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Andrew Gold
Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold performed on scores of records by other artists, especially Linda Ronstadt, and had his own success with the U.S. top 40 hits "Lonely Boy" (1977) and "Thank You for Being a Friend" (1978), as well as the UK top five hit "Never Let Her Slip Away" (1978). In the 1980s, he had further international chart success as one half of Wax, a collaboration with 10cc's Graham Gouldman.
Gold produced, composed, performed on, and wrote tracks for films, commercials, and television soundtracks. Some of his older works experienced newfound popularity in the '80s and '90s: "Thank You for Being a Friend" sung by Cindy Fee was used as the opening theme for The Golden Girls in 1985. He performed "Final Frontier", the opening theme of the sitcom Mad About You, which debuted in 1992. The children's novelty song "Spooky, Scary Skeletons" (1996) became an Internet meme in the 2010s. In 1997, Gold released a tribute to 1960s psychedelic music, Greetings from Planet Love, issued under the pseudonym "the Fraternal Order of the All".
Gold was born on August 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, and eventually followed his parents into show business. His mother was singer Marni Nixon, who provided the singing voice for numerous actresses, notably Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady; his father was Ernest Gold, an Austrian-born composer who won an Academy Award for his score for the movie Exodus. He had two younger sisters.
Gold began writing songs at the age of 13. While in school in the United Kingdom for one year, the 16-year-old Gold scored his first recording contract on the strength of a selection of demos he submitted to Polydor Records' London office. That contract resulted in the single "Of All the Little Girls", which was recorded with his friend and collaborator Charlie Villiers, and released in 1967 under the name Villiers and Gold.
By the early 1970s, Gold was working full-time as a musician, songwriter and record producer. In the 1970's he joined the Floating House Band, along with former Stone Poney members Bobby Kimmel and Shep Cooke. Gold was a member of the Los Angeles band Bryndle, alongside Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman, and Karla Bonoff, releasing the single "Woke Up This Morning" in 1970. He played a major role as multi-instrumentalist and arranger for Linda Ronstadt's breakthrough album, 1974's Heart Like a Wheel, and her next two albums.
After Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, Gold began a solo career. Among other accomplishments, he played the majority of instruments on "You're No Good", Ronstadt's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, and on "When Will I Be Loved", "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave", and many other hits. He was in her band from 1973 until 1977, and then sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, performing at some of her concerts.
In 1975, Gold debuted as a solo artist with the album Andrew Gold and played most of the instruments on Art Garfunkel's solo hit "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a major hit in the United Kingdom where it topped the UK Singles Chart), as well as several other cuts on Garfunkel's album Breakaway.
Gold's second studio album, What's Wrong with This Picture?, was released in 1976 and featured the hit single "Lonely Boy", which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1977. Although Gold put personal references in the lyrics to "Lonely Boy" (including his year of birth), he said in an interview with author Spencer Leigh that the song was not autobiographical. "Maybe it was a mistake to do that," he said, "but I simply put in those details because it was convenient. I hadn't been a lonely boy at all – I'd had a very happy childhood."
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Andrew Gold
Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold performed on scores of records by other artists, especially Linda Ronstadt, and had his own success with the U.S. top 40 hits "Lonely Boy" (1977) and "Thank You for Being a Friend" (1978), as well as the UK top five hit "Never Let Her Slip Away" (1978). In the 1980s, he had further international chart success as one half of Wax, a collaboration with 10cc's Graham Gouldman.
Gold produced, composed, performed on, and wrote tracks for films, commercials, and television soundtracks. Some of his older works experienced newfound popularity in the '80s and '90s: "Thank You for Being a Friend" sung by Cindy Fee was used as the opening theme for The Golden Girls in 1985. He performed "Final Frontier", the opening theme of the sitcom Mad About You, which debuted in 1992. The children's novelty song "Spooky, Scary Skeletons" (1996) became an Internet meme in the 2010s. In 1997, Gold released a tribute to 1960s psychedelic music, Greetings from Planet Love, issued under the pseudonym "the Fraternal Order of the All".
Gold was born on August 2, 1951, in Burbank, California, and eventually followed his parents into show business. His mother was singer Marni Nixon, who provided the singing voice for numerous actresses, notably Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady; his father was Ernest Gold, an Austrian-born composer who won an Academy Award for his score for the movie Exodus. He had two younger sisters.
Gold began writing songs at the age of 13. While in school in the United Kingdom for one year, the 16-year-old Gold scored his first recording contract on the strength of a selection of demos he submitted to Polydor Records' London office. That contract resulted in the single "Of All the Little Girls", which was recorded with his friend and collaborator Charlie Villiers, and released in 1967 under the name Villiers and Gold.
By the early 1970s, Gold was working full-time as a musician, songwriter and record producer. In the 1970's he joined the Floating House Band, along with former Stone Poney members Bobby Kimmel and Shep Cooke. Gold was a member of the Los Angeles band Bryndle, alongside Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman, and Karla Bonoff, releasing the single "Woke Up This Morning" in 1970. He played a major role as multi-instrumentalist and arranger for Linda Ronstadt's breakthrough album, 1974's Heart Like a Wheel, and her next two albums.
After Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, Gold began a solo career. Among other accomplishments, he played the majority of instruments on "You're No Good", Ronstadt's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, and on "When Will I Be Loved", "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave", and many other hits. He was in her band from 1973 until 1977, and then sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, performing at some of her concerts.
In 1975, Gold debuted as a solo artist with the album Andrew Gold and played most of the instruments on Art Garfunkel's solo hit "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a major hit in the United Kingdom where it topped the UK Singles Chart), as well as several other cuts on Garfunkel's album Breakaway.
Gold's second studio album, What's Wrong with This Picture?, was released in 1976 and featured the hit single "Lonely Boy", which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1977. Although Gold put personal references in the lyrics to "Lonely Boy" (including his year of birth), he said in an interview with author Spencer Leigh that the song was not autobiographical. "Maybe it was a mistake to do that," he said, "but I simply put in those details because it was convenient. I hadn't been a lonely boy at all – I'd had a very happy childhood."
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