Эндрю Партридж: от XTC до брит-попа и за его пределами.

English musician and XTC founder

Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for co founding the band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writing and singing about two thirds of the group's material. While XTC were a formative British new wave group, Partridge's songwriting drew heavily from 1960s pop and psychedelia, and his style gradually shifted to more traditional pop, often with pastoral themes. The band's only UK top 10 hit, "Senses Working Overtime", was written by Partridge. Partridge is sometimes regarded as the "godfather" of the 1990s Britpop movement. Since the 1980s, he has worked, written with, or produced for many other recording artists, including collaborative albums with Peter Blegvad, Harold Budd and Robyn Hitchcock. From 2002 to 2006, Partridge's APE House record label released several volumes of his demos and songs as part of the Fuzzy Warbles series. Beyond music, he is also an illustrator, toy soldier hobbyist, and designer of board games.

Andrew John Partridge was born 11 November 1953 at Mtarfa Royal Navy Hospital in Mtarfa, Malta to English parents. An only child, his father John was a navy signalman, and his mother Vera a shop assistant in a retail chemists. When Partridge entered adolescence, it was discovered that his father was having an extramarital affair, and his mother consequently had a nervous breakdown, leading to her being institutionalised. She "verbally disowned" Andy once he started growing his hair long. As a teenager, Partridge was a fan of contemporary pop groups like the Beatles, but was intimidated by the process of learning guitar. When the Monkees grew popular, he became interested in joining a music group. He recalled watching local guitarist Dave Gregory performing Jimi Hendrix style songs at churches and youth clubs: "Sort of acid skiffle. I thought, 'Ah, one day I'll play guitar!' But I didn't think I would be in the same band as this kid on the stage." The first records he ever bought were the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and the Monkees' self titled debut (1966). By the early 1970s, his music tastes had accordingly transitioned "from the Monkees to having a big binge on this Euro avant garde stuff. I got really in deep." One of his first bands was called "Stiff Beach", formed in August 1970. In early 1972, Partridge's constantly evolving group settled into a four piece called "Star Park". By then, he had found a job at a record shop His early XTC songs were marked by his distinct singing style, something he jokingly described as a "walrus" or "seal bark", but otherwise an amalgamation of Buddy Holly's "hiccup", Elvis Presley's vibrato, and "the howled mannerisms of Steve Harley." While XTC were a formative punk group, Partridge's music drew heavily from British Invasion songwriters, and his style gradually shifted to more traditional pop, often with pastoral themes. He cited Partridge's 1981 song "Respectable Street" as one of the "most evocative items" in his catalog. For many years, he also regarded "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" (1984) as his finest song. In 1982, as XTC were about to headline a series of US performances in support of the album English Settlement, they permanently withdrew from concert touring and remained a studio only band from then on. For a period afterward, it was rumoured among fans and industry insiders that the group stopped performing because Partridge had died, and some American bands put on XTC tribute shows in his remembrance. The group ran into more problems once it was discovered that poor management led to them incurring hundreds of thousands in unpaid value added taxes. Partridge said that he was eventually left with "about £300 in the bank, which is really heavy when you've got a family and everyone thinks you're 'Mr Rich and Famous'." In December 1984, Partridge formed the Dukes of Stratosphear, an XTC offshoot he envisioned as a simulacrum of "your favourite bands from 1967". They recorded only two albums: 25 O'Clock (1985) and Psonic Psunspot (1987), both of which outsold XTC's newest albums in the UK: The Big Express (1984) and Skylarking (1986). In the 1990s, Partridge was regarded as "godfather" to the nascent Britpop movement due to his earlier work with XTC. Since XTC's breakup, Partridge has acted as curator to the band's legacy, overseeing reissues and remasters, and maintaining a web presence. The official XTC Twitter account @xtcfans (now defunct) was originally managed by writer Todd Bernhardt. According to Partridge, after some time, "I sort of took it over, because I thought it was weird that there was another person in the way."

Since the 1980s, Partridge has worked, written with, or produced many other musicians and bands, including Peter Blegvad, the Lilac Time, the Nines, Miles Kane, David Yazbek, Voice of the Beehive, the Woodentops, the Wallflowers, Perennial Divide, the Raiders, and Charlotte Hatherley.

In 1980, Partridge and producer John Leckie released a collection of XTC dub remixes on Virgin Records called Take Away / The Lure of Salvage, credited to "Mr. Partridge". Even though no other XTC member was involved with the album's production, he does not consider it a solo effort. Virgin Records rejected his request to issue it under the XTC banner as it would have counted toward their record contract. In Japan, the record was hailed as a work of "electronic genius" and outsold all other XTC albums. Also in 1980, Partridge contributed guitar to Ryuichi Sakamoto's album B 2 Unit and lead vocals and guitar to the track "Margaret Freeman" from The Residents' Commercial Album, on which he was credited as "Sandy Sandwich". Partridge's first job producing another artist was Peter Blegvad's 1983 album The Naked Shakespeare. Three of the tracks he produced were later released on the 2012 box set Blur 21. In 1993, Partridge recorded and produced an album with Martin Newell, The Greatest Living Englishman. When released in Japan, it was credited as a duo album. The album was well received by critics and ultimately became the most acclaimed of Newell's career. Partridge also wrote four songs for Disney's version of James and the Giant Peach (1996), but was replaced by Randy Newman due to creative differences between director Henry Selick and Disney regarding the choice of soundtrack composer and the fact that Disney wanted to own the copyright to the songs for perpetuity. Partridge took on less work as a music producer after the 1990s. He stated in a 2007 interview: "I got asked regularly to produce people, but I said no to everybody; after a while, people just stopped asking. I got sick of the social worker aspect of it. I found it had very little to do with music I also think it's kind of odd that everyone wants to sound like 1979 again."

From 2002 to 2006, Partridge released demos of his songs under his own name as part of the Fuzzy Warbles album series on his APE House record label. Eight volumes of Fuzzy Warbles were made available, as well as The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album, which includes a bonus ninth disc Hinges. Partridge said that the impetus for the project was the proliferation of bootleggers who were selling low quality copies of the material. He added that the Fuzzy Warbles set earned him more money than XTC's back catalog on Virgin. In 2007, Partridge released music as part of a trio known as Monstrance, along with Barry Andrews (an early member of XTC) on keyboards, and Martyn Barker on drums. The group has released an album of the same name, as well as a download only EP known as Fine Wires Humming a New Song. That same year, he collaborated once again with Andrews on the Shriekback album Glory Bumps.

In 2010, Partridge released a limited edition CD of music inspired by science fiction illustrator Richard M. Powers' art titled Powers. In 2012, he contributed eight co written songs to Mike Keneally's album Wing Beat Fantastic. In 2016, he wrote "You Bring the Summer" for the Monkees' reunion album Good Times! ; the 2018 follow up, Christmas Party, included his "Unwrap You at Christmas". He became involved with the reunion project through the band's manager, a former journalist who sought to repay Partridge for an interview conducted decades earlier. In 2019, Partridge and Robyn Hitchcock completed the 13 years in the making EP Planet England. In September, it was reported that the project would later be followed with a full length LP of songs inspired by the Beatles. As of 2020, Partridge was working on recording versions of "hundreds of songs" that he originally wrote for other artists over the years. He said he would release them as "a series of records tentatively titled My Failed Songwriting Career". On July 23, 2021, Partridge released Volume 1 of 'My Failed Songwriting Career' through Burning Shed Records. Tracks included on the EP were 'Ghost Train', 'Great Day', 'Maid Of Stars' and 'The Mating Dance'. In October 2022, he released 'My Failed Christmas Career', a collection of seasonal songs written for other artists. That same month, Partridge gave a rare interview in which he stated he has retired from writing new music.

Many of the XTC record sleeves were designed by Partridge Until the late 1970s, he owned a large American comic book collection that he had to sell off due to a mouse infestation at his home. Beyond music, Partridge is an avid collector, sculptor, and painter of toy soldiers, an "obsession" he credits to his mother throwing away his toys as a child. During the mid 1980s, Partridge was a regular performer on BBC Radio 1. He has had acting roles, including a character named "Agony Andy", a spoof aunt on the Janice Long show, and he was a regular panelist on Roundtable. In 1987, he filmed a pilot for an ITV children's quiz show, Matchmakers. After his divorce, Partridge entered into a long term relationship with American singer Erica Wexler. Some songs written by Partridge, including "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" (1984) and "Another Satellite" (1986), have been attributed by Partridge to aspects of their ongoing relationship. Partridge met Wexler in the early 1980s; they began dating shortly after she split from artist Roy Lichtenstein in 1994, and she has lived with him in Swindon since then. The subject matter of Partridge's songs frequently touch upon politics, religion, his hometown of Swindon, social class, factory work, insects, comic book characters, seafaring, war, and ancient rituals. Partridge did not become interested in politics until the 1979 United Kingdom general election, in which he voted for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party "purely because she was a woman. I was that naive. Now I'm very left." He also identifies as an atheist. XTC's 1986 song "Dear God", written by Partridge, was seen as controversial at the time for its anti religious message; Partridge stated that the song failed to represent his true feelings on religion, as human belief is "such a vast subject". Although an atheist, he believes that heaven and hell exist metaphorically. Explaining the lyric "do what you want to do / just don't hurt nobody" from his 1989 song "Garden of Earthly Delights", he said: "I'm sure what heaven is, really is not hurting anyone."