British bandleaders can ask themselves, do they want a bass player, or a bass player named Andy Brown? With enough of said creatures to command a small restaurant table, sorting out the recording credits for British bassists named Andy Brown, sometimes formalized into the form of an Andrew Brown, is a daunting task in itself. The most prolific and successful of these Brown bassmen seems to be this one, whose career began in a reggae and dancehall fusion venture in the mid-'70s. The Bliss Band -- a studio ensemble sanctioned, promoted, and sometimes even produced by members of progressive rock outfit Steely Dan -- followed along with session man appearances in styles as diverse as the Eurythmics and the Hollies.

The bassist, who is also an excellent singer, first garnered renown as a member of Tiger, the previously mentioned dancehall ensemble formed in 1976 by singer Nicky Moore. The type of musical versatility he displayed in this group was just what the founders of the Bliss Band, such as keyboardist Michael Bliss, were looking for, leading to a pair of albums released in 1978 and 1979 respectively. While various studio assignments occupied a good deal of his time through the '80s, he joined the band Fast Buck in 1987, perhaps making an economic as well as artistic statement in the process. He went on tour with Tainita Tikaram in 1990, and the following year, replaced Dave Bronze in the Be Sharp band, a move that got attention from color designers as well as rock fans. This turned out to be one of the longest-running collaborations of his career, lasting up til 1997.

Because of the plethora of musicians named Andy Brown, discographers whose dedication to their cause resembles that of a Buddhist monk are apt to make statements such as "I must say" (said in a British accent, naturally) -- "that I have confusion about his career." There is not only an Andy Brown who plays jazz and another who plays in the satirical band the Rutles. No, that would be enough to drive researchers a bit daft, but there's more. Yet another Andy Brown had the audacity to play bass in lineups of the Alan Bown Set, most likely just to infuriate typographers and proofreaders as well as as discographers. That is still not the end of it all. Now that the name Bown has been mentioned, much to the chagrin of sticky-fingered typesetters, there is also a British musician named Andy Bown, a member of the Status Quo among other bands, who both played and recorded on bass at some parts of his career. Apparently one of the most common mistakes in the history of rock is to print Andy Bown's name as Andy Brown, or vice-versa. In fact, one collection of information on British bassists even fudges the process of pointing out these mistakes, leading to a conclusion that is really all anyone needs to know about this situation: "...keyboardist Andy Brown is sometimes mistakenly credited as Andy Brown." ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi