By the age of 16, Andy was playing with Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band in a Bournemouth jazz club. Sting reportedly saw this band perform at the Club A Go Go, one of his regular Newcastle hangouts. Andy reportedly changed his name to Somers in the mid to late 1960s, a time when drug and sexual experimentation were the order of the day. In 1975, Andy was part of a touring version of Tubular Bells tour when he saw the band Last Exit (including Sting) open the show in Newcastle. But fate would finally bring Andy and his Police bandmates together two years later, during the rehearsal of a Strontium 90 concert. After the gig, Andy rejoined the bluesy Kevin Coyne Band while Sting and Stewart joined forces with Henri Padovani. But by August of 1977, Andy Summers, a guitar virtuoso, was officially part of The Police and Padovani was out. Padovani graciously recaps his brief relationship as Police guitarist on VH1's "Behind the Music."
During his tenure with The Police, Andy solo writing credit for a number of songs, including "Friends," "Behind My Camel," which earned The Police a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, "Shambelle," "Omegaman," "Mother," and "Someone To Talk To," plus additional writing credits for "Dead End Job," "Be My Girl--Sally," "Reggatta de Blanc," another Grammy winner (1980 Best Rock Instrumental Performance), "Deathwish," "Flexible Strategies," "How Stupid Mr. Bates," "A Kind of Loving," "Murder By Numbers," and "Once Upon a Daydream," all of which appear on Message in a Box.
Andy has been married three times, first to singer Robin Lane, and then to a psychology graduate named Kate, who he married 1973 (while performing as a backup musician for Neil Sedaka), divorced in 1981, and remarried in 1985. Kate and Andy are the proud parents of three children, Layla Z. born 19 November 1978, and a set of twins: Anton Y. and Maurice X. born 12 April 1987. Andy liked the idea of his children having a initials (did you notice the X,Y and Z?) instead of a middle name. This fascination with the last three letters of the alphabet rolled over into his professional life, too, since one of his albums is named XYZ.Andy's hobbies include photography and painting.
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