From the URBRUM magazine; Issue #2
Andy, who lives in the Hockley area of Birmingham, spoke very openly about his life journey, with the URBRUM team, in the hope that it would help tackle the day to day stigma that's all to often the result of ignorance to mental health issues.
Andy started playing the saxophone at the age of19, and has toured with the likes of Jazz Jamaica and Ziggy Marley.
He studied at London's Guildhall School of Music, and was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to the then University of Central England, where he trained as a teacher. Things looked good at this point, however in 2006 events in his life lead him into alcoholism as a coping mechanism to block out the pain he was experincing. He'd have manic episodes and display severe depression, a roller-coaster of emotions which left him totally understandably exhausted. It ended up with this talented man being sectioned under the Mental Health Act for his own safety.
Andy was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which explained the extreme mood swings he'd been experiencing. Andy believed that his life had come to a standstill at this point. But under the care of the Hanswoth Home Treatment Team, (part of BSMHT) things started to look positive again.
With the encouragement of the Trust Andy applied for a £5,000 grant to create a CD which would tell his story by the way of music. He was successful in his application and thus 'The Healing Process' was born!
'The Healing Process' contains 12 tracks recorded in Birmingham, with positive reviews from publications such as The Voice, The Phoenix, Local Radio, Jazz Wise UK, Jazz West Midlands and has featured in What's On June 2012 edition.
Andy started playing the saxophone at the age of19, and has toured with the likes of Jazz Jamaica and Ziggy Marley.
He studied at London's Guildhall School of Music, and was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to the then University of Central England, where he trained as a teacher. Things looked good at this point, however in 2006 events in his life lead him into alcoholism as a coping mechanism to block out the pain he was experincing. He'd have manic episodes and display severe depression, a roller-coaster of emotions which left him totally understandably exhausted. It ended up with this talented man being sectioned under the Mental Health Act for his own safety.
Andy was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which explained the extreme mood swings he'd been experiencing. Andy believed that his life had come to a standstill at this point. But under the care of the Hanswoth Home Treatment Team, (part of BSMHT) things started to look positive again.
With the encouragement of the Trust Andy applied for a £5,000 grant to create a CD which would tell his story by the way of music. He was successful in his application and thus 'The Healing Process' was born!
'The Healing Process' contains 12 tracks recorded in Birmingham, with positive reviews from publications such as The Voice, The Phoenix, Local Radio, Jazz Wise UK, Jazz West Midlands and has featured in What's On June 2012 edition.
Writing the album was very liberating for me and I hope it will help others who find themselves in the same situation. The message I want to get out is that it is possible to come through tough times, through depression, if you share your problems, talk about them, talk to one another, because it does help.
- Andy
Andy is continuing on his second album; 'Who feels it knows it'. He has applied for BBC funding for future projects and continues to perform at gigs locally and nationally, as well as in hospitals and old peoples homes.
Visit Andy's site for information on the artist himself, and links to his album as well as 5 free samples of his The Healing Process album pieces
Visit Andy's site for information on the artist himself, and links to his album as well as 5 free samples of his The Healing Process album pieces