Andy Partridge

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.

Andrew John Partridge was born 11 November 1953 at Mtarfa Royal Navy Hospital in Mtarfa, Malta to English parents.

He grew up on Penhill council estate in Swindon, Wiltshire.

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."

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.

He was particularly fond of psychedelic records such as Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play" (1967), Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" (1967), and the Moles' "We Are the Moles" (1968).

The first records he ever bought were the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and the Monkees' self-titled debut (1966).

Partridge eventually obtained a guitar, taught himself how to play it with no formal training, and immediately took to writing songs.

He submitted a caricature of Monkee Micky Dolenz to Monkees Monthly's Draw a Monkee competition and won, using the £10 prize to buy a Grundig tape recorder.

At the age of 15, he wrote his first song, titled "Please Help Me", and while in Swindon College attracted the nickname "Rocky" for his early guitar mastery of the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon".

Partridge eventually dropped out of school and formed the first of several "loud and horrid" rock bands with the purpose of meeting girls.

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 and was engrossed with bands such as the Stooges, the New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, and Pink Fairies.

In late 1972, Partridge's Star Park was joined by bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers.

The band became known as XTC in 1975 and signed to Virgin Records in 1977.

Partridge wrote the majority of XTC's songs, was the band's frontman and de facto leader, and in Moulding's view, typically acted as an "executive producer" for their albums.

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."

He later dismissed most of his initial output as premature songs "built around this electric wordplay stuff".

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.

Music critic John Harris said that Partridge exemplified "a very English genre: rock music uprooted from the glamour and dazzle of the city, and recast as the soundtrack to life in suburbs, small towns, and the kind of places – like Swindon – that may be more sizeable, but are still held up as bywords for broken hopes and limited horizons."

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.

He cited Partridge's 1981 song "Respectable Street" as one of the "most evocative items" in his catalog.

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'."

For many years, he also regarded "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" (1984) as his finest song.

Partridge is sometimes regarded as the "godfather" of the 1990s Britpop movement.

Partridge stated that his favourite XTC album was Nonsuch (1992) and considered "Rook" (1992), "Wrapped in Grey" (1992) and "Easter Theatre" (1999) to be the "perfect songs" of his career.

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.