Andy Sturmer

Marvin Andrew Sturmer (born March 11, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and composer who co-founded the rock band Jellyfish in 1989. He was the group's lead vocalist, drummer, and primary songwriter. Following their break-up in 1994, Sturmer became involved with Tamio Okuda, as writer and producer for the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. Although Sturmer maintains a low public profile, he continues working as a songwriter for cartoons produced by Disney and Cartoon Network.^[3]

Sturmer attended Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California in the 1970s.^[1] There, he was a drummer in the school's jazz band, and met keyboardist Roger Manning. Manning recalled of Sturmer: "I've never seen anyone of his age with that expertise and command of his instrument. Andy was one of the first kids in our town who took it seriously and had a goal. He was my hero."^[3] They later joined the group Beatnik Beatch. When the band dissolved in 1988, Sturmer and Manning formed Jellyfish.^{[4] [3]}

Jellyfish released two albums, Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993). Sturmer wrote all of the lyrics, but composed the music with Manning.^[5] He had the rare distinction of not only being a drummer who regularly sang lead in a rock group, but also one who played a stand-up drum set at the front of the stage instead of sitting on a throne at the rear of the band.^{[6] [5]} While their records earned critical praise and they toured the world several times, Jellyfish failed to meet commercial expectations, and intra-group friction led to Jellyfish's dissolution in early 1994.^{[7] [3]}

In a May 1994 article published in the San Francisco Chronicle , it was reported that Sturmer and Manning would form new bands in the aftermath of Jellyfish.^[8] Sturmer nearly released a solo album on Virgin Records before deciding against the proposal.^[9] Manning later said, "It was a surprise to me that Andy chose the route he did. I felt sure he'd make solo albums of his own material, like [one unreleased] ballad he played me. That was a brilliant song and the world should hear it."^[3] Elsewhere, Manning attributed the break-up partly to Sturmer's discomfort as frontman: "Andy never wanted to be in the spotlight, but he was never honest with himself. With Jellyfish, he couldn't have been in more foreign territory."^[7]

Sturmer subsequently devoted his career to producing and writing for other artists.^{[10] [3]} Among his first projects was the Japanese pop duo Puffy (known as Puffy AmiYumi outside of Japan).^[11] He was already a friend of main Puffy composer and producer Tamio Okuda ^[12] and was credited as "godfather" of the band^[13] for giving the group their name.^[14] Sturmer also worked with the Swedish pop band the Merrymakers, who tracked him down through the Internet. He ultimately played all the drums on their 1997 album Bubblegun and co-produced four tracks.^[15]

Puffy were approached by Cartoon Network to sing the theme song for the 2003 animated series Teen Titans . Originally suggested by the series' producer Sam Register, creator Glen Murakami was delighted when he learned Sturmer would be writing and producing the track.^[16] In 2004, Sturmer also became the consulting producer and theme song composer for the cartoon Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi . After composing and producing most of the songs on Puffy AmiYumi's Nice. (2003) and 59 (2004), his involvement with the band lessened.^{[citation needed ]}

Following his work on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer composed theme songs for other Cartoon Network series, including Ben 10 (alongside its score composition), Batman: The Brave and the Bold , and the third season of The Batman animated series. He also composed the score and wrote the songs for the Disney series My Friends Tigger & Pooh and performed the theme song for Transformers Animated .^{[citation needed ]} In 2006, he worked with Mike Viola on the album Alpacas Orgling (credited to LEO).^[3]

In the liner notes for the 2002 Jellyfish box set Fan Club , it is stated that Sturmer had been planning "an imminent solo record to be released over the Internet."^[9] In 2015, a journalist reported that Sturmer had refused all requests for interviews about his past or current work,^[10] although Sturmer agreed to be interviewed for the 2016 book Brighter Day: A Jellyfish Story.^[17] Also in 2015, Manning commented in an interview that the reason Jellyfish has never reunited was mostly due to Sturmer's "lack of interest". He added: "I know many people that work with him in film and TV always tell me how happy and successful he is. Last I heard he had four or five shows on Disney that he was scoring."^[18]

Bibliography

• Dorfman, Craig (2016). Brighter Day: A Jellyfish Story. Not Lame. ISBN 978-0979771460.

• Andy Sturmer at IMDb
• Jellyfish discography at Zenandjuice
• Andy Sturmer Songs – demos article
• Andy Sturmer discography at Discogs Edit this at Wikidata
• Andy Sturmer Songs: 1994–present at SoundCloud

• 1965 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American drummers
• 20th-century American singer-songwriters
• 21st-century American composers
• People from Pleasanton, California
• American male drummers
• American male singer-songwriters
• American television composers
• American male television composers
• Jellyfish (band) members
• Animation composers
• Musicians from Los Angeles County, California
• Singer-songwriters from California
• Power pop musicians
• Atlantic Records artists
• Charisma Records artists
• Cartoon Network Studios people

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