Andy Bell, one half of British synth\/pop duo Erasure, brings his first North American solo tour to the Wind Creek Event Center, Wind Creek Boulevard, Bethlehem, on Oct. 29.<\/p>\n
The singer-songwriter, who released his third solo studio album \u201cTen Crowns\u201d on his Crown Recordings label in May, will perform solo material and Erasure classics.<\/p>\n
Bell \u2014 who splits his time between London, Spain and the U.S. with husband Stephen Moss \u2014 formed Erasure with Vince Clarke, previously of Depeche Mode and Yazoo\/Yaz, in 1985. Clarke remixed the \u201cTen Crowns\u201d track \u201cDance For Mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019s live band includes Dave Aud\u00e9, remixer\/DJ and \u201cTen Crowns\u201d producer with whom he previously collaborated on two mid-2010s dance-club hits.<\/p>\n
Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, \u201cTen Crowns\u201d includes elements of dance, Eurodisco and gospel. The music videos for singles \u201cDon\u2019t Cha Know\u201d and \u201cHeart\u2019s a Liar,\u201d the latter a collaboration with idol\/friend Debbie Harry, finally gave Bell his \u201cMadonna moment\u201d of looking and feeling fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how we could have presented ourselves earlier on,\u201d said Bell, whose flamboyant and androgynous look helped define Erasure\u2019s image. \u201cVince is shy as far as involving himself in the art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whereas Bell\u2019s first two solo albums \u2014 2005\u2019s \u201cElectric Blue\u201d and 2010\u2019s \u201cNon-Stop\u201d \u2014 missed the top 100 of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, \u201cTen Crowns\u201d peaked at No. 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard (to drift away for solo projects) when you\u2019re in a band,\u201d Bell said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like cheating on your wife\/partner. Fans don\u2019t necessarily like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Bell\u2019s other non-Erasure projects: remixes for acts such as Yazoo and Goldfrapp; soundtracks for his mid-2010s \u201cTorsten\u201d theater shows; and collaborations with k.d. Lang and Melissa Etheridge.<\/p>\n
Bell, in December, will release \u201cThe Crown Jewels,\u201d a four-CD box set including the original \u201cTen Crowns\u201d album and bonus tracks, plus remixes, extended versions and live recordings.<\/p>\n
Starting young<\/p>\n
Born in Peterborough, England, Bell started singing around age 7 or 8. Bell, for whom singing always came second nature, regards female artists as his go-to music favorites.<\/p>\n
The singer fell in love with The Ronettes while growing up, eventually recording the girl group\u2019s 1964 hit \u201cWalking in the Rain\u201d for Erasure\u2019s 2003 covers album.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so forlorn; I love singing about unrequited love,\u201d said Bell, tying the song to the sentiment and rainy imagery of an early Erasure single and video, respectively. \u201cWith our first video hit, \u2018Sometimes,\u2019 there\u2019s a scene on a rooftop. I\u2019m in a wet T-shirt, drenched, feeling all alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell, who moved to London at age 17 in the early 1980s, performed in a band called The Void and duo Dinger, the latter using Bell\u2019s nickname as its moniker. Dinger had trouble landing a record deal, leaving Bell to go on his own and answer ads in the paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found an ad from Vince, who was my musical hero. Vince was doing a new project. I thought, \u2018Maybe I should write him a letter.\u2019 The ad happened to be for him. I thought, \u2018This is kismet.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke, Bell said, \u201cwas looking for someone who wasn\u2019t going to be too rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. I was shy, painfully so. It took six months of him coaxing me in the studio. After a while, we became friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Failure doesn\u2019t mean defeat<\/p>\n
After Erasure\u2019s 1986 debut set \u201cWonderland\u201d flopped, Bell \u201cthought Vince would dump me. We toured the country in a van and started building a following. I\u2019m grateful to Vince for sticking with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erasure, a U.K. chart superstar and U.S. dance-charts mainstay, scored a U.S. million-plus seller with 1988\u2019s \u201cThe Innocents.\u201d The album spawned the classic hits \u201cChains of Love\u201d and \u201cA Little Respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erasure\u2019s other U.S. hits include a 1992 cover of ABBA\u2019s \u201cTake a Chance on Me,\u201d plus 1994\u2019s \u201cAlways\u201d and 1997\u2019s \u201cIn My Arms.\u201d One of Bell\u2019s biggest disappointments was the performance of 1995\u2019s \u201cErasure\u201d album, a no-show in the U.K. top 10 following five consecutive No. 1s.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, Britpop became a thing. It happened before the bubble burst in the music biz, going from CDs to MP3s. We caught the biz before it fell off the shelf. We fell off before the rest fell off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leading a cause<\/p>\n
Despite Erasure\u2019s success, Bell wishes the twosome would have had more exposure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an out gay man in the \u201980s didn\u2019t make it easy on myself. I loved my voice and performing. I wish we would have had more exposure on TV and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erasure, which released its 19th studio album in 2022, plans to mark its 40th anniversary with a new album in 2026. Brit and Independent Music awards rank among the pair\u2019s accolades.<\/p>\n
LGBTQ+ outlets also have honored Erasure, with the duo winning Attitude magazine\u2019s 2017 Icon Award and Bell receiving the British LGBT Awards\u2019 2023 Lifetime Achievement award.<\/p>\n
Bell, considering his impact on the LGBTQ+ community and beyond, likes \u201cto think people like my voice, that my voice has been a healing instrument. I hope people see that maybe I helped them be understood by people that wouldn\u2019t otherwise get them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andy Bell, one half of British synth\/pop duo Erasure, will perform at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem on Oct. 29. SEAN BLACK\/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Bell, one half of British synth\/pop duo Erasure, brings his first North American solo tour to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-12768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}