Andrew Brough

New Zealand musician (1963–2020)

Andrew Mark Brough (pronounced /b//r//ʌ//f/; 7 May 1963 – 2 February 2020) was a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Dunedin, New Zealand. Best known for his work with the Straitjacket Fits, he later led the band Bike. In 1996 he was shortlisted for the APRA Silver Scroll and in 2008 he was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

Brough was born in Wellington in 1963, the eldest of four children of former missionary Gordon Brough and his wife Catherine. The family moved to Dargaville in the Northland Region when Andrew was about three, and later to Christchurch. Andrew's parents separated in the early 1970s, with Gordon moving south to Dunedin. Andrew joined him around 1974, with his siblings (two boys and a girl) staying in Christchurch, and would attend Logan Park High School.

'Save My Life' was followed up with the single 'Circus Kids' in 1997, and a debut record, Take in the Sun, later that year. Through the previous years of writing, rehearsing and touring, Brough had a clear template for the album before recording began. "The fact that most of the songs were demoed to death in the proceeding couple of years, meant that going into the studio, I had it fairly well worked out what it was going to sound like in the end, just through a lot of four track demoing." Take in the Sun made the New Zealand album charts, at number 47, in October 1997. The band toured New Zealand and overseas to support the release, while Brough was featured on the covers of magazines including Pavement and Real Groove. Increased media attention, including a large photo in a Sunday newspaper, led Brough to worry about being "recognised in the street". Bike's music was sometimes heard in the background of television soaps including Australia's Home and Away. This was believed to be main source of Brough's music related income. As long time broadcaster Jonathan Alley of RRR recounts, "After a Bike song was licensed for use on television, it created [for] Andrew a bit of windfall and with that money he brought a house."

The last Andrew Brough song to be released was a version of James K. Baxter's poem Andy Dandy. It was made especially for the 2000 album Baxter. Brough's was one of 12 contributions to the project, which was conceived and managed by musician Charlotte Yates. While he was happy to accept her invitation to be a part of recording the album 'Baxter', he chose not to appear at the accompanying concert. Music critic Graham Reid said that "Andrew Brough has taken one of Baxter's children's poems and turned it into an archetypical dreamscape of layered guitars."

Brough died in Dunedin on 2 February 2020. Public reports of his death were first made two days later, on 4 February. He was 56 years old.