United Kingdom 
Sian Anderson to host 1Xtra Grime Symphony
11 years ago
Ian Anderson is a renowned singer, musician, and songwriter, recognized for his distinctive flute playing and his role as the frontman of Jethro Tull.
Anderson produced their 1974 album 'Now We Are Six'.
Anderson appeared on and produced her first solo album, 'Woman in the Wings' (1978), for which Jethro Tull made most instrumental contributions.
Anderson appeared as a guest on the song 'All Along You Knew' from their 1985 album, 'The Big Prize', following Jethro Tull's 1984 tour where Honeymoon Suite was an opening act.
In 1984, Anderson, along with other Jethro Tull members, recorded the album 'A Classic Case' with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing a selection of Jethro Tull music.
Anderson was a DJ on the radio station, presenting his own two-hour show 'Under the Influence'.
Anderson appeared on stage with Joe Bonamassa playing the Jethro Tull song 'A New Day Yesterday' at the Hammersmith Apollo in May 2010.
Anderson plays flute on the song 'On Tuesday' from their 1987 album, 'Pop Goes the World'.
Anderson plays flute on the song 'Play, Minstrel, Play' from their 1997 debut album, 'Shadow of the Moon'.
Anderson plays flute on Harper's 1998 album 'The Dream Society' and on 'Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion' (1974).
Anderson performs as a special guest on two live albums: 'Acoustically Driven' (2001) and 'Electrically Driven' (2001), performing 'Circus' and 'Blind Eye'.
Anderson played flute on the track 'Portmeirion' on their 2001 album 'XXXV' and has performed with them at their annual Cropredy Festival since the mid-1980s.
Anderson played flute and sang lead vocals on a version of 'The Thin Ice' for the 2005 tribute album 'Back Against the Wall'.
In April 2011, Anderson performed a flute duet with astronaut Cady Coleman during her mission aboard the International Space Station, for the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight.
Anderson played the flute on the track 'Cannonball' from their 2012 album, 'Hot Cakes'.
Anderson played the flute on 'Cry to the World' from their 2013 album, 'Grandine il vento'.
Anderson played the flute on 'The Ocean at the End', the title track from their 2014 album.
Anderson contributed flute on the song 'Black Cherry Pie', the third single from their 2015 album, 'Wasted on the Dream'.
Anderson released the studio album 'Jethro Tull – The String Quartets' with them in 2017.
Ian Anderson played flute throughout the official video for Marc Almond's song 'Lord of Misrule', from his 2020 album 'Chaos and a Dancing Star'.
Anderson sings and plays flute on 'Let the Music Show You the Way' from their 2020 album, 'Living in the Gap + Hungarian Pictures'.
In 2024, Anderson played flute and provided spoken word passages on tracks from their album 'The Last Will and Testament'.
Ian Scott Anderson was born on August 10, 1947, in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. His early life involved a move to Edinburgh at age three, and then to Blackpool, England, in 1959. He pursued fine art at Blackpool College of Art from 1964 to 1966. Early in his career, before becoming widely known for the flute, Anderson played guitar and harmonica, forming The Blades in 1963 with school friends. His transition to the flute was influenced by a desire to establish a unique musical identity after realizing he would not achieve the same guitar prowess as artists like Eric Clapton. This decision, made around 1967, quickly led to proficiency and his signature one-legged stance while performing.
Anderson co-founded Jethro Tull in 1968, leading the band through numerous albums and tours that cemented their place in rock history. Over five decades, Jethro Tull released 30 studio and live albums, selling over 60 million copies globally. Anderson’s solo career also includes seven albums, starting with “Walk into Light” in 1983. Notable solo achievements include “Divinities: Twelve Dances with God” (1995), which topped Billboard’s classical chart, and later progressive rock albums like “Thick as a Brick 2” (2012) and “Homo Erraticus” (2014), the latter reaching No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2017, “Jethro Tull – The String Quartets” also achieved commercial success on the Billboard Classical Charts.
Throughout his career, Anderson has received significant recognition for his musical contributions. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1973. In 2006, he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement and an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Heriot-Watt University. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2008 for his services to music and received another honorary Doctorate from Abertay University in 2011. In 2013, he was honored with the “Prog God” award at the Progressive Music Awards, acknowledging his lasting impact on progressive rock.
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