Last November, talented singer and songwriter Andy Paley passed away. Many of his incredible friends are coming together to celebrate his life.
Before he and his family pulled up stakes and moved to rural Vermont three years ago, Andy Paley had been a fixture on LA's music and comedy scene for decades. He collaborated with arguably the broadest range of artists of any producer musician, lending his efforts as songwriter, session man and producer to projects by Brian Wilson, Madonna, k.d. lang, Phil Spector, Mandy Barnett, Jonathan Richman, NRBQ, Elton John, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others.
When he passed away in November funding the educations of Charlie and Jackson the twin 13-year-old sons he parented with his wife Heather Crist Paley became a core concern of his family and friends. Many of those closest to Andy have joined forces to mount a memorial concert as a fundraising event to secure the twins' education. These include NRBQ's Al Anderson, Jonathan Richman and brother Jonathan Paley with whom he formed The Paley Brothers of Rock 'n' Roll High School renown.
The range of talent pitching in for the event set for Saturday, April 19 at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles is a reflection of diversity of his career and the many creatives with whom he worked dating back to his childhood when, at the age of 7, he wrote "The Porcupine Song" that was recorded and released by children's folk artist Tom Glazer. With the end of formal schooling in sight, he moved to Boston from his native upstate New York and recorded an album with his band The Sidewinders that was produced by Nuggets conceptualizer Lenny Kaye who was with Andy on the day of his passing. Andy brought the Sidewinders, the band including future Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison, to New York where they became favorites of Andy Warhol's Factory intimates at Max's Kansas City, much as the Velvet Underground had earlier.
In recent years, Andy has collaborated with Tom Kenny, the voice of Sponge Bob on music heard in the hit Nickelodeon series. He also served as music director for Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas, a rock and soul touring unit that has found in person audiences throughout the west coast as well as New York and New England. Kenny and the group will be performing at what's being called The A.N.D.Y. Show (And Not Done Yet) as are Billy West (Ren and Stimpy), Bud E. Luv, Toby Huss, David Koechner, Tammy Faye Starlite, Eliot Easton, Grey DeLisle and more.
