Andy Fraser

Andrew McIan Fraser (3 July 1952 – 16 March 2015) was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist and co-composer for the rock band Free, which he helped found in 1968 when he was 15. He is known for writing the hit songs "All Right Now" and "Every Kinda People". He also founded the rock band Sharks after leaving Free in 1972.

Fraser was born in the Paddington area of Central London to a Barbadian-Guyanese father of mixed European and African ancestry, and an English mother. His parents later divorced and, along with his three siblings, he was raised by his mother.

He began playing the piano at the age of five. He was trained classically until twelve, when he switched to guitar. By thirteen he was playing in East End, West Indian clubs and after being expelled from St Clement Danes Grammar School in 1968 at the age of 15, enrolled at Hammersmith College of Further Education. There, another student, Sappho Korner, introduced him to her father, pioneering blues musician and radio broadcaster Alexis Korner, who became a father figure to him. Shortly thereafter, upon receiving a telephone call from John Mayall who was looking for a bass player, Korner suggested Fraser; still only 15, he was now in a professional band and earning £50 a week, although it ultimately turned out to be a brief tenure.

Korner was also instrumental in Fraser's next move, to the influential band Free, which consisted of Paul Rodgers (vocals), Paul Kossoff (guitar) and Simon Kirke (drums). Fraser produced and co-wrote the song "All Right Now" with Rodgers, a No. 1 hit in over 20 territories and recognised by ASCAP in 1990 for garnering over 1,000,000 radio plays in the United States by late 1989. In October 2006, a BMI London Million-Air Award was given to Rodgers and Fraser to mark over 3 million radio and television plays of "All Right Now". Simon Kirke later recalled: "'All Right Now' was created after a bad gig in Durham. We finished our show and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. It was obvious that we needed a rocker to close our shows. All of a sudden the inspiration struck Fraser and he started bopping around singing 'it's all right now'. He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn't have taken more than ten minutes."

Fraser also co-wrote two other hit singles for Free, "My Brother Jake" and "The Stealer". Free initially split in 1971, and Fraser formed a trio, Toby, with guitarist Adrian Fisher, and drummer Stan Speake. Material was recorded but not released, and Fraser re-joined Free in December 1971. He left for the second time in June 1972.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.