Andy Pratt (born Andrew S. Pratt) is an American rock music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In the 1970s, he made a number of experimental records that were appreciated by small audiences, and scored a commercial hit with "Avenging Annie".
In 1973, he signed with Columbia Records on the basis of a demo of Avenging Annie. The vocals on this song (based on Woody Guthrie's Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd) took 500 studio hours to record, and range from basso profundo to a maniacal falsetto. The label released Andy Pratt in 1973, which achieved modest commercial success on the strength of its hit single. Roger Daltrey recorded a raunchier version on his solo album One of the Boys. Pratt's version was used on the soundtrack to the film Velvet Goldmine in 1998.
After an American tour to promote the album, he was dropped by Columbia. In 1975, his father died and Pratt returned to the musical scene with Atlantic Records. Bee Gees producer Arif Mardin was recruited for a more commercial approach on Resolution. The result is a somewhat bombastic but more accessible record, a far cry from the eerie atmosphere of its predecessors. In 1977, after a final concert for 7000 people in Boston's City Hall Plaza, Pratt was forced to leave the music industry due to a lack of support
After words of praise from Rolling Stone magazine ("By reviving the dream of rock as an art and then re-inventing it, Pratt has forever changed the face of rock"), he tried a more commercial approach. Having converted to Christianity and settled in the Netherlands in 1987, he continued to make records and perform at big Christian pop music festivals.
Pratt returned to Boston after an absence of 13 years in 2004. The continually-prolific Pratt has been trying to make a comeback with a new band as well as solo appearances at regional festivals (such as South By Southwest in 2006). Despite his reputation as a one-hit wonder of the 1970s, Pratt has released twenty studio albums as of mid-2006.
|