ANDREA BOOTH

BIO

Andrea Booth was born in the West of England but has lived in Ireland for most of her life. 

She has been taking an interest in a wide variety of musical genres from a very young age and quickly developed an appreciation for good songs and quality music. Recordings by Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers were a powerful influence, but The Hot Club de France, Hoagy Carmichael and their contemporaries were also an integral part of her childhood soundtrack.

In her early twenties, she began writing songs and in 1982 Andrea briefly performed and recorded with the legendary Dr Strangely Strange. One of her songs - The James Gang - is featured on the 1997 album 'Alternative Medicine'. Being a busy mother of two, and holding down a teaching job gave little opportunity to further develop her writing, so early efforts at composition remained hidden for some years. However, in 2006 Andrea teamed up with colleague David Murphy, a fine guitarist and singer. They worked together on arrangements for a wide repertoire of cover material which they performed as a duo in a variety of venues.

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Andrea persuaded Dave to start working on her own original compositions and they began performing her material in clubs and at singer-songwriter showcases and open mics around Dublin. The release of her debut mini-album and video 'Sand in My Shoes Blues' under the band name of Just Dandy, garnered much airplay on local national radio. Their video of the same title was the first winner of the Ukulele Hooley festival 'Uke Factor' Best Video competition 2017. 

Andrea continues to write and record her original songs and she performs regularly with the Rathfarnham Ukulele Band. She has released several videos on Vimeo including - in 2018 - the satirical song 'Running Away from Christmas'  and 'Queen of the Witches'. In 2019 she released the French flavoured 'Je suis Perdu' on the Avalon Records Label, and a country-tinged original entitled 'Waiting for You'.

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The Ukulele Hooley Song, written and recorded by Andrea at Beardfire Studio, was chosen by festival director Tony Boland and his team as the official theme tune for the 10th Anniversary of the Ukulele Hooley on August 18th 2019.

That day, she performed her song live on the main stage with the Dublin City Rounders.  A great moment was when her song was featured in the BIG BUSK, where she led the finale with all the performers, along with every ukulele player in the audience (see video on this site).

In 2020 Andrea released 'Someone Else's Paradise'. A bitter sweet Ballad with a Rootsy feel.  In it, Andrea tells the story of how she felt (or) of what happened after visiting the beautiful home where she spent so many happy times. Another family are living there now - so it's Someone Else's Paradise.

In March 2020 the single was added to RTE's recommends list, and played by the likes of Ronan Collins, Cathal Murray, Shay Byrne, Derek Mooney, Niall Toner and Fiachna O'Braonain!

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