ROACHFORD TWICE IN A LIFETIME LP // 3 APRIL 2020 UK TOUR // MARCH + APRIL 2020

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“I think that, with this album, I finally get to showcase just who I am – an artist, a songwriter, a pianist. I never wanted to be a fleeting popstar chasing momentary fame; I’ve always been in this for the music and for the long haul – and I’m still here. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a better place than right now.”

ROACHFORD

Having recently collected his MBE for Services to Music at Buckingham Palace, ROACHFORD is back and set to release what is assuredly the best album of his career, TWICE IN A LIFETIME, released by BMG on 3 April. The album can be pre-ordered here: https://roachford.lnk.to/twicePR

Throbbing with musicality and soul, TWICE IN A LIFETIME is the sound of an artist at the top of his game, of one who knows his craft inside out, and is the album Andrew Roachford MBE has been gearing up to make for decades. Produced by Jimmy Hogarth, who has previously worked with Paolo Nutini, Duffy and Amy Winehouse, and featuring several members of Winehouse’s band alongside a duet with Beverley Knight, it’s full of grit and the most tremendous sonic energy.

Since Cuddly Toy (a mainstay of radio airplay for over three decades) reached number four in the charts in 1988, ROACHFORD has carved out a career for himself as one of the most compelling and consistent rock and soul artists the UK has produced. He has released 10 studio albums and several Greatest Hits collections, been sought as a songwriter by the likes of Michael Jackson, Joss Stone and Chaka Khan, and consistently toured on his own and with contemporaries such as Terence Trent D’Arby and The Christians. For the past nine years, he has also been part of Mike and The Mechanics, recording with Mike Rutherford’s post-Genesis band and playing live with them across the world.

A complicated operation in 2018 to remove lesions on his vocal chords threatened to derail the Londoner’s career. “The funny thing was,” he says, “I never really considered myself just as a singer before. I always thought of myself as a musician who sings.” When it did return, his voice was stronger and richer and prompted in him a belated realisation. “I realised I’d better start treating it with care. I just took it for granted before, and I take full responsibility for that. And, actually, as a singer I wasn’t too bad,” he smiles. Since his operation, this master of understatement has, to all intents and purposes, been reborn, a phoenix from the flames.

And so, in 2020, ROACHFORD finds himself writing and recording the best songs of his life. He’s come a long way from the giddy chart success of Cuddly Toy, with a deep-rooted desire to work at his trade and, simply, to make great music.

ROACHFORD is someone who channels the energy of James Brown before going on stage each night and who, on record, summons the spirit of Al Green and Joe Cocker. When he sings, you listen. And he is always performing, always laying live somewhere. To coincide with the album release, he will embark on the following dates:

MARCH

Thu 26 NORWICH Waterfront

Fri 27 MANCHESTER O2 Ritz

Sat 28 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy

APRIL

Thu 02 BRISTOL O2 Academy

Fri 03 LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Sat 04 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy 2

Sun 05 BRIGHTON Concorde 2

Fri 10 GLASGOW Oran Mor

Sat 11 GLASGOW Oran Mor

See http://gigst.rs/Roachford and Ticketmaster for tickets.

“I like to improvise,” he says, “so no two shows are the same and, even when I play the old hits, I always play them differently so I never get bored and, neither I hope, does the audience. I like to think I know how to interpret a room, how to connect with a crowd, and I always give it 100%. Every night, the moment the music starts up, the moment I walk out onto a stage, I’m right there. I’m completely inside it.”

TWICE IN A LIFETIME will be released on CD and heavyweight vinyl with signed copies available from the official artist store: https://roachford.tmstor.es/?lf=ba1626395633015e1dc0ce8301c46cc1