Andy Fairweather Low was born on 2 August 1948 in Ystrad Mynach, a mining village in the Rhymney Valley, Wales, to working-class parents; his father was a road sweeper and the family lived in an unheated council house. A Saturday job at a music shop in Cardiff gave the teenage Fairweather Low his first real chance to play guitar, and within a few years he was fronting his own band.
He found fame as the founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop group Amen Corner, who scored four successive UK top-ten hits, including the number one single '(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice' in 1969. When the band split he formed Fair Weather, then went solo, releasing four albums between the mid-1970s and 1980 that produced hits such as 'Reggae Tune' and the Christmas 1975 favourite 'Wide Eyed and Legless'.
From the late 1970s onward Fairweather Low built a second, equally remarkable career as one of British rock's most in-demand sidemen, working with The Who, George Harrison, Joe Satriani and Kate Bush among many others. He spent over two decades as guitarist for Roger Waters' Bleeding Heart Band and has been a fixture of Eric Clapton's touring band since the early 1990s, cementing his reputation as one of the UK's most respected and enduring musicians.
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Founding member and lead singer of 1960s hitmakers Amen Corner, later a long-serving sideman for Eric Clapton and Roger Waters.
Andy Fairweather Low
Guitarist and singer
Born and raised in Ystrad Mynach in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales — a confirmed, genuine Welsh connection.
Fairweather Low's Saturday job at a Cardiff music shop proved to be his gateway into music, and by his late teens he was leading Amen Corner to national stardom. Since the 1990s he has been a mainstay of Eric Clapton's touring band, appearing on Clapton's Unplugged sessions and From The Cradle, while also contributing to Roger Waters' Amused to Death and Radio K.A.O.S. albums. In 2023 he released a new solo album, Flang Dang, recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales.
Career Highlights
1969: Amen Corner scored their only UK number one with "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice".
1975: Solo hit "Wide Eyed and Legless" reached No. 6 in the UK Christmas chart.
1990s–present: Long-serving guitarist for Eric Clapton and Roger Waters’ touring bands.
ℹ️ Born 2 August 1948 in Ystrad Mynach, Wales.
Born and raised in Ystrad Mynach in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales — a confirmed, genuine Welsh connection.