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Singer-songwriter finds a way to be himself

First album, "Andy Hughes: Be Yourself", a product of encouragement, and the fulfillment of a dream

Andy Hughes has been spotted recently with a battered journal, its tattered pages held together with duct tape, with black and white photo booth images of a younger version of the singer-songwriter affixed to the outside and inside covers. It’s labeled “Travelogue.”

Much of what’s inside that personal chronicle, the lyrical guts of it, was the raw material for Hughes’s first, soon to be released album, Andy Hughes: Be Yourself. The journal dates back to the early 80s, and so do many of the songs on the CD.  

Back then, Hughes was living in Los Angeles. He had spent many years of his childhood and youth going back and forth between England, where his father lived, and Los Angeles, where his mother resided.

Between those two homes, in two countries separated by a great ocean, Hughes absorbed the British and American pop music that would influence his own playing, singing and writing.

From about the age of 15, he started learning hundreds of songs, and played them on college campuses, in subways, and music festivals. He wrote songs about big love and tough breakups. Being a singer-songwriter was about all he wanted to do.

But there was something missing.

“I never thought that my songs were very good,” he said during an interview this week. “In my private moments I guess I thought I was pretty good, but not when I got in front of people. I just never had the confidence.”

Leafing through the journal he lands on pages dated back to the early 80s. He reads out the 35-year-old lyrics that became the song “My 27th Birthday” on Be Yourself.

“I’m not feeling as guilty now about sitting around playing music and writing songs,” he said.

After dedicating much of the 70s and 80s playing music, he made the decision in the early 90s to become legit. He enrolled at the University of Guelph where he began studying biological engineering before a fascination with computer science took him in another direction.

He eventually opened a computer repair business, and his songs were held captive in his beat-up travelogue.

But one’s true passion has a way of pushing itself back to the forefront, especially if it has been kept under wraps for too long. A few years ago, Hughes got up the courage to start performing in front of audiences again. They liked what he did.

Then he started playing some of his own tunes. Audiences liked those even more than the covers. Encouraged, he dug a bit deeper into his journal.

Although a lot of time had passed, the song lyrics brought instantly to mind the tunes he had also written for them. He had stored the music securely away in his memory.

“People were saying positive things about my music, saying that they liked my songs,” he said. “That encouragement changed me. I wouldn’t be putting out a CD without the encouragement of everyone that I’ve met in the last three or four years.”

He thinks of Be Yourself as a major accomplishment in his life, something he never thought he could do, but which he was able to do despite the odds. He described the tunes on the CD as “happy breakup songs.”

As the encouragement flowed and his courage grew, Hughes connected with Guelph producer Lewis Melville. They worked together in a fluid, creative way, piecing the songs together.

Jeff Bird, Dave Clark, Colin Couch, Greg Denton, Lisa Woolgar, and Tannis Slimmon lent their musical gifts.

“It blows my mind how supportive people have been,” he said. “I’m a little shocked by it all. The album shows what I can do. Now I’m looking forward to doing another one.”

The release concert for Andy Hughes: Be Yourself happens on the evening of Saturday, Apr. 29 at Guelph Black Heritage Society, 83 Essex St. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Singer-songwriter Ian Reid will be opening act. A host of local musicians will accompany Hughes

Tickets are $20, available at The Bookshelf or www.ticketscene.ca/events/17878.


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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