Andrew Gold
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Derek R Bullamore
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Wikilinks added; formatting corrected; category amended
{{Infobox musical artist
|Img=Replace this image male.svg <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] --> | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| Name = Andrew Gold
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| Landscape =
| Background = solo_singer
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| Born = {{birth date and age|1951|8|2}}<br><small>[[Burbank, California|Burbank]], [[California]], [[United States|U.S.]]</small>
| Died =
| Origin =
| Instrument = [[Vocals]], various instruments
| Genre = [[Pop music]]
| Occupation = [[Singer-songwriter]], [[music producer|producer]], instrumentalist
| Years_active = 1970s – present
| Label =
| Associated_acts = [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Art Garfunkel]], [[10cc]], [[Wax (pop band)|Wax]]
| URL = [http://www.andrewgold.com www.andrewgold.com]
| Notable_instruments =
}}
'''Andrew Gold''' (born [[August 2]] [[1951]], [[Burbank, California|Burbank]], [[California]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[singer]], [[musician]] and [[songwriter]], best known in his homeland for his 1977 [[Top 40|Top 10]] [[single (music)|single]] "[[Lonely Boy (Andrew Gold song)|Lonely Boy]]" and the 1978 single "[[Thank You for Being a Friend]]." His best known solo single in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] was "Never Let Her Slip Away", which reached number 5 in the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1978.
He has the singular distinction of being the first [[human voice]] to be 'heard' on the surface of [[Mars]]. His rendition of the [[theme music|theme]] from the [[television series]] ''[[Mad About You]]'', entitled "Final Frontier," was used as the wake-up call for the [[Mars Pathfinder]] space probe in 1996.<ref>[http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/rover/roversongs.html Mars Pathfinder - Rover Wake-Up Songs<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Career==
A prolific [[session musician]], Gold joined the family business: his mother is singer [[Marni Nixon]] (who provided the singing voice for numerous well-known actresses, notably [[Natalie Wood]] and [[Audrey Hepburn]]), his father was the late [[Academy Award]]-winning [[composer]] [[Ernest Gold]]. He has two younger sisters: Martha, born in 1953 and Melani, born in 1962.
Gold began writing [[song]]s at the age of 13, and by the early 1970s was working as a musician, songwriter and [[music producer|producer]] for many well-known stars, including [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Art Garfunkel]], and [[James Taylor]]. He played a major role as multi-instrumentalist and arranger for Ronstadt's breakthrough [[album]], 1974's ''[[Heart Like a Wheel]]''. Among other accomplishments, he played the [[guitar]] solo and the majority of other instruments on the album's first track, "[[You're No Good]]," Ronstadt's only No. 1 single on the [[Billboard Hot 100]].
In 1975 Gold began recording as a solo artist, releasing four studio [[record album|album]]s. His single "Lonely Boy" has appeared in several movie soundtracks, including ''[[Boogie Nights]]'' (1997). Although "Lonely Boy" was the bigger radio hit, "Thank You for being a Friend" gained new popularity as the theme song for the popular 1985–1992 [[NBC]] [[situation comedy]] ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' (although that version was not performed by Gold but by Cindy Fee). In the UK Gold is better known for the song "Never Let Her Slip Away", which is still played on oldies [[radio station]]s. For a brief period, "Thank You for being a Friend" was linked to the hoax [[Peter Sutcliffe|Yorkshire Ripper]] tapes, as a 22 second snippet of the song was played at the end of one of the cassettes sent to Yorkshire Police.
Later, Gold played on and co-produced ''[[Ten Out of 10]]'' by [[10cc]], which led to his founding the 1980s pop group [[Wax (pop band)|Wax]] with [[Graham Gouldman]], and the 1990s band [[Bryndle]]. He played keyboards on "Johnny Can't Read" for [[Don Henley]]'s solo debut album ''[[I Can't Stand Still]]''. He has also produced and written songs for numerous [[film|movie]] and [[television]] [[soundtrack]]s. He also sang "The Final Frontier", the theme song for the 1990s [[Paul Reiser]]/[[Helen Hunt]] sitcom ''[[Mad About You]]''. He also produced seven albums for [[Eikichi Yazawa]], a famous [[Music of Japan|Japanese]] [[rock music|rock]]/[[popular music|pop]] [[singer]].
For several years he lived and worked in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], [[sound recording and reproduction|recording]] and [[record producer|producing]] other recording artists, before moving back to the [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] area.
==Discography==
===Albums===
* 1975 ''Andrew Gold''
* 1976 ''What's Wrong With This Picture''
:* includes "Lonely Boy"
* 1978 ''All This And Heaven Too''
:* includes "Never Let Her Slip Away" and "Thank You for Being a Friend"
* 1979 ''Whirlwind''
* 1996 ''...Since 1951''
* 1996 ''Andrew Gold's Halloween Howls''
* 1997 ''Thank You for Being a Friend — The Best of Andrew Gold''
* 2000 ''The Spence Manor Suite''
* 2002 ''Intermission''
===Singles===
* 1975 "Heartaches in Heartaches"
* 1976 "Do Wah Diddy"
* 1976 "One Of Them Is Me"
* 1976 "Stay"
* 1976 "That's Why I Love You" #66 U.S.
* 1977 "[[Lonely Boy (Andrew Gold song)|Lonely Boy]]" #7 U.S.
* 1978 "How Can This Be Love"
* 1978 "I'm On My Way"
* 1978 "[[Thank You for Being a Friend]]" #25 U.S.
* 1978 "Never Let Her Slip Away" #67 U.S.
(Note - Some of these singles were released as promo copies only)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.andrewgold.com Andrew Gold home page]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Andrew}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male singers]]
[[Category:American songwriters]]
[[Category:American record producers]]
[[Category:People from Burbank, California]]