Andy Davis

The rock & roll career of Andy Davis may be full of his own bandleading highlights, yet he has been heard by the widest audience in his almost equally busy role as a sideman. Davis, who is sometimes identified under the full name of Andrew Cresswell Davis, played acoustic guitar and sang backing vocals on John Lennon's Imagine album. Despite the grandeur of his full name, this artist should not be mistaken for the great British conductor and keyboard performer named Andrew Davis.

Stackridge, something of an eccentric country-rock band that Andy Davis founded in 1970, put him into the major-label orbit: the group made a half-dozen albums over a half a decade for MCA, Elton John's Rocket label, Warner Brothers, and Sire. The Beatles connection continued on the group's third album, entitled The Man in the Bowler Hat and produced by Sir George Martin. In 1979, Davis and former Stackridge mate James Warren became songwriting partners and started a new band, the Korgis.

Despite the success of this venture it hardly represents the end of Davis' collaborations. He has also written with Roger Cook from Nashville, the singer Yaz, Clive Deamer of Portishead, and many others. He had added touches of guitar, keyboard, and vocalizing to sides by Tears for Fears, Bill Nelson, Julian Cope, Spiritualized, Goldfrapp, and the unusual avant-garde composer and performer Moondog. Davis has also released a pair of albums under his own name. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi