Andy Partridge
2000 Wasp Star promo shot
Background information
Birth name	Andrew John Partridge
Born	November 11, 1953 (1953-11-11) (age 53) Valletta, Malta
Origin	Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Genre(s)	New Wave
Occupation(s)	Guitarist, singer, songwriter,
Instrument(s)	Guitar, singing
Years active	1972-present
Label(s)	Virgin, Idea, APE House[1]
Associated acts	XTC, The Dukes of Stratosphear
Website	http://www.ape.uk.net
Notable instrument(s)
Fano Guitar

Andy Partridge (born Andrew John Partridge, on 11 November 1953, in Valletta, Malta) is a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the new wave band, XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised. He is famous for his creative use of the twelve string guitar in his songs.

Partridge also serves as XTC's de facto art director. Most of the band's album cover art is based on his ideas. For example, the back cover of Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers took shape after Partridge requested "lots of rusty junk" and proceeded to create a mockup of the band members with it. As XTC gained popularity, they had been on tour for the bulk of a five-year period ending in 1982, when Partridge, suffering from stress-related illnesses reportedly brought about by his wife throwing out his supply of valium, forced the band to stop touring.

In addition to his work with XTC, Partridge has released demos of his songs under his own name in the Fuzzy Warbles album series on his APE House record label. Eight individual volumes of Fuzzy Warbles are now available, as well as the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album, which includes a bonus ninth disc Hinges. He has collaborated (as performer, writer or record producer) with numerous recording artists including Robyn Hitchcock, Veda Hille, Charlotte Hatherley, Peter Blegvad, The Residents, and Mitch Friedman.

Partridge also served initially as the producer for the English band Blur during the recording of Modern Life Is Rubbish. However, he was replaced by Stephen Street at the insistence of their record label Food, due to Partridge's lack of "street-cred" with the music press of the period. Other collaborations that failed to bear fruit included unused writing contributions for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and a proposed writing partnership with Brian Wilson which never progressed past a telephone enquiry from Wilson's PA.

In 2004, Partridge contributed the song "I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls" as the theme music to the short-lived TV drama Wonderfalls. In 2006, a song he and Robyn Hitchcock collaborated on, "'Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)" was released on the Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 album Olé! Tarantula.

Partridge has enjoyed periodic popularity as a broadcaster, most notably in the mid-1980s when he was a regular performer on BBC Radio 1. Most famously he posed as 'Agony Andy', a spoof agony aunt on the Janice Long show, but he also contributed comic items to Saturday Live and Studio B15, and was a regular panelist on both Roundtable and The Great Rock'n'Roll Trivia Quiz. He has also presented the pilot for an ITV children's quiz show Matchmakers, and written sketches for Channel 4's Armstrong and Miller.

Partridge and his ex-wife Marianne have two children, Holly and Harry. He has been in a long-term relationship with Erica Wexler - daughter of American screenwriter Norman Wexler - since his divorce.

External links

• APE House Records official site (needs Macromedia Flash)
• XTC official site (needs Macromedia Flash)
• Chalkhills: XTC fan site
• Optimisms Flames: another fan site