Andrew Eldritch

Andrew Eldritch
Eldritch at a concert in Moscow, Russia, in March 2009
Background information
Birth name	Andrew William Harvey Taylor
Born	(1959-05-15) 15 May 1959 (age 57) Ely, Cambridgeshire, England
Genres	Gothic rock, Post-punk, darkwave, hard rock
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, drum machine, drums, percussion, bass guitar
Labels	Merciful Release
Associated acts	The Sisters of Mercy, The Sisterhood, SSV

Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is the English frontman, singer, songwriter and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band and, in later years, flirted with hard rock.

Formerly a drummer, Eldritch also programs the tracks for The Sisters of Mercy's drum machine (known as "Doktor Avalanche") and plays guitars and keyboards in its studio recordings but uses live shows to focus solely on his vocal performance. He is well known for his deep distinctive bass-baritone voice. He has also established the record label Merciful Release. In addition to The Sisters of Mercy, in 1986 Andrew Eldritch established a side-project The Sisterhood (to keep former band members from using the name) which was quickly abandoned in favour of continuing working under The Sisters of Mercy.

Andrew Eldritch was born in the small cathedral city of Ely in 1959. Eldritch later wrote a piano song named "1959", alluding to the year of his birth, starting with the line "Living as an angel in the place that I was born".

Eldritch studied French and German literature at the University of Oxford before moving to Leeds around 1978 to study Mandarin Chinese at the University of Leeds; he left both courses before graduating. He speaks fluent French and German and has some knowledge of Dutch, Italian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Latin, but stated that he has forgotten the Chinese he learned. During this period, Eldritch was a freelance drummer in the local Leeds punk scene.

In 1980, Eldritch and Gary Marx formed The Sisters of Mercy. On the first single, "Damage Done/Watch/Home of the Hit-men", Eldritch played the drums, a task he was later relieved of by a series of drum machines referred to as Doktor Avalanche, allowing him instead to focus on his vocal performance. Over the years, nine members have left the group, several of them citing conflicts with the frontman as a reason for their departure. These former members include Patricia Morrison, who claimed she had been paid an average of £300 per month; and Wayne Hussey, with whom Eldritch had a personal feud which contributed to heavy criticism of both by the popular music press during the 1980s. Hussey formed a breakaway band called The Mission as a result of this conflict.