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I'm curious what this 6 + 7 + 7 string guitar is and how it was used.
http://flickr.com/photos/ubermatt/2529951205/in/set-72157605297113148/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.174.121.97 (talk) 12:14, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
Was he really born in 1942 rather than 1952?
That appears to be a typographical error. Can anybody check on this?
If you read a lot of articles about the Police, you'll find mention that Andy Summers is 10 years older than Sting and Stewart Copeland.
If you still doubt this, check The Police: Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings. Andy's birth date is clearly stated as December 31, 1942.
Andy's official recording career began in the 1960s as a member of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, Dantalion's Chariot, and Eric Burdon and the Animals. He was in his 20s during this period. The box set even mentions that a teenaged Sting saw Andy perform with one of those groups, roughly a decade before they would become bandmates.
If you're still not sure, wait for his autobiography, One Train Later, to be published in October 2006 by St. Martin's Press.
http://www.andysummers.com/lightstrings.php Tim gueguen 19:36, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
There is no question that Summers was born in 1942. It does seem that he is misremembering some of the events described in his autobiography on the one hand, and his autobiography is also often fuzzy about chronology on the other hand. I don't know how you're managing to correlate the Cliff Richard references so precisely though. Is there really a record somewhere of when Richard first played Bournemouth and first appeared on television? TheScotch 08:49, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
If you don't know when Cliff Richard played Bournemouth and he couldn't have played it earlier than 1959, then as far as you know he might have played it in 1960, 1961, or 1962, and so on. Summers's birthdate has been "consistently" represented as December 31, 1942--very consistently, in numerous disparate reputable sources. Summers's fuzzy chronology in his book doesn't seem to me completely consistent, but it's hard to tell because it's fuzzy.
As of page 137 (in the hardback edition), which is as far as I've got, I'm coming to the conclusion that Summers is deliberately attempting to portray himself as younger than he is supposed to be. On page 135, just before he describes the Animals break-up, he says, "I will be twenty-three on my next birthday." I don't know what year it's supposed to be at this point, but it couldn't possibly be earlier than 1968, and it's more likely 1969. The latter fits your 1946 theory. TheScotch 09:37, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
Let me suggest someone email Summers and ask him to clear this all up? Fp cassini (talk) 05:19, 11 October 2009 (UTC)
Yes he was definitely born in 1942, is about ten years older than the other two from the Police. Hooooooof (talk) 18:46, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
Finally, here is absolute, definitive proof directly from the source: https://twitter.com/asummersmusic/status/1623362042458513409/photo/1 AmateurExpert (talk) 02:20, 9 February 2023 (UTC)
What does it mean that Andrew is now legally fathered by Martin...? That's a very confusing statement.
I've read Martin Turner discuss this in interviews. Andy Summers had a relationship with Martin's now wife during his period apart from Kate, they fathered a child, Andrew Jnr, who has been raised by his mother and her now husband Martin. Martin legally adopted Andrew Jnr.
Re: "In 1973, he married Kate, a psychology graduate, and they had a daughter, Layla Z Summers (born in 1978)."
If this person's maiden name is unknowable, then the passage should at least be reworded so that it reads something like, "He married his girlfriend Kate in 1973." If Kate were (or is) an actual psychologist, then "a psychologist" would help to identify her, but the phrase "a psychology graduate" is essentially meaningless and should be deleted.TheScotch 08:42, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Didn't Summers study classical guitar at UCLA from approximately 1969 to 1973? If so, shouldn't the article mention this? It would seem to me a pretty important part of his biography. TheScotch 09:33, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
I am planning an expansion of this article and rewrite of some sections with sources. The entire article is currently unsourced. If anyone has any good links to articles on Summers, can we collect them here to start improving the article? Thanks --Bloodzombie 16:43, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
The footnotes in this section don't seem to me to be especially obtrusive, but I'm not convinced we really need them at all. A "Reference" section will be understood to refer to the information in the article proper without footnotes.TheScotch 06:48, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
I think if we're really afraid there might be confusion (and I don't see how there could be in this particular case), then all we really need to do is make the reference section more specific. You seem to be suggesting that the longer the article the greater the need for footnotes, but the longer the article the more a reader will need to scroll down to read it in its entirety, which necessarily means trying to find the information the footnotes reference will be the more aggravating. An on-line encyclopedia thus has even less an excuse for footnotes.TheScotch 21:50, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
This article as it now stands seems to me obsessively concerned with brand names and models of guitars. I don't think any mention of them should occur in the opening paragraph, and the "Equipment" section, if it is to be retained at all, should be reduced to at least one-third of its current size. Brand-name guitar buffs can indulge themselves elsewhere.TheScotch 06:33, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
[1] [2] [3] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.170.173.22 (talk) 12:44, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
If the justification for this section is that "Summers is well-known and noted for his guitar collection and equipment," then if we're to retain it at its current length we need to amend the opening sentence which now reads, "Andy Summers (born Andrew James Somers 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist and composer best known for his work in The Police," so that it reads, "Andy Summers (born Andrew James Somers 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist, composer, guitar collector, and guitar enthusiast best known for his work in The Police."TheScotch 21:57, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
Generally, Wikipedia's musician-related articles read like press releases from the artists' publicists. This one's no exception, so it's almost pointless to mention it here. It's no better and no worse than most others I've read, but I tire of reading the hyperbolic drivel like "acknowledged as one of the most-imitated" blah-blah-blah.
Maybe, but such unproven and unprovable opinions add nothing to the information presented. B. Polhemus (talk) 19:21, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
No hay menciones sobre los trabajos en colaboracion de Andy Summers / Eberhard Schoener. Eberhard Schoener - Sarabande (1975) EMI/Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Flashback (1978) EMI/Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Video Magic (1978) EMI/Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Video Flashback (1988) Phonogram, Eberhard Schoener - Sting - Andy Summers (1990) Phonogram. Puede alguien aportar mas informacion sobre este?
There are no entries on the works in collaboration with Andy Summers / Eberhard Schoener. Eberhard Schoener - Sarabande (1975) EMI / Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Flashback (1978) EMI / Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Video Magic (1978) EMI / Electrola, Eberhard Schoener - Video Flashback (1988) Phonogram, Eberhard Schoener - Sting - Andy Summers (1990) Phonogram. Can anyone provide more info on this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Takenae (talk • contribs) 09:47, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
This article is about a living person, and is completely unreferenced. The few references were either too vague to verify, or self-published. I've deleted the material that was not referenced. -- Mikeblas (talk) 02:08, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
BUT DELETING THE WHOLE BIOGRAPHY, MAKING IT A ONE LINE ENTRY????? ISNT THAT EXTREME? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.74.83.78 (talk) 06:36, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
April 5,2011- I will be publishing cited and referenced information that comes directly from the source here in a couple days. If the moderators, would be kind enough to discuss with me the problems with this page in the past and my new revision of this page I would appreciate that. There are a lot of issues that people are talking about here and I cannot figure out what actually applies to the current page or any previous revisions. When I publish this information in two days, I would appreciate kindness and the moderators actually being helpful. Thank you. --simplycreative
In the "Police" subsection of the "Biographie"(sp?) section, it reads "Summers sang lead vocals on several songs, including "Sally" and "Mother." ." I feel that smacks of a fan's devotion or a press release's hyperbole. Summers sang on less than 10 of the band's ~70 songs, none of which were singles, hits or even notably strong AOR radio tracks, "deep cuts", concert staples, or generally recognized to be core to the canon. (Although I did read that Summers' "Omegaman" was considered as a possible pre-LP single b4 Ghost, but Sting was against the idea.) Although technically speaking 7, 8 or 9 is 'several', it's disingenuous to imply that Summers' singing w/ the Police is significant in any way. I count Summers having songwriting credit on ten of The Police's appr. 72-75 songs. I know "Camel Toe" is an instrumental. I believe it's not the only one. It would seem Summers sang on 10-11% on his band's songs. Fp cassini (talk) 16:28, 11 October 2009 (UTC)
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Andy Summers's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "allmusic":
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 03:20, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
I will be doing a general clean-up of this biography over the next week or so and maybe adding some images.Whoisjohngalt (talk) 15:46, 29 June 2015 (UTC)
Does anybody know which of the two guitars on "As the Years Go Passing By" from the album Love Is by the Animals is he playing? The wah wah on the right channel or the one on the left? One of the two belongs to John Weider I suppose. Chapa1985 (talk) 22:35, 30 July 2016 (UTC)
It is well known that he plays the 4-minute guitar solo on "Coloured Rain"...so I would like to find out which of the two guitars is he playing on "As the Years Go Passing By" because the article does not specify about it. What's the problem with this? Chapa1985 (talk) 14:26, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
During his stint in the Zoot Money band, in September '66, Summers met Jimi Hendrix on the day the latter arrived in England, and became the first British guitar player to get to see some of Hendrix' playing on UK soil (privately, not a stage show). Clearly noteworthy and I have a good source for this, gonna look it up in a few days time. :) 83.254.142.115 (talk) 14:04, 20 September 2018 (UTC)
There has been dispute about his year of birth (1942/5) and surname at birth (Somers/Summers) but his place of birth is not challenged (Poulton-le-Fylde). Government records of births (and marriages and deaths) in England and Wales are searchable on-line at FreeBMD. In the 1940s, there was no birth of an Andrew Somers registered but several Andrew Summers. Among them is "Summers, Andrew J" in the Fylde registration district, registered in the first quarter of 1943 which would be consistent with a birth on 31 December 1942 in Poulton-le-Fylde (the mother's maiden name is given as Allwright). Nedrutland (talk) 09:15, 23 January 2022 (UTC)
I know people are not reliable sources on matters concerning themselves in the Wikipedia sense of reliability. I wouldn't want it any other way. Maybe there is a verifiable source for the age at which Mr. Summers picked up the guitar? At approx. 57 secs into the quite recent Rick Beato YouTube channel's video 'Andy Summers: His Career With The Police and Iconic Guitar Style' Andy Summers states that he was 'about 12 years' of age when he got his first guitar from a cousin and was immediately fixated on it. At the time of the interview, Mr. Summers was probably only a few weeks short of being 81 years old (upload date Dec 18, 2023), his memory might fail him. He might be bad at math. He might not want to accept that he's already playing guitar for more than 70 years, etc. There could be many 'reasonable' or 'unreasonable' reasons for his statement to be false. I'm just suggesting to crosscheck with other reliable sources. I'll do some research myself which I will contribute if something worthy turns up. Korinthus (talk) 17:56, 29 December 2023 (UTC)