Andy Spencer

About Andy

Who would have thought that a trip to Blackpool with my parents, older brother Jonathan and Gran back in 1982 was the beginning of a musical journey that has shaped my life in ways I would never have imagined?

Gran insisted on treating us all to a day in the famous Blackpool Tower. For the first time, at the age of six, I listened to Phil Kelsall playing the mighty Wurlitzer in the fabulous Tower Ballroom. I thought it was wonderful, seeing the dancers whirl around the floor to the many tunes echoing around me. Shortly, there was a change-over of organists and as Phil decended into the depths of the floor, Kevin Speight began playing the electronic organ up on the stage. I was amazed at the sounds and rhythms being produced and enthralled with the style and flair of his music. That was it!!! I wanted to be able to do what he was doing. He inspired me.

I am part of a very musical family as my late grandad played the trumpet in a band, dad played the drums and trumpet and as mum had piano lessons as a child, we had grown up with her piano in the dining room. Alongside my brother, I had classical piano lessons until the age of eighteen when I passed my grade 8 Associated Board exam. During all of this, we were teaching ourselves the organ which had become our passion.

On leaving school I joined the family building business but also formed an organ and keyboard duo with Jonathan called the The Spencer Brothers. He played the Yamaha EL70 and I accompanied on keyboards. We specialised in playing for ballroom, latin and sequence dancing in venues like the Winding Wheel in Chesterfied and Rolls Royce Pavillion in Derby. We always held a strong interest in the organ world attending various concerts and demonstrations by well known artists such as Klaus Wunderlich, Glyn Madden and Max Takano to name but a few. 

In 2001 whilst on a building job, I met my lovely wife Jayne (what an expensive building job that turned out to be!). She also loved playing the keyboard for a hobby. Then through her connections with friends, I began teaching piano and keyboard in the evenings and realised how much I enjoyed it. In 2003 we tied the knot, then in 2004 our son Harry arrived, joining my two step children Alex and Jasmine.

Soon after, dad decided to retire and unfortunately with the demands of taking over the building business with Jonathan and having a young family, music took a back seat. I continued to play Jayne's keyboard whenever I could, as our instruments remained at mum and dad's, but I found the keyboard limiting, so I purchased a Yamaha Clavinova. The magic returned and as the children grew older, I had a bit more time for my music. Jayne was part of a tap dancing group who were putting on a show for charity, they needed help to pad out the show a bit so as she usually does, she volunteered my services. The purchase of a stage piano followed as there was no way I could take the Clavinova! Two solo spots, the accompaniment to a vocalist and dancer all to roaring applause re-ignited my desire to perform again.

My wife decided (yet again!) that it would be wonderful to have me playing carols on the piano at the annual school christmas fayre where she worked. Then, two of her work friends were both getting married, so I had the opportunity to be a paid wedding pianist, (obviously at mate's rates). I loved it, being part of their special days was a real honour, something I had not felt before and wanted to do again.

A weekend visit to Blackpool Tower Ballroom, brought a chance meeting with Mark Speight, who was performing on the Roland organ. I told him how it was solely down to his dad Kevin that my love for the organ was born and how he had inspired me. We chatted about the old days and I promised to send him some old recordings of his dad's tower performances. We became friends on facebook and visited the ballroom a bit more frequently, always having a chat during his breaks. I shared with him about my music and love of playing and he encouraged me to take it up again and get back into the world of music. He told me about his fabulous Yamaha Stagea organ that he had just bought and said that I should get one too. I then explained, much to Mark's amusment, that as I had just convinced Jayne to let me have the beloved EL70 in our home along with the stage piano and Clavinova plus by the glare she was giving me, I thought I would be pushing my luck.

The building was now getting harder as we were getting older and earlier this year (2025) Jonathan and his partner Jane decided to retire to the coast, fulfilling a dream that they'd had for many years. That decision gave me the push I needed and I decided to build a new full-time career in music, under the name of Andy's Forté, playing the piano for weddings and events and teaching piano and keyboard.

Wedding bookings are building nicely and my teaching is taking off.

To my astonishment Jayne suggested that we buy a Yamaha ELC-02 Stagea like Mark's to enable me to develop a concert programme of organ music to perform at organ societies and clubs. My programme is varied from classical to modern and almost everything inbetween!

I look forward to meeting and performing for you all in the near future.

In the meantime, take a look at my Instagram and facebook page: andysforte

Andy's Photo Gallery

Andy's Concert Diary