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Andy James – From Robbie Williams to  Compere to Bar Owner
by Suzi Q

Every Thursday night it is my pleasure to work at AJ´s Bar None, under the old Torviscas market, where the evening is pinned together by owner / compere, Andy James.
It turns out Andy has had a varied career, from a stint at BBC television centre in White City to Sales Manager for a major house builder, all the while burning the midnight oil playing in bands (always a real love of his) all over the UK, and some TV appearances too. As millennium year approached Andy underwent major surgery, which wasn’t entirely successful, and due to a long road to recovery had to give up his job.

“It was in May 2002 after a visit to my consultant that he suggested, for a better quality of life, an all year round warm climate would help to aid my recovery. When my wife Maggie came home from work I told her what he had said, so she suggested a holiday in Tenerife was in order, as she had been before but only to the north of the island. It was all new to me so we made the arrangements and stayed in Calleo Salvaje for a week. We spoke to a few different people about what it was like to live here, what you needed to do to work and stay legally etc. From what I had seen and heard throughout that week, I thought it was worth a go and incredibly felt much better, the power of the sun really did do something for me but I had to speak seriously to my better half because it was her who would have make the decision to give up her job and career, which was in fact on the up. We talked about it all the way home on the plane, she had no hesitation about putting our house on the market and giving notice with her employers, she said she´d had enough of the rat race and that my health and quality of life was more important. It was meant to be because our house sold within 24 hours of it going on the market. That done, Maggie handed in her notice and we arrived in Tenerife in  August 2002.
When we arrived we didn’t really know what we were going to do to earn a living, my wife got bar work but my health matters needed sorting first. I was advised to go see Dr David Robinson in Silencio who treated me on a daily basis and it is thanks to him and his wife that I am able to do what I do today. (He is greatly missed & his lovely wife Pat, since they relocated back to the UK)
I played guitar and sang, so put a show together and tried to get work, but at that time if no one knew you it was hard to get work, plus I wasn’t too marketable then. I then got a job has a Karaoke compere in hotels and when people heard me sing Robbie Williams songs they said they couldn’t understand why I didn’t do a tribute to Robbie as they seemed to think I sounded very like him, and had a similarity facially. This went on for a while and I thought what the heck all these people cant be wrong . People who really know me know I am a perfectionist and if I am going to do something it has to be 150% correct.
I took around 6 months prep time, studied the man himself through Dvd´s, Cds and rare footage etc learnt his full repertoire up to that point in time and in March 2004 Andy James as Robbie Williams hit the stage. From that first show I was approached by Thomsons to appear at Exit Palace for the season and I never looked back from then, also Trevor Martin helped me to put my first set of backing discs together, get legal and fill the gaps in my schedule. I was nominated for best tribute in 2006 but was pipped at the post by Paul Lee as Meat Loaf, in a very tough best tribute lineup, but it was ok, we´re friends and even shared the same table on the day.
Some months prior to the TEA 2006, my health problems lead to a regime of daily medication which, long story short had the side effect of affecting my vocals, and gave me breathing problems, I also seemed to have the flu more often than not, and it took almost a year to discover that it was a side effect of one of my prescribed medications.
So for someone making a living out of singing this was an obvious problem, and after a few erratic performances I lost a couple of gigs, and decided a new plan of action was needed, before I lost all my work. I could still talk and be entertaining and sing less strenuous songs but didn’t feel I was doing justice to the Robbie show anymore, so I presented an idea for an evening entertainment setup to the first bar that employed me as Robbie, which was 44 Regent St, Torviscas, it suited everyone and we agreed to trial it for 2 months. From the first night it proved to be a hit with holidaymakers and residents, but after some time there I felt I needed to run my own bar with Maggie, and in October last year we opened AJ´s Bar None. Despite the global recession we press on, and we usually have the same couples and family’s in night after night. Without them we are nothing so can I use this interview to say a big thanks to everyone that has supported us, spending most of their evenings at the bar and returning time after time!  I always want to ensure the cabarets sound fabulous too, too many comperes in my experience, just get you on as fast a possible so they get a break and just leave you to it. I want the acts to have the best experience and just leave them to perform.”

I have to say the sound system in AJ´s is second to none and it´s a great place to work. Paul Stone´s tribute to Billy Idol performs there, and Andy brings his Robbie tribute to the stage too, which has even been watched by the real Robbie´s Dad, Pete Conway (pictured). How scary that must have been!! Check out the programme of events on http://www.ajsbar-none.com/
and if you happen to be around on a Thursday night, I will see you there.