Andy Bell

The FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM ANDYBELL.COM..........................I was born at about 3.30AM on April 25th 1964 at The Gables in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, the first of four sisters and one baby brother. I was the first grandson of the first son of my Nan Bell therefore a little spoilt. We lived with my Nan and Granddad for the first half year then to our first council house in Dogsthorpe.We were a very young family, my Ma was seventeen when she gave birth to me and my Dad was 19, they met on a bus. Went to Dogsthorpe Infants and Junior School and found my way into the school choir. My best friends were Denis Gloucester (one of the only black boys in school) and Helen Adams (one of the prettiest white girls). We went on to star in a movie together called 'The Magic Hat'. We came last in a regional choir competition with a slow version of 'Little Donkey'.I was an upstart at that early age and thought that my voice was better than Aled Jones. I did impersonations of Donny Osmond to keep my neighbours happy and was always caught with my pants down, promiscuity begins at such an early age.I decided that Methodist Sunday School was a load of nonsense and spent the money on sweets with my sisters despite being begged by one of the helpers to go back. I also left Cub-scouts on the day we got our uniforms which pissed my Mum off 'cause we didn't have much money!I passed my 11-Plus exam and went to King's Grammar School 'cause I liked the uniform and used to get bullied every day on the way there and waiting for my Nan to come out of the Post Office Exchange afterwards.I tried everything I could to get seduced by either teachers or pupils, it never happened despite having a good old look in the PE showers. I made friends with the bigger boys if you get my drift.I got 5 O-levels and stayed on to do A-levels but got so bored and behind with my work that I had no choice but to leave.I wanted desperately to leave for London with a friend of mine called Jill who was a punk and had a gay older brother. I started going out with a lovely lady called Marion who lo and behold got a Social Services job in Alperton, London and we all moved together as one happy family with another guy and a girl called Lynda from Liverpool. They were all very supportive and looked after us for the six months it took our Dole money to come through! We looked after the house and listened to all their problems when they got home from work.Eventually we all moved to West Ealing and although I was still with Marion I couldn't deny my feelings for men any longer. It was a tough time but Marion was very understanding and took me to my first gay club called 'The Embassy Club'. I couldn't believe the men were so good looking and the music was so fantastic, such as 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. Up until this time whilst at school I was a mod and a new romantic. I loved Japan, The Tourists, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Yazoo and of course Blondie.At this time I started going to the Ealing Gay Group and had it off properly with an Indian man for the first time, it was fantastic! I also joined my first band called 'The Void' with whom we did no gigs, after Jill saw an ad in the music shop window.Eventually the bass player (a very talented song-writer called Pierre Cope) left the others to form a duo with me called 'Brume' then later 'Dinger'. I had my first full time Greek boyfriend called Danny who I adored and we moved to a bed-sit in Handle.Pierre and I continued to make some really good demo-tapes and he got over his homophobia (he came from a rough sailors home in Dover), and lived with a bunch of friendly drug-addicts.One day Pierre met a great producer on the train called Pete Gage who used to be married to Elkie Brooks and was in a band called 'Vinegar Joe' with Robert Palmer. We got a studio lock-in and made some great demos of which a thousand singles were pressed. We never managed to get a record deal but I still stand by them to this day, there were some great tunes.Meanwhile I'd split up with Danny and was homeless for a while but then met a lovely intelligent man called Jonathan. I moved into a room of his hard-to-let house and this is where my gay education really started. Jonathan worked for Gay Switchboard and our flat-mate Any Picos worked for Shelter, these were very happy times for me apart from nearly setting fire to the house!I followed Vince's career avidly and was a great fan of Alison Moyet and Jimmy Somerville. I carried on making music with Pierre and had a bar job and a part-time job at Debenhams and a sandwich shop. One day when we were listening to Alf (Alison's first album), my flat-mate Andy said next year this is going to be you. He was always a bit psychic.