Ian Anderson | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Ian Scott Anderson |
Born | Dunfermline, Scotland | 10 August 1947
Origin | Blackpool, Lancashire, England |
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1962–present |
Labels | |
Member of | Jethro Tull |
Website | iananderson |
Ian Scott Anderson MBE (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for his work as the singer, flautist, acoustic guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole continuous member of the rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also plays harmonica, keyboards, bass guitar, bouzouki, balalaika, saxophone and a variety of whistles. [1] His solo work began with Walk into Light in 1983; since then he has released another five albums, including the sequel to the 1972 Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick , titled TaaB 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? (2012).
Ian Anderson was born in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the youngest of three brothers, to an English mother and a Scottish father. Anderson said, "I am a Brit. I'm a Brit. I see myself as a product of that union." [2] His father, James Anderson, ran the RSA Boiler Fluid Company in East Port, Dunfermline. [3] Anderson's family moved to Edinburgh when he was three. [4] He was influenced by his father's big band and jazz records and the emergence of rock music, but was disenchanted with the "showbiz" style of early American rock and roll stars like Elvis Presley. [5]
Anderson's family moved in 1959 to Blackpool, England, where he was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. [6] In a 2011 interview, Anderson said he was asked to leave grammar school for refusing to submit to corporal punishment (permitted at that time). [7] He studied fine art at Blackpool College of Art from 1964 to 1966 while living in Lytham St Annes. [8]
While a teenager, Anderson took a job as a sales assistant at Lewis's department store in Blackpool, then as a vendor on a news stand.[ citation needed ]
In 1963, Anderson formed The Blades from among school friends: Michael Stephens (guitar), John Evan (keyboards), Jeffrey Hammond (bass) and Barriemore Barlow (drums). This was a soul and blues band, with Anderson on vocals, guitar and harmonica; he had yet to take up the flute. They played their first show at the Holy Family Church Hall in North Shore. [8]
In late 1967, Anderson was still holding down a day job, namely cleaning the Ritz Cinema in Luton, including the toilets, in the mornings, "which took me half the day" he said in a later interview. He took an old, chipped urinal from the cinema storeroom and had it for a time after leaving the job. It was not, however, the urinal which "was bolted to the side of John Evan's Hammond organ on stage" and figured in early 1970s Tull performances. [9]
At this time, Anderson abandoned his ambition to play electric guitar; this was allegedly because he felt he would never be "as good as Eric Clapton". As he himself tells it in the introduction to the video Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 , he traded his electric guitar in for a flute which, after some weeks of practice, he found he could play fairly well in a rock and blues style. According to the sleeve notes for the first Tull album, This Was (1968), he had been playing the flute only a few months when the album was recorded. His guitar practice did not go to waste either, as he continued to play acoustic guitar, using it as a melodic and rhythmic instrument. As his career progressed, he added soprano saxophone, mandolin, keyboards and other instruments to his arsenal.[ citation needed ]
His tendency to stand on one leg while playing the flute came about by accident, as he had been inclined to stand on one leg while playing the harmonica, holding the microphone stand for balance. Anderson became known for his famous one-legged flute stance, and was once referred to as a "deranged flamingo". [10] This stance is on many album covers of Jethro Tull. During a long stint at the Marquee Club, a journalist described him, wrongly, as standing on one leg to play the flute, when in fact he was originally playing the harmonica on one leg. [11] He decided to live up to the reputation, albeit with some difficulty. His early attempts are visible in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1968) film appearance of Jethro Tull. This was referenced in the facetious liner notes for Thick as a Brick in a quote about "the one-legged pop flautist, Ian Anderson".
Anderson already wished to start a solo career in 1980, when Jethro Tull was going to take a break after John Glascock's death. He wrote the album A as a solo record, but had JT's Martin Barre participation, and Dave Pegg on bass. Record company pressure forced the record to be released under the Jethro Tull name. His first official solo album was Walk into Light , in 1983, in which Peter-John Vettese played an important role in the electronic direction of the music.
In the 1990s, he began working with simple bamboo flutes. He uses techniques such as over-blowing and hole-shading to produce note-slurring and other expressive techniques on this otherwise simple instrument. Anderson said that around this time his daughter began taking flute lessons and noticed his fingering was incorrect, prompting him to relearn his extensive catalog with the right fingering. [12] In 1995, Anderson released his second solo album, Divinities: Twelve Dances with God , an instrumental work composed of twelve flute-heavy pieces pursuing varied themes with an underlying motif. The album was recorded with Jethro Tull keyboard player Andrew Giddings and orchestral musicians. Anderson released two further song-based solo albums, The Secret Language of Birds in 2000 and Rupi's Dance in 2003. In 2003, Anderson recorded a composition called "Griminelli's Lament", in honour of his friend, the Italian flutist Andrea Griminelli .
In 2011, with the end of Jethro Tull touring, and the question of his friend Derek Shulman (whatever happened to Gerald Bostock?), [13] Anderson begun to produce a sequel to Thick as a Brick (1972), titled Thick as a Brick 2 or TAAB2, was released on 3 April 2012. It is billed as being performed by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson instead of being a Jethro Tull album proper. Anderson toured performing both albums in their entirety. A trailer for TAAB2 was posted on YouTube. [14]
Anderson released a new album, Homo Erraticus , in May 2014. He described it as a progressive rock concept album blending rock, folk, and metal music. [15] Peaking at No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart it is his most successful ever solo album.
In September 2017, Anderson announced plans for a tour to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of This Was, and a new studio album in 2019. The band line-up includes Anderson, Hammond, John O'Hara, David Goodier (all musicians of Anderson's solo band since 2012), [16] [17] and, since 2019, Joe Parrish, [18] [19] with Barre and Florian Opahle absent from the lineup. [20]
On 2 January 2018, Ian Anderson published a New Year post on jethrotull.com, including a picture of Anderson with the caption "IA in the studio working on a new album for release March 2019. Shhhh; keep it a secret..." [21]
On 1 June 2018, Parlophone Records released a new (50-track) career collection celebrating the Jethro Tull's 50th anniversary featuring all 21 Tull albums, named 50 for 50 . In the notes of the 50 for 50 booklet it stated that the new album scheduled for 2019 (and later pushed back to 2020, then 2022) would be a solo record by Ian Anderson and not a new album by Jethro Tull. [22] However, that turned out not to be true; the band released The Zealot Gene , the first Jethro Tull studio album in 19 years (and the first with all new, original material in 23 years), on 28 January 2022. [23]
In 1973, Anderson appeared, along with several other artists, on the cover of Time , for an article about new directions in early 1970s music. [24]
In recognition of his lifelong contribution to popular music, Anderson received two honours in 2006: the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement and an honorary Doctorate of Literature at Heriot-Watt University, on 11 July 2006. [25]
Anderson was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours for services to music. [26]
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Abertay University in July 2011. [27]
At the 2013 Progressive Music Awards, Anderson was presented with the "Prog God" award. [28]
Anderson produced Steeleye Span's 1974 album Now We Are Six , as well as appearing on and producing Steeleye Span member Maddy Prior's first solo album Woman in the Wings (1978), for which Jethro Tull made most instrumental contributions.
Anderson appeared as a guest on the song "All Along You Knew" from The Big Prize (1985), the second album by Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite. This followed Jethro Tull's 1984 tour, on which Honeymoon Suite was one of the opening acts. Also in 1984, Anderson, along with Martin Barre, Dave Pegg and Peter-John Vettese recorded album A Classic Case with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing a selection of music from Jethro Tull. He was also a DJ on radio station Planet Rock, presenting his own two-hour show Under the Influence. He also appeared on stage with Joe Bonamassa playing Jethro Tull song "A New Day Yesterday" at the Hammersmith Apollo in May 2010.
Anderson plays flute on the Men Without Hats song "On Tuesday" from their album Pop Goes the World (1987), and on the Blackmore's Night song "Play, Minstrel, Play" from their debut album Shadow of the Moon (1997).
Anderson plays flute on the 1998 Roy Harper album The Dream Society . Anderson has acknowledged Harper as having a strong influence upon him. [29]
Anderson performs as a special guest on two Uriah Heep live albums: Acoustically Driven (2001) and Electrically Driven (2001), on both performing the same two songs of Uriah Heep repertoire: "Circus" and "Blind Eye".
Anderson plays flute on the track "Portmeirion" on Fairport Convention's 2001 album XXXV . Anderson has performed with Fairport Convention at their annual Cropredy Festival on several occasions since the mid-1980s, when their bass player Dave Pegg was also a member of Jethro Tull.
Anderson played flute and sang lead vocals on a version of "The Thin Ice" for the 2005 album Back Against the Wall , an all-star tribute album covering Pink Floyd's The Wall in its entirety.
In April 2011, Anderson performed a flute duet with astronaut Cady Coleman, during her mission aboard the International Space Station, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the first crewed spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin. [30]
Anderson played the flute on the track "Cannonball" by The Darkness on their 2012 album, Hot Cakes . He played the flute on the track "Cry to the World" by Renaissance on their 2013 album, Grandine il vento . He also played the flute on "The Ocean at the End", the title track from The Tea Party's 2014 album.
Anderson contributed flute on the song "Black Cherry Pie", the third single from JEFF the Brotherhood's 2015 album, Wasted on the Dream . [31]
On 24 March 2017, the studio album Jethro Tull – The String Quartets by Anderson was released, featuring the Carducci String Quartet, conducted by John O'Hara.
The official video for Marc Almond's song 'Lord of Misrule', taken from his 2020 album Chaos and a Dancing Star was released on YouTube on 29 November 2019, featuring Ian Anderson playing flute throughout. [32]
In 2024, Anderson appeared on Swedish progressive rock and metal band Opeth's album The Last Will and Testament . Anderson played flute on tracks "§4", "§7", and "A Story Never Told". Anderson also provided spoken word passages on tracks "§1", "§2", "§4", and "§7". [33]
Anderson is the youngest of three brothers. The oldest of the three, Robin, became administrator of Scottish Ballet in 1973. [3]
From 1970 to 1974, Anderson was married to Jennie Franks, a photographer who is credited with some of the lyrics to the first couple of verses of the song "Aqualung". [34]
Anderson married Shona Learoyd in 1976, described by Rolling Stone magazine as a "beautiful convent-educated daughter of a wealthy wool manufacturer". [35] She had studied ballet for 10 years; however, when Anderson met her, she was working as a press officer at Jethro Tull's then-record label, Chrysalis Records. She later became involved with the band's on-stage special effects.
The couple have lived in a 16th-century redbrick farmhouse on the 500-acre (2.0 km2) Pophleys Estate in Radnage, England, in Kilmarie House on their Strathaird Estate on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, as well as a short time in Montreux, Switzerland. They currently live in Wiltshire, England, and have another house in Switzerland, near Montreux. They have two children: James Duncan Anderson, also a musician; and Gael, who works in the film industry and is married to actor Andrew Lincoln, star of the US TV drama series The Walking Dead . [36]
Anderson is a survivor of deep vein thrombosis, and has done several public service announcements to raise awareness of the disease. [37]
Anderson lists his interests as protecting wild cats, especially those that have been rescued from harsh captivity; cameras, chiefly Leicas; and Indian cuisine. [38]
Anderson has described his religious beliefs as being "somewhere between deist and pantheist". [39] He opposes "prejudice, xenophobia and hard right conservatism", while also criticising "wokeness", calling it a "trendy and overworked" viewpoint that "can all-too-easily stifle the process of the direct exchange of views". [40]
During a video interview for The Big Interview with Dan Rather in May 2020, Anderson said he was suffering from the incurable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after being diagnosed a number of years previously. He went on to state his belief that a likely cause of this condition has been the use of on-stage smoke machines in live performances throughout his long career. Anderson continued medication to treat the condition, avoided areas of high pollution to prevent exacerbation of the disease, and practised breathing exercises to keep his lungs fit, stating that COPD had otherwise not yet affected his day-to-day routine. [41]
Anderson has owned several salmon farms in the UK and Chile. His Strathaird concern, [42] based on his estate on the Isle of Skye, operated until the late 1990s, when parts of it were sold off. [43]
Anderson is a director of four companies: Jethro Tull Production Limited, Calliandra Productions Limited, Ian Anderson Limited, and the Ian Anderson Group of Companies Limited. [44]
Year | Name | Label | Peak chart position | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | UK [45] | GER | |||
1983 | Walk into Light | Chrysalis/EMI Records | 202 | 78 | |
1995 | Divinities: Twelve Dances with God | Angel/EMI Records | |||
2000 | The Secret Language of Birds | Fuel 2000/Varèse Sarabande/Universal Records | 26 | ||
2003 | Rupi's Dance | RandM Records | 40 | ||
2012 | Thick as a Brick 2 [46] | Chrysalis/EMI Records | 55 | 35 | 13 |
2014 | Homo Erraticus [47] | Kscope | 111 | 14 | 13 |
Year | Name | Label | Peak chart position | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | UK [45] | GER | |||
2005 | Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull | ZYX Music | 68 (CD) 3 (DVD) | ||
2014 | Thick as a Brick – Live in Iceland | Eagle Rock | 22 |
As guest
Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk music, hard rock and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group's founder, bandleader, principal composer, lead vocalist, and only constant member is Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays flute and acoustic guitar. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre ; bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg, Jonathan Noyce, and David Goodier; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese, Andrew Giddings, and John O'Hara.
Thick as a Brick is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 3 March 1972. The album contains one continuous piece of music, split over two sides of an LP record, and is intended as a parody of the concept album genre. The original packaging, designed as a 12-page newspaper, claims the album to be a musical adaptation of an epic poem by fictional eight-year-old genius Gerald Bostock, though the lyrics were actually written by the band's frontman, Ian Anderson.
Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Jethro Tull; it was released in March 1971 by Chrysalis Records. Though it is generally regarded as a concept album, featuring a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God", the band have said there was no intention to make a concept album, and that only a few songs have a unifying theme. Aqualung's success signalled a turning point in the career of the band, who went on to become a major radio and touring act.
A Passion Play is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released in July 1973 in both the UK and US. Following in the same style as the band's previous album Thick as a Brick (1972), A Passion Play is a concept album comprising individual songs arranged into a single continuous piece of music. The album's concept follows the spiritual journey of a recently deceased man in the afterlife, exploring themes of morality, religion and good and evil. The album's accompanying tour was considered the high water mark of Jethro Tull's elaborate stage productions, involving a full performance of the album accompanied by physical props, sketches and projected video.
A is the 13th studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull. It was released on 29 August 1980 in the UK and 1 September of the same year in the United States.
This Was is the debut studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released in October 1968. Recorded at a cost of £1200, it is the only Jethro Tull album with guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a major influence for the sound and music style of the band's first songs. When the album was released the band were performing regularly at the Marquee Club in London, where other successful British groups, such as the Rolling Stones and the Who, had started their careers.
Benefit is the third studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released in April 1970. It was the first Tull album to include pianist and organist John Evan – though he was not yet considered a permanent member of the group – and the last to include bass guitarist Glenn Cornick, who was fired from the band upon completion of touring for the album. It was recorded at Morgan Studios, the same studio where the band recorded its previous album Stand Up; however, they experimented with more advanced recording techniques.
Martin Lancelot Barre is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 2011. Barre played on all of Jethro Tull's studio albums from their 1969 album Stand Up to their 2003 album The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. In the early 1990s he began a solo career, and he has recorded several albums as well as touring with his own live band.
Jeffrey Hammond, often known by his former stage name Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an English artist and former musician best known for being the bassist of progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1975. With Jethro Tull, Hammond played on some of the band's most successful and well-known albums, including Aqualung (1971) and Thick as a Brick (1972).
Michael Timothy Abrahams is an English guitarist and band leader, best known for being the original guitarist for Jethro Tull from 1967 to 1968 and the frontman for Blodwyn Pig.
Slipstream is a video by Jethro Tull, recorded during the 1980 A tour, released in 1981. It was originally released on VHS, Capacitance Electronic Disc, and laserdisc, and was released as a (bootleg) DVD in Brazil in 2003. It is also included in the (2004) bonus DVD edition of A. This bonus DVD was the only official release on DVD until it was released as part of the 40th anniversary box set of A in April 2021.
Andrew Giddings is an English musician. He primarily plays keyboard instruments and is best known as a former member of British rock group Jethro Tull, for whom he was the longest serving keyboardist.
Jonathan Mark Thomas Noyce is an English musician. He is primarily a bass guitar player. Noyce is known for being a member of British rock group Jethro Tull for 12 years, and also for his collaborations with guitarist Gary Moore, film composer Daniel Pemberton, the band Archive and French artist Mylène Farmer. In 2018 he was awarded an ARAM by the Royal Academy of Music.
"Living in the Past" is a song by British progressive rock group Jethro Tull. It is one of the band's best-known songs, and it is notable for being written in the unusual 5
4 time signature. The use of quintuple meter is quickly noted from the beginning rhythmic bass pattern, though it can also be explained as a distinct 6
8 + 2
4 syncopated rhythm.
Scott Hammond is an English drummer. He plays with Ian Anderson and has also toured and recorded with Jethro Tull itself. He has been described as a "Jazz drummer with rock influences".
"A Song for Jeffrey" is a song recorded by the English rock band Jethro Tull, released as their second single in the UK, and as the B-side to "Love Story" in the US. The "Jeffrey" of the title is Ian Anderson's friend and future Jethro Tull bassist Jeffrey Hammond, who was "a slightly wayward lad who wasn’t quite sure where he was headed in life".
Ryan O'Donnell is an English singer
The Zealot Gene is the 22nd studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 28 January 2022 by Inside Out Music. Nearly five years in production, it is their first studio album since The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003), and their first of all original material since J-Tull Dot Com (1999), marking the longest gap between the band's studio albums.
"Teacher" is a song by the British rock band Jethro Tull, first released as the B-side to the January 1970 single "The Witch's Promise", on the Chrysalis label. Written by the band's frontman Ian Anderson, the song is a comment on the corruption of self-styled gurus who used their followers for their own gain.
Joseph Parrish-James [pəriʃ-dʒeɪmz] is a British guitarist of the bands Albion and Jethro Tull.
Sad to have to say that "young" Florian Opahle is leaving us at the end of 2019 after 15 great years of recording, touring and travelling the world.