Bassist Andy Silvester was part of the second wave of British blues artists to find success in the 1960s and early 1970s. Born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire in 1947, he wasn't yet in his teens when rock & roll began sweeping across the Atlantic and seducing British youth. But he gravitated more toward blues than straight rock & roll, and made his professional recording debut as a founding member of Chicken Shack in 1968, playing bass with the original lineup (which, of course, featured Stan Webb and Christine Perfect [nee Christine McVie]). This career start placed him in the orbit of Mike Vernon and his extended family of British bluesmen, and Silvester has seldom strayed very far from those surroundings, at least on record. He was on all of Chicken Shack's albums through 1970 and, along with Webb, played as part of the near-all-star crew on Martha Velez's 1969 debut album Fiends and Angels. After Chicken Shack's breakup, he worked with Savoy Brown for a short time in the early '70s and participated in recordings by Chris Youlden and ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan (working alongside his one-time Chicken Shack stablemate Paul Raymond) -- the latter was also among the more unusual albums on which Silvester has played, as a decidedly pop-oriented effort from an established group of blues-oriented players. His standing with Mike Vernon was borne out by his participation on the latter's early-'70s solo LP Moments of Madness. In 1973, Silvester passed through the lineup of the short-lived Hungry Heart, which also included Raymond and Kirwan, drummer Mac Poole, and singer Dave Walker. His most visible post-Savoy Brown gig was as part of the Honeydrippers, of Robert Plant fame, circa 1980. His early-'70s work with Savoy Brown was expanded somewhat at the start of the 21st century with the release of live recordings on which he played, as part of the collection Jack the Toad. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi