with the band, Summers twice won aGrammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, first in 1981 for "Reggatta de Blanc" (written with Copeland and Sting) and in 1982 for "Behind My Camel".[15]
Although Sting was the lead singer of the band, Summers occasionally contributed lead vocals, as in "Be My Girl/Sally" (1978), "Friends" (1980), "Mother" (1983), and "Someone to Talk To" (1983). Other notable Summers compositions from this period are "Omegaman" (which would have been released as the debut single from the 1981Ghost in the Machine album had Sting not objected), "Shambelle" (1981), "Once Upon a Daydream," and "Murder by Numbers" both co-written with Sting (both 1983). In early 1984, after seven years together and record sales around 80 million, the Police disbanded.[16]
Summers wrote the guitar riff for "Every Breath You Take", though was not given a songwriting credit. It was recorded in one take with his 1961Fender Stratocaster during theSynchronicity sessions. The song was number one for eight weeks. Sting won the 1983 Grammy Award for Song of the Year, and the Police won Best Pop Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocal for this song. Summers provides an account of the session in his memoir,One Train Later.[17][13]
As a member of the Police, Summers created a trademark guitar sound, which relied heavily on a chorus effect. He explained in 2017 how the sound came about:
"I created it sort of out of necessity; my mission was 'We're going to play for two hours each night as a trio,' so I wanted to have this fantastic, coloured guitar sound that was different for every song. So, I used theEchoplex, then a chorus, and a few other pedals…envelope filters. As we went on, I acquired more stuff and got aPete Cornish board, but what was driving it was to invade and push the edge of what the guitar was supposed to sound like, and make it really interesting over a show. So, it wasn't just one straight sound all the time. I could move it around. And it was appreciated by many millions of people (laughs). Of course, it's very tired and a bit 'retro' now; I'm not very keen on it anymore. But in those days it was new, fresh, and exciting."[18]
Summers's solo career has included recording, touring, composing for films (includingDown and Out in Beverly Hills andWeekend at Bernie's), and exhibiting his photography in art galleries around the world.
He recorded the duet albumsI Advance Masked (1982) andBewitched (1984) with guitaristRobert Fripp of King Crimson, as well as duet albums with Victor Biglione,John Etheridge, andBenjamin Verdery. His solo debut album,XYZ, was released in 1987 and is the only noninstrumental album in his solo catalogue. Although it included pop material, such as the single "Love is the Strangest Way", it failed to dent the charts. In 1987, Sting invited Summers to perform on his second album...Nothing Like the Sun, a favour the singer returned by playing bass onCharming Snakes (1990) and later contributing vocals to "'Round Midnight" on Summers' tribute album toThelonious Monk,Green Chimneys, in 1999. In the mid-1990s Summers briefly returned to a more rock-oriented sound withSynesthesia (1995) andThe Last Dance of Mr X (1997) before recording a string of jazz albums. He also participated in the formation ofAnimal Logic. In 1992, he led the house band (credited as musical director) forThe Dennis Miller Show.[19][20]
During the2007 Grammy Awards show, the Police played "Roxanne" and subsequently announced that they would be going on tour.The Police Reunion Tour began inVancouver, Canada, on 28 May 2007 and continued until August 2008, becoming the third-highest-grossing tour of all time.[21]
In August 2013, Summers announced he had formed the band Circa Zero with Rob Giles fromthe Rescues.[22] Originally, drummer Emmanuelle Caplette was also a member of the band.[23] Their debut show was 25 July 2013 at theEl Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.[24] The band's debut album,Circus Hero, was released 25 March 2014.[25] It is titled after amalapropism of the band's name made by a radio disc jockey during an interview of Summers.[26][27]
In March 2017, Summers announced he had formed Call the Police, a Police tribute band, with two Brazilian musicians, Rodrigo Santos (Barão Vermelho) on bass guitar and vocals andJoao Barone (Os Paralamas do Sucesso) on drums.[28]
As of 2022, Summers resides inSanta Monica, California, with his wife and family.[41]
Summers’ primary guitar throughout the Police's peak years was a unique 1963 Fender Telecaster Custom with two significant modifications: an onboard preamp and a Gibson PAF in the neck position.
In the early days of the Police he started off with the Telecaster, Fender Twin Reverb and an MXR Phase 90. As the Police got more money, Andy had commissioned a custom-built effects pedalboard byPete Cornish, which was assembled in early 1979 and had mostly MXR effects with an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress and Musitronics Mu-Tron III envelope follower. In addition to the pedalboard he had a vintage 1960s Maestro Echoplex EP-2 for delay effects. He also recorded in the studio with aRoland Bolt amplifier.[citation needed]
With Circa Zero
With The Police
WithEric Burdon and the Animals
WithKevin Ayers
WithKevin Coyne
WithStrontium 90
WithZoot Money's Big Roll Band
Andy Summers was born Andrew James Summers on December 31, 1942, in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire
I was on this early morning radio station and the guy said, "Yeah, here he is with the new record from Circus Hero!" and I went, "Oh, god. It's Circa. Zero." But anyway I told Rob and he said, "Yeah, we should call the album that." Just to be a little bit weird. I thought about the early Police albums where we had all these weird titles that kind of got people's attention. Might as well have fun with it.
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