Andrew Star and Terry Draper of Klaatu, who along with Dee Long produced Brandy's single "If You Need Someone" Hello, my name is Andrew Star...singer-songwriter for the Canadian group Brandy during the latter part of the 70's and early 80's. I have been on a self-imposed hiatus from the music business for the last number of years now, but this has given me the chance to re-think some of my tunes and write new ones as well. I also have taken this time to raise a family and reflect on life a bit. As a group, Brandy was a plethora of talent who either were playing, jamming or recording with the band...Ray Cobourn(keyboards) was briefly in the band before joining Honeymoon Suite, Attila Demjen(drums) went on to drum for Lee Aaron after declining an offer to play with Platinum Blonde (I remember distinctly sharing a beer with the Blondes just outside of Thunder Bay and 'Tilla confiding in me the offer, but he was hesitating to tint his hair blonde to join...i tried to encourange it but he felt badly about leaving us on the road without a drummer...soon after that the Blondes became the biggest act in Canada). We recorded out of Kensington Sound Studios on Baldwin ave., just south of College and Spadina where nearby, the El Mocambo thrived with performances by the Stones, Klaatu, Lisa Delbello among others...there were memorable moments like the one night, on the way to Kensington Studios, Draper and I stopping at the GasWorks on Yonge St. for a drink and next thing I knew, we were surrounded by the guys in the band that was playing, who were friends of his and some other people I knew, B.B.Gabor, Johnny Lovesin...I recall it was one of the most magical moments I had ever experienced...this has remained like a photograph embedded in my mind. There were other moments, as memorable like having Prekash John( Alice Cooper bassist during the Welcome to my Nightmare period) playing bass on a song i'd recently written "Let Love(into your home and heart)" and when the owners of Quantum Records(our label) Mike Alyanak and Vezi Tayeb walked in with four of the members of Tower of Power. Later, "Doc" Kupka would tell me how such a fantastic experience it was to record at the Cariboo Studios with Elton John and that they were preparing to go on tour with the Stones shortly...there is a single out there with "Treating me Bad" backed with "Let Love" featuring some fine brass by these fine musicians as well as some great bass lines by Prekash( I last heard it on a Hamilton station ions ago...e-mail me a copy if anyone comes across it) - The Klaatu connection was actually a bit of a fluke. Alfie Zappacosta's agent, Ken liked some of my stuff and suggested i go out on a drive with him to Oakridges to meet Terry Draper. Draper owned a houseboat by the water and a dog named "Freak", I had almost forgotten the Bouvier. I wrote most of "If You Need Someone" on that houseboat with Terry helping me along with the lyrics and making suggestions on modulating the last verse and harmonies he felt were more appropriate for the tune...I was always very good at writing a good solid melody but the lyrics were never my forte. We watched some of the early videos for "Calling Occupants" in animation format which included their producer Terry Brown(who also produced Rush) as still part of the band. I never met Brown and during their recordings i never saw him around. I was introduced to Dee Long shortly afterwards and it was agreed that Brandy would record an E.P for Klaatu Productions to be released by Quantum Records, with Dee and Terry as producers...If You Need Someone, Good Old Days, Treating me Bad and Star of the Show were picked for the sessions. Star of the Show was my favourite with its Lennonesque imageries of "come, see...elephants flying in the skies...be the guest and leave the rest to Sir Magpie" but Quantum decided to shelve it and release If You Need Someone b/w Good Old Days as a single. -Although, the music business has changed over the years from Disco to Punk to Wave to Rap and Hip-Hop, the job of the songwriter has remained the same...which is to top the charts, not only locally or nationally but internationally. And that goal must be constant, that's why the new moniker and my vision of a brand-new band named Northern Star, which I have started to assemble and I'm posting a sample of the sound that I believe can achieve that for us...one more thing, If I were a man who gambled I would bet $1,000,000(a million dollars hands down) on "Old-Fashioned Girl" to be that elusive hit ! Please listen to it and give me some feedback.
E-mail me at andrew-star@rogers.com

- Old Fashioned Girl...beatlesque - mersey beat (4.22mbs)

- If You Need Someone...song produced by Terry Draper and Dee Long of Klaatu(2.22mbs)

- Can't Live Without This Love...soft ballad in the style of Celine Dion, Maryah Carey, Alicia Keys(3.1mbs)

- I Got a Girl...jazzy a la Mike Buble(2.52mbs)

- Sin Tu Amor...ballad in Spanish in the style of Enrique Iglesias (1.72mbs)

- JDKEYZ - the Beautiful Waltz Epoch(1.72mbs)

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To Be a Star !........Andrew Star