Graphic designer Andie Airfix is best known for the album covers he created for some of the biggest bands of the 1980s: Def Leppard, Metallica and The Thompson Twins. His style was amongst those that shaped the look of the era and will forever be associated with those bands lucky enough to work with him.
BORN IN SCOTLAND IN 1946
Andie Airfix spent his teenage years in Warrington. After studying Art and English literature at Chester Teacher Training College, he spent almost a year teaching Art and English at Southampton but soon realised his passion lay in creating.
IN 1970
Andie left for the USA, Canada and Mexico, funding his travels by selling psychedelic paintings to poster firms in New York and San Francisco. after a spell back in the UK he headed tothe Himalayas in India where he spent two years painting and completing a 500 kilometre trek across the Great Himalayan Range to Leh in Ladakh. The work he did there would inform his 40 year career as a - now legendary - graphic designer in the rock music industry.
UPON HIS RETURN TO THE UK IN 1976
Andie came across a sign announcing a soon to be opened Country Cousins supper club, nightclub and gallery on the Kings Road in Chelsea, London. The owner, restauranteur Christopher Hunter, loved his work and mounted an exhibition of Andie's work for the opening of Country Club and hired Andie as the in house designer.
BLITZ AND THE 80s
Andie was hired to revamp the Blitz club style, creating a logo, letterheads, menus, and fliers. From that point, Andie's graphic design company Satori was born, and the connections he made at Blitz brought about his first jobs, including the cover for the Thompson Twins' quick Step and Side Kick.
In 1983 his remarkable cover for Def Leppard’s diamond certified Pyromania album would help revamp the band’s image ready for mainstream success. He also worked with the band on their huge 1987 follow-up, Hysteria, which went on to sell more than 20 million copies.
"DEF LEPPARD are different to your average heavy rock band – the sleeve needs to reflect that. We’ve all had enough of tattoos, terrible pictures of half-naked women riding motorbikes and fire-breathing monsters - it’s all too cliched now. We need something different – more modern.” Andie Airfix
VIEW THE DEF LEPPARD HYSTERIA PRINT BY ANDIE AIRFIX
Many more covers followed, for the Thompson Twins, Def Leppard, Dead or Alive, Black Sabbath and The Moody Blues and more.
“Somebody once wrote to Andie saying that he had designed the look of the Eighties. At the time I thought maybe that was an exaggerated compliment but, looking at the styles and themes of his work, I’ve come to agree.” Ricky Clark-Monks - partner of Andie Airfix
IN THE 1990S
Andie teamed up with Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Guns N’ Roses to create artwork for their tour programmes. He also began a long partnership with Metallica by designing their Binge and Purge live album boxset. Other designs included the Live Aid and Live 8 DVDs, covers for Metallica. Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and Judas Priest, and many more for Def Leppard.
He died after a short illness in 2018 at the age of 72. He was celebrated in an exhibition mounted at the Warrington Museum and Art Gallery in 2024 will live on though his significant influence on the genre of album cover design.
