Andy Wright (music producer)

Beginning in the mid-1980s,[1] Wright played and performed in various bands and worked for a keyboard and equipment rental company in London, delivering and setting up instruments and studio gear for recording sessions. He was subsequently employed at Trident Studios, London, over several years. Whilst at Trident he played and programmed keyboards on sessions for many of the major acts of the time.

During the 1990s, Wright set up his first recording studio in Primrose Hill in London. There, he worked with The KLF on their song America: What Time Is Love? and Massive Attack on their album Protection. 1995 also saw the beginning of Wright's long working relationship with Simply Red on the album Life.[2]

In 1999, Wright was involved in the production of the Eurythmics album Peace[3] which included the hit singles I Saved the World Today, 17 Again and the title track Peace. In 2000, Wright began working with noted guitarist Jeff Beck.[4][5] The resulting album, You Had It Coming,[6] produced the Grammy award-winning track Dirty Mind in the best rock instrumental performance category.

Wright also produced Gianna Nannini's album Aria in 2002.

In 2003, Wright and Jeff Beck worked together again on Jeff.[7] This produced the Grammy winning track, "Plan B", also in the best rock instrumental performance category. Wright's productions in 2003 also included "Sunrise",[8] the first single to be released from the album Home by Simply Red, as well as working on A Thousand Beautiful Things[9] for Annie Lennox, plus the song "Caruso" for the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti on the album Ti Adoro.

Between 2004 and 2005, Wright continued working with Simply Red, including working on their album Simplified. In 2006, Wright began his collaboration with Macedonian artist Toše Proeski on songs for the album The Hardest Thing. Following Proeski's death in October 2007, The Hardest Thing was released posthumously in January 2009. He also worked with Soho Dolls, the Icelandic group, Nylon, and further projects for Simply Red. In 2007, he contributed to Stay, for Simply Red. In 2008, Wright worked on production of Mick Hucknall's first solo album after leaving Simply Red titled Tribute to Bobby.