Erasure frontman Andy Bell details new solo album

Erasure frontman Andy Bell details new solo album, Ten Crowns, set for release in May.

The new album will coincide with a UK tour beginning on 1 May in York, continuing through to Cambridge on 19 May with a London show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 16 May followed by a run of European dates.

To celebrate, the singer has released the single Don’t Cha Know, one of the first tracks to be written for the album. Watch the video by Stephano Barberis below:

Majestic Moment

According to Andy, Don’t Cha Know marks “the beginning of the expedition” that would become Ten Crowns. Hinting at the emotional journey Andy has been on: “It’s so very hard to say hello / When your whole world comes crashing down.”

The new album is the result of Andy embracing a milestone in his life: Ten Crowns – ten tracks of dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel – was completed in the year he turned 60 and marks a majestic moment in his career.

No stranger to collaboration – his four decades of writing and recording with Vince Clarke as Erasure are still going strong and the duo recently began work on a new album together – Bell threw himself into writing with close friend Dave Audé, the Grammy award-winning producer, remixer and DJ. Their work together is euphoric, and to top the celebrations, they invited Andy’s ultimate pop heroine, Debbie Harry, to join Andy on vocals for Hearts A Liar.

Embracing Life

The new single follows the cosmic flash of Breaking Thru The Interstellar, where Andy dances us “towards another paradise… ready for a new dimension / On our galactic journey”. Inspired by his love of reading BBC science magazines and the possible existence of wormholes that allow travel through space, he explains, “It’s on first because I wanted to let people know we’re going to go for a ride now!”

Andy and Dave had previously collaborated on two US dance chart number ones together: 2014’s Aftermath (Here We Go) and 2016’s True Original, and after those dance tracks, the pair “just kind of carried on writing as an exercise”, Andy explains, “and after that, Dave moved his family to Nashville because LA was so expensive, and so our writing took this kind of gospel-tinged Nashville twist.”

He describes how in Nashville there’s a church on every corner – “it reminded me of singing in choirs and cathedral school as a child, where the spirit of the church is imbued in the music”. Not that Ten Crowns is a sombre, spiritual set. It’s propulsive, electronic, passionate, driven by the need to encounter new emotions and experiences as life races on.

“I mean, I’ve got everything I could possibly wish for, you know, I really have, but that’s not to say I’m always fulfilled,” Andy adds. “This album’s about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, embracing life – and about taking that feeling on even when you’re fighting demons in the world, like homophobia, and fighting demons in yourself. It’s about being celebratory and uplifting.”

Ten Crowns Tracklisting

Breaking Thru The Interstellar
Lies So Deep (feat. Sarah Potenza)
Heart’s A Liar (feat. Debbie Harry)
For Today
Dance For Mercy
Don’t Cha Know
Dawn Of Heavens Gate
Godspell
Put Your Empathy On Ice
Thank You

Andy Bell Live UK Tour

01 May – York Barbican
02 May – Birmingham Symphony Hall
03 May – Manchester Bridgewater Hall
06 May – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
07 May – Aberdeen Music Hall
08 May – Gateshead Glasshouse
11 May – Bournemouth Pavilion
12 May – Guildford G-Live
13 May – Bath Forum
16 May – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
18 May – Liverpool Philharmonic
19 May – Cambridge Corn Exchange

To book tickets, which are on sale now, click here

To pre-order Ten Crowns, set for release on 2 May 2025 on vinyl (white, oxblood and picture disc available), CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings, click here

Read More: Andy Bell Talks Erasure: ABBA-esque