Nationally-known Christian band leader calls Norwalk home |
 |
 |
|
Written by MARYLISA BOOSE, Special to the Chronicle
|
|
Friday, 03 April 2009 01:00 |
NORWALK—When Andy Andino and his band, Who Do You Say I Am, performed during the week-long Right To Life festivities in Washington, D.C., in January, he had the perfect showcase — his son Andy, 18.
Mr. Andino and his wife, Wendy, who live in Norwalk, heard disturbing news from their doctor when Wendy became pregnant with their first child. The doctor said the baby might have Down syndrome and strongly suggested an abortion.
 |
| The Andino family includes, from left, Ryan, Andy, the younger Andy, Wendy and Jon. (Chronicle photo by MaryLisa Boose) |
"We said, ‘No way,’ " Mr. Andino told the crowd. "Look what we would have lost if we had gone with the worldview. We would have lost an incredible talent."
Then he had his oldest son perform a solo before about 15,000 people who were waiting for the March for Life to begin.
"He was the crux of the whole week with me," Mr. Andino says of his oldest son.
The singer says he and his wife believe each soul God creates is important. And they continue to believe that as they raise their two other sons, one of whom has Asperger’s syndrome — an autism spectrum disorder.
Mr. Andino’s musical career started with two venues — clubs and church. His interest in music began to develop when a nun gave him a guitar when he was 16 and agreed to teach him with one condition.
"I had to play for church. That was part of the deal," Mr. Andino says.
For several years, Mr. Andino spread his talent between nightclubs and church. But he eventually decided to focus his talent on his faith.
"At one point I realized I just couldn’t do it all anymore," he says. "I thought my musical career was over and decided to start playing just for church. I felt I really needed to do something deeper with my life. I needed to feel I was making a difference."
He started writing pieces for Mass and for youth ministry events.
"We started to get published," he says. "It wasn’t something I planned on, it just happened."
His band performs in both English and Spanish and has 24 published songs. Mr. Andino travels often to the Southwest and West Coast because of the bilingual band’s appeal to both English and Hispanic audiences.
Mr. Andino says he’s picked up many jobs in the western part of the nation because his publisher, the largest Catholic publisher in the nation, has its headquarters in the state of Oregon.
The band is based in Cleveland where Mr. Andino has a studio, but three years ago he moved his family to Norwalk as a way to separate his work from his family life.
"My wife finally got tired of people being all over the house all the time. We wanted to get away from it a little.
"We moved in and have been doing a lot of commuting back into Lorain and Cleveland," he admits, as well as traveling many weekends for performances. At one time he thought about moving back to Cleveland but now the family is committed to a life in Norwalk.
"This is a very friendly town," he says.
Mr. Andino and his band had their first performance at Norwalk St. Paul during last summer’s parish festival. Organizers of the festival contacted him without even realizing his family had moved into the parish.
"I’m excited," Mr. Andino says about that experience. "People realize we’re part of the community. My goal is to settle into a church. Now I want to write," he adds.
Mr. Andino says the size of his band fluctuates depending on the event and the budget. He sometimes even performs as a solo act, but usually has from three to nine band members for a job. His decision to focus on faith-based music is affirmed after every performance.
"When you play and people come up to you afterwards and say ‘you changed my life’ or ‘you really touched my heart,’ " he says, it makes him proud of his choices. "It’s a very different experience from playing for people drinking beer in a club."
Mr. Andino travels most weekends to play for events and takes about four tours each year of two to three weeks each.
"There’s always something going on somewhere in the country," he says.
Mrs. Andino travels with him about half of the time to sing and play acoustic guitar. His son Andy is now a regular member of the band. Younger sons Jon, 15, and Ryan, 8, experiment with different instruments with an eye on making their own contributions in the future.
"Our goal is to get people involved in the concert," Mr. Andino says. "Sometimes we bring people up to sing with us."
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 04 June 2009 09:09 |
