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