Andy Bell Goes 'Cosmic' for Madonna

Posted on May 15th 2009 12:00PM by Steve Baltin
Comments

As a remixer, Erasure's Andy Bell says he'd love to have a go at Madonna. "Who wouldn't?" he asks Spinner. But while the Material Girl hasn't handed over any masters yet, Bell isn't waiting around to take his stab at one of the early catalog songs he dreams of redoing. "On my new record I'm working on at the moment, I've got a track called 'Cosmic Climb,' which is one of her old demos," Bell says. "So I would like to pick one of those things, cause she did some really good electro stuff right from the beginning, very punkish."

Bell, who says the solo album he's working on should be done by the end of next month, isn't afraid of tackling Madge's music, but the pop queen herself does intimidate him. "I met Madonna one time and I couldn't even speak," he recalls. "I had to stop myself from fainting. I could feel myself literally falling on the ground. I had to say, 'Andy, stop your nonsense.'"

Madonna isn't the only singer Bell has been starstruck over. Blondie's Deborah Harry had the same effect on him. "She invited me to her flat warming in New York one time and I was so scared I couldn't go, I couldn't work up the nerve to go," he says. But after the pair toured together on the True Colors jaunt, they've become friends. "Really, she was my heroine and then to actually meet your idol and then for her to be concerned with you, sitting on the steps smoking cigarettes with you, and just hanging out," he says. "I can't believe we get on so well."

So there is hope for Bell and Madge to be friends yet. "She was really nice," he recalls of their meeting. "I was surprised how little she was and what big Bambi eyes she had." Careful, Andy -- she's not as sweet and innocent as she looks.

Download Erasure Songs | Download Madonna Songs