Birth name Andrew McMaster Name Andrew McMaster Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter Role Musical Artist | Years active 1965–present Website www.andymcmaster.net | |
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Instruments Piano, organ, keyboards, vocals, bass Similar People The Motors, Bram Tchaikovsky, Ducks Deluxe, Robert John Lange Profiles | ||
Music group The Motors (1977 – 1982) | ||
Andrew "Andy" McMaster (born 27 July 1941) is a Scottish songwriter, best known for writing the lyrics and music of hit songs "Airport" and "Forget About You" by The Motors and co-writing, with Nick Garvey, "Dancing the Night Away", which reached numbers 4, 13 and 42 respectively, in the UK charts between 1977 and 1978. The Motors single, "Tenement Steps", was also written by McMaster and peaked at number 17 in the Netherlands chart, in August 1980. He also wrote works that were recorded and released by Anita Harris, Alex Harvey, Ducks Deluxe, and James Dewar.
Career
McMaster was born in Glasgow and raised in the city's Calton area, which is part of Glasgow’s East End. In May 1968, one of McMaster's songs, "Tuppenny Bus Ride", was released by singer and television star, Anita Harris. He co-wrote a song, "Broken Hearted Fairytale", with Alex Harvey, which appeared on Harvey's solo album, Roman Wall Blues, released in 1969. In 1970, McMaster released a solo single, on President Records, called "I Can’t Get Drunk Without You Babe".
In 1972, McMaster joined pub-rock band, Ducks Deluxe, as a keyboard player. The band consisted of Sean Tyla on vocals, Martin Belmont on lead guitar, Tim Roper on drums and Nick Garvey on bass. McMaster played on the second album, Taxi to the Terminal Zone and it featured one of his compositions, "Love’s Melody", a song which was also, later, to be recorded by singer, James Dewar, on his solo album, Stumbledown Romancer.
In February 1977, McMaster co-formed The Motors with ex-Ducks Deluxe member, Nick Garvey. The band’s first album, 1, featured the single, "Dancing the Night Away", co-written by McMaster and Garvey, reaching number 42, in the UK singles chart, in September 1977. The Motors’ second album, Approved by the Motors, was released the following year. On the album was a song that would prove to be the band’s biggest hit, "Airport", penned by McMaster, going to number 4 in the UK chart, in June 1978, and which he wrote "while living under the Heathrow flightpath" according to an interview in the August 2015 issue of Record Collector magazine. The second single from the album, "Forget About You", also written by McMaster, reached number 13 in the UK chart, in August 1978.
After The Motors, McMaster wrote and recorded some solo recordings, in 1987, but only one song, a single, "No Joy", was released.
James Dewar's solo album, Stumbledown Romancer, featured four songs written by McMaster on which he also played "organ, piano and synthesisers": "Love’s Melody" (previously released by Ducks Deluxe), "Goodbye Love", "Bright Lights" and "Lay Down the Night". Although the songs were recorded in 1981, Stumbledown Romancer was not released by Dewar's record label, Chrysalis, until 1998.