Andy Bell is best known as the frontman for the enduring electropop duo Erasure. As well as his work with Erasure, he has released two solo albums under his own name, and a further two as offshoots of his one-man theatre project Torsten The Bareback Saint, and has collaborated with artists as diverse as British Electric Foundation, Jake Shears, Claudia Brücken, Perry Farrell, Shelter and Dave Audé.
Born Andrew Ivan Bell in Peterborough in April 1964, Andy was the first of six children. He developed a love for music at a young age, joining the school choir at the Dogsthorpe Infants and Junior School before going on to dedicate a large amount of time listening to a wide range of musical influences including Japan, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Yazoo and Blondie.
As a young adult, Andy moved to London to pursue a career in music. After brief stints with The Void, Baume and Dinger, he auditioned for former Depeche Mode and Yazoo mainman, Vince Clarke. Together, they formed the synthpop duo Erasure, which quickly became an equal songwriting partnership, with Clarke on keyboards and Bell on lead vocals. They released their debut single, ‘Who Needs Love Like That’, in 1985, followed by their debut album, Wonderland. Their fourth single, ‘Sometimes’, became their first big hit, peaking at number two on the UK charts, and in the top five of America’s Billboard Hot Dance Music chart.
Although Andy’s long-running partnership with Vince Clarke in Erasure (recipients of Best British Group at The Brit Awards) remains very much a going concern – since the release of Wonderland the duo have gone on to sell over 20 million albums, 5 of them hitting the UK number one spot and have enjoyed 17 Top 10 UK singles – he has subsequently embarked on a parallel solo career, writing and recording two solo albums Electric Blue (2005) and Non-Stop (2010).
Bell sang the role of Montresor in the opera The Fall of the House of Usher by Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, released in 1991 and reissued with a new recording in 1999.
The first Andy Bell solo album, Electric Blue, was released on 3 October 2005 and featured 14 tracks, including duets with Claudia Brücken of Propaganda and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. The album was preceded by a single, ‘Crazy’, which was released on 26 September 2005, and included club remixes from his Erasure partner Vince Clarke, plus Cicada, MHC and King Roc. Electric Blue was co-written and recorded with Manhattan Clique (Philip Larsen and Chris Smith) who have also worked with Erasure, Moby, the B-52s, Stereophonics and Goldfrapp.
Using the pseudonym Mimó, Bell released two singles on Mute: ‘Running Out’ in 2009 and ‘Will You Be There?’ in 2010 prior to the release of his second solo album. The name Mimó, chosen in “tribute to good friend Tomeau Mimó”, was not used on any subsequent solo releases, as a legal block was issued against Bell by another artist already using the Mimó name. Bell released his second solo album, Non-Stop, under his own name on 7 June 2010. It was co-written and co-produced in collaboration with producer Pascal Gabriel and features a collaboration with Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell.
In June 2011, he appeared on the second season of ITV series Popstar to Operastar.
In 2014 he took the title role in the critically acclaimed one-man theatre show Torsten The Bareback Saint at London’s St James Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival, releasing an album of songs from the show the same year followed by a remix album, Variance, in 2015. Bell reprised the role of Torsten in a second one-man show, Torsten The Beautiful Libertine, in March 2016, and that production was also supported by an album release (Torsten The Beautiful Libertine) and a remix album (Variance 2).
Andy topped the US Billboard Dance Charts in 2014 with the dance track ‘Aftermath (Here We Go)’, a collaboration with US producer and remixer Dave Audé and the duo performed the same feat with a second track, ‘True Original’ in early 2016, more material from the collaboration is planned for the future.
Andy Bell is also a respected remixer and has remixed a variety of artists including Erasure, Yazoo, Goldfrapp and Sandra Bernhardt.
An inspiration throughout the LGBTQ+ community, Andy has served as an ambassador for New York’s Hetrick-Martin Institute, was a patron of Above The Stag, London’s only LGBTQ+ theatre and the Cambridge based charity Dhiverse and this year was honoured as a PRIDE Icon at the Attitude PRIDE Awards. His active support of charities includes contributing to the Red Hot + Blue album (for AIDS and HIV research); a collaboration with Lene Lovich (for PETA), and performing on Cyndi Lauper’s charitable True Colors Tour.
Andy Bell released his acclaimed solo album, Ten Crowns, earlier this year, which went to #14 in the Official Albums Chart, and hit the #1 spot in the Official Independent Albums Chart and the Official Album Downloads Chart. He has been on an extensive worldwide tour throughout 2025 in support of the new album, and he and Vince Clarke have recently started work on a new Erasure album project.
