Ian Anderson
Birthday:
10 August 1947, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK
Height:
175 cm
Ian Anderson, born in Fife, Scotland, is one of the most famous and innovative flute-players of the last 40 years. A singer and composer, Anderson is also a multi instrumentalist, including acoustic and electric guitars, saxophone, percussion, keyboards, bagpipe, violin, balalaika, clarinet and a large variety of whistles. He is the lead vocalist a...
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Ian Anderson, born in Fife, Scotland, is one of the most famous and innovative flute-players of the last 40 years. A singer and composer, Anderson is also a multi instrumentalist, including acoustic and electric guitars, saxophone, percussion, keyboards, bagpipe, violin, balalaika, clarinet and a large variety of whistles. He is the lead vocalist and founding member of the rock band Jethro Tull. As flute-player, Anderson is self-taught, his style inspired by another accomplished flautist, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. In 1963 his fellow school friends Barriemore Barlow (drums), John Evan (keyboards), Jeffrey Hammond Hammond (bass guitar) and Michael Stephens (guitar), with Anderson taking singing and harmonica playing duties, form their first band The Blades, a soul and blues outfit. In 1965 they regroup into The John Evan Band with major lineup changes. They disband two years later when Anderson moves to Luton. In his new surroundings, Ian meets the drummer Clive Bunker and the guitarist Mick Abrahams, formerly of McGregor's Engine. With Glenn Cornick, a bassist - of The John Evan Band-, Anderson creates the seed of the group that would become the legendary Jethro Tull. Later, the band would have an ongoing change of members. The most important being the incorporation of Martin Lancelot Barre (guitar), the only musician to remain in the band for more than four decades, he replaced Mick Abrahams in 1969. They also gained Mark Craney (drummer), David Palmer (orchestral arranger) and Eddie Jobson (keyboards and violin, ex-UK,Roxy Music) Andersons style is largely based in flutter tonguing (frullato), and hole shading. Alongside his musical pursuits, he and his wife are the owners of a group of companies including salmon farms in the UK, and as far reaching as Chile, South America. The singer has survived a serious deep vein thrombosis, suffered after air travel. His voice has also suffered in his later years with vocal chord problems. Ian Andersons style mixes folk, celtic, jazz, rock, blues and pop, and his lyrics are complex, acerbic and critical of society and religion. Show less «
I'm not sure I believe in any life after death. Life is an opportunity as well as a test, but ultimately it's all just preparing us for the ...Show more »
I'm not sure I believe in any life after death. Life is an opportunity as well as a test, but ultimately it's all just preparing us for the big mystery of death. That's pretty scary stuff for people like me who can't face the idea of retirement sitting in an armchair watching repeats of Casualty (1986) until we finally pop off. Show less «
I'm not a Christian. I don't 'do' Jesus. But Christianity, like most of the world's great religions, is a good, practical moral code for liv...Show more »
I'm not a Christian. I don't 'do' Jesus. But Christianity, like most of the world's great religions, is a good, practical moral code for living. However, there are some very nasty messages in the Bible. That Moses guy - dangerous freak! Show less «
[on receiving the MBE] My only problem was that I was very much opposed to some of the policies of Tony Blair during his regime, and my awar...Show more »
[on receiving the MBE] My only problem was that I was very much opposed to some of the policies of Tony Blair during his regime, and my award was decided under a Blair government. I came very close to saying I couldn't accept it. I'd like to think that it was awarded for my efforts in having musicians' copyright recognised, rather than for making rather too much money out of playing the flute for many years. Show less «
I started off with the guitar, but I decided to give it up when I heard Eric Clapton. It's the way people are put off playing tennis when th...Show more »
I started off with the guitar, but I decided to give it up when I heard Eric Clapton. It's the way people are put off playing tennis when they watch Roger Federer. I found the flute gave me something interesting melodically. Show less «
I've never been a tax exile. We secured Swiss residency, but decided that such a radical change of life just for saving money was ... well, ...Show more »
I've never been a tax exile. We secured Swiss residency, but decided that such a radical change of life just for saving money was ... well, not cricket. I am, in principle, in favour of a relatively high level of tax for the highest earners. If you're making £20 million a year and you pay 80 per cent tax, life's not come to an end. Show less «
I had a firm resolve to walk away from Jethro Tull and playing live music. It was a feeling of betrayal - these people buy your record and t...Show more »
I had a firm resolve to walk away from Jethro Tull and playing live music. It was a feeling of betrayal - these people buy your record and then come to a concert and whistle and hoot and screech and generally do everything possible to stop you hearing what you're playing! A baying crowd just looking to get their jollies out of volume and repetitive rhythm - it all felt quite vulgar. Show less «
When you look at the bigger picture, punk was a few months of arch, fashionable, camp, theatrical, overtly money-making and attention-seekin...Show more »
When you look at the bigger picture, punk was a few months of arch, fashionable, camp, theatrical, overtly money-making and attention-seeking glory, spawned by Malcolm McLaren. Punk was really at its height at the time of the MC5 in 1969. They were more important than anything that came out of the UK in '76. Punk was supposed to be about gutsy honesty. Most of it was young poseurs pretending to be angry because it was the thing to do. Show less «
Even with records like Forever Changes, Sgt Pepper and Are You Experienced, it was a little later before the enormity of how good some of th...Show more »
Even with records like Forever Changes, Sgt Pepper and Are You Experienced, it was a little later before the enormity of how good some of that music was really sank in. The year of '67 turned out to have raised the stakes. It got away from the three-chord trick. Rock music developed sophistication. Great pieces like Cream's 'Tales of Brave Ulysses' didn't have much to do with black America any more. It's hard to imagine anything that occurred in the '70s, '80s, '90s or now that doesn't owe something to what happened then. Show less «
The most abiding memory of that summer of '67 is the Englishness of it. It was a coming of age of British music, where we were no longer in ...Show more »
The most abiding memory of that summer of '67 is the Englishness of it. It was a coming of age of British music, where we were no longer in debt to American blues. Show less «
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