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Andrew Gold
Biography
Best remembered for his mid-'70s smashes "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You for Being a Friend," pop singer/songwriter Andrew Gold was born in Burbank, CA on August 2, 1951. The son of composer Ernest Gold (who won an Academy Award for his score to the film Exodus) and vocalist Marni Nixon (the singing voice of Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady), he first attracted attention as a member of the Los Angeles band Bryndle alongside Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman and Karla Bonoff; in 1973, both Gold and Edwards joined Linda Ronstadt, appearing on classic albums including 1974's Heart Like a Wheel and 1975's Prisoner in Disguise. A noted arranger as well as a skilled multi-instrumentalist, Gold swiftly emerged as one of the most sought-after session musicians on the West Coast scene, and his resume -- including dates with James Taylor, Carly Simon, Loudon Wainwright III, and J.D. Souther -- reads like a Who's Who of the singer/songwriter movement.

In 1975 Gold released his self-titled solo debut; its follow-up, What's Wrong With This Picture?, was his commercial breakthrough, notching an international hit with "Lonely Boy." "Never Let Her Slip Away, " from 1978's All This and Heaven Too, also reached the British Top Five, but the album's most enduring moment remains "Thank You for Being a Friend, " the blockbuster ballad later remade as the theme song for the hit sitcom The Golden Girls.
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