Andy Fletcher

Andrew John Leonard Fletcher (born 8 July 1961), sometimes known as Fletch, was an English keyboard player, DJ and a founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode.

Life
Fletcher is the eldest of four siblings born to Joy and (the late) John Fletcher. The family moved to Basildon from Nottingham when Fletcher was two years old. He was active in the local Boys' Brigade from an early age, primarily to play football. It was in this Christian youth organization that he met future Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke, and the two have both recollected in interviews the local missionary work they attempted on behalf of the organization to convert non-believers.

Fletcher married his longtime girlfriend Gráinne Mullan on 16 January 1993 and the couple have two children, Megan and Joe.

While Depeche Mode were touring with the band Blancmange in the early 1980s, Fletcher was renowned for his skill at chess. Neil Arthur of Blancmange has mentioned in interviews "never winning a game of chess with Andy Fletcher!"

During the 1990s, Fletcher owned a restaurant called Gascogne located on Blenheim Terrace in St. John's Wood, London.

He made a series of bad investments in the mid-1990s that led to a number of financial settlements involving Lloyd's of London and Daniel Miller.

According to The Independent, "Fletcher's deepening depression resulted, in the summer of 1994, in a full nervous breakdown."

Career in Depeche Mode
In the late 1970s, Fletcher and schoolmate Vince Clarke formed the short-lived band No Romance in China, in which Fletcher played bass guitar. In 1980, Fletcher met Martin Gore at the Van Gogh pub on Paycocke Road in Basildon. With Clarke, the trio, now all on synthesizer, formed another group called Composition of Sound. Clarke served as chief songwriter and also provided lead vocals until singer Dave Gahan was recruited into the band later that year, after which they adopted the name Depeche Mode at Gahan's suggestion. Clarke left the group in late 1981, shortly after the release of their debut album Speak & Spell.

Their 1982 follow-up album, A Broken Frame, was recorded as a trio, with Gore taking over primary songwriting duties. Musician and producer Alan Wilder joined the band in late 1982 and the group continued as a quartet until Wilder's departure in 1995. Since then, the core trio of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher have remained active, most recently with the release of their 2017 album Spirit and ensuing world tour.

Role in Depeche Mode
Fletcher's role within Depeche Mode has often been a topic of speculation. In early incarnations of the band, he played (electric and later synth) bass. As the band evolved after Vince Clarke's departure in 1981, Fletcher's role changed as each of the band members took to the areas that suited them and benefited the band collectively. In a key scene in D.A. Pennebaker's 1989 documentary film about the band, Fletcher clarifies these roles: "Martin's the songwriter, Alan's the good musician, Dave's the vocalist, and I bum around." In his review of 2005's Playing the Angel, long after Wilder's departure from the band, Rolling Stone writer Gavin Edwards riffed upon Fletcher's statement with the opening line: "Depeche Mode's unique division of labor has been long established, with each of the three remaining members having a distinct role: Martin Gore writes the songs, Dave Gahan sings them and Andy Fletcher shows up for photo shoots and cashes the checks." Fletcher is the only member of the band who has not received a songwriting credit.

With the band having not always employed a full-time manager, Fletcher has handled many of the band's business, legal, and other non-musical interests over the years. In the press kit for Songs of Faith and Devotion, he discussed being genuinely interested in many of the business aspects of the music industry that other performing musicians shy away from, and as such, he took over a lot of the business management aspects of the band. In recent years, this has included acting as the band's "spokesperson", with Fletcher often being the one to announce Depeche Mode news (such as record album and tour details).

He is also said to be the member who is "the tiebreaker" and the one that "brings the band together". According to interviews, Fletcher built the compromise between Gahan and Gore that settled their serious dispute following 2001's Exciter album and tour over future songwriting duties within Depeche Mode.

In the studio and during live shows, Fletcher does contribute a variety of supporting synthesizer parts, including bass parts, pads, strings and drone sounds, and various samples.

However, he is notably the only member of Depeche Mode who does not sing. Although he can be seen singing in videos of Depeche's past live performances, usually Fletcher's vocals were either mixed very low or heard only through his own stage monitors. From the band's 2013/14 Delta Machine Tour, vocal mics are no longer present on his keyboard station.

He notably sings on the interlude "Crucified" on Violator. According to Alan Wilder, every band member participated in the choir on the song "Condemnation" from Songs of Faith and Devotion and Wilder confirms this on the press kit of the same album.

Toast Hawaii (record label)
In 2002, Fletcher launched his own record label, a Mute Records imprint called Toast Hawaii (named after the dish) and signed the band CLIEИT. He coordinated the recording of their eponymous 2003 debut and 2004's City, while also produced "extended remixes" for their subsequent singles "Price of Love," "Rock and Roll Machine," "Here and Now," "In It for the Money," "Radio" and "Pornography" (featuring Carl Barât of The Libertines).

CLIEИT left the label in 2006 and no further activity with Toast Hawaii has occurred or been announced to date.

DJ career
Initially to support CLIEИT's live shows, Fletcher began touring as a DJ. Currently, when he is on hiatus from Depeche Mode, Fletcher plays occasional festivals and club gigs in Europe, Asia, South America and "places where Depeche Mode haven't visited or been able to visit", and is known to include various exclusive Depeche remixes in his sets. A notable DJ set of Fletcher's from 15.02.2004 in Warsaw has been widely bootlegged, titled "One Night in Warsaw".

In late 2015, Fletcher embarked on a small tour of European clubs.

Death
On 26 May 2022, Depeche Mode announced on their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts that Andy Fletcher died, later Rolling Stone confirming in this article that he died from natural causes at his home, at the age of 60.

Many artists or close people have responded to the news with statements or tributes to Andy, showing support to his family and the band, including Pet Shop Boys, Alison Moyet, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle), Molchat Doma, Alan Wilder, saying that it was "a real bolt from the blue", Anton Corbijn, Erasure, Jennifer Sklias and Stella Rose Gahan, Duran Duran, Michael Amott (Arch Enemy), New Order, Thomas Dolby, Eric Alper, Ewan Pearson, Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff), Rob Sheffield, Gary Numan and many more.

On 27 June 2022, the band revealed in a post on Instagram and Facebook the cause of Andy's death, that being an aortic dissection: ''A couple weeks ago we received the result from the medical examiners, which Andy’s family asked us to share with you now. Andy suffered an aortic dissection while at home on May 26. So, even though it was far, far too soon, he passed naturally and without prolonged suffering.''