Challenge Champion: Andy Smith

At Talent Is Timeless, we run Monthly Songwriting Challenges to help keep our members writing, sharing, and connecting. Each month, we spotlight some of the incredible songwriters who placed in these challenges — inviting them to share a bit more about their lives, their creative journeys, and the stories behind their songs.

This month, we’re featuring Andy Smith, a 67-year-old songwriter based in Rugby, Warwickshire. Andy joined Talent Is Timeless in January 2023, and his winning entry — a haunting tribute to silent film star Olive Thomas — speaks volumes about his depth as a storyteller.

“I’d been fascinated by the story of Olive Thomas for many years,” Andy explains. “She was an enormous star in her day and her life ended tragically and with countless unanswered questions. It was one of those songs that came from nowhere — it’s about as close to a folk song as I’ll ever write.” The resulting track captured imaginations, and it’s not hard to see why.

Andy’s relationship with songwriting started young. “I was bought my first guitar for my twelfth birthday, and writing songs happened straight away,” he says. “The first attempts were awful — hopefully they’ve improved!” For a shy and insecure teenager, songwriting became his voice. “I’ve always written in the first person, so I could hide behind my lyrics. But I also felt like I’d achieved something creative at the same time.”

That creativity never left — though the pace has changed. “As a teenager, I was writing two songs a day. Now I struggle to write one a month. I don’t care. I write for me now.” These days, Andy draws from real life more than imagined romance. “I’m more likely to write a song about my grandchildren or my dead wife than a girl I saw in a bar.”

One of his proudest achievements came from that deeply personal place. “I wrote an acoustic musical for my wife when she was dying of cancer. It was called Snowfall in July. It took three years to write and stage — and it sold out every performance at a little theatre in Birmingham. She insisted on coming to Closing Night. We pushed her wheelchair through the drunken Saturday streets of Brum. She sat beside me. She held my hand. She laughed, cried, and made me the proudest husband in the world. It was our last evening out together. She died four weeks later.”

Andy’s songwriting career has been full of quiet milestones. “In my last year of school, I had three songs accepted by Famous Chappell publishing. Nothing came of them, but it gave me the confidence to know I could write — that they weren’t rubbish.”

Talent Is Timeless has become another source of motivation. “It’s stopped me being lazy,” he says plainly. “There are some amazing songwriters in the group, and it challenges me to write something new — and hopefully worthy of a vote.”

When asked what advice he’d give to songwriters over 50, Andy doesn’t hesitate: “I think songs written later in life have a maturity which can’t be found in something written by a twenty-year-old. Like a good wine, we can improve with age.”

Andy’s journey reminds us that there is no expiration date on creativity — only deeper wells to draw from as life continues to shape the stories we tell.

You can listen to Andy’s winning song here: https://www.talentistimeless.com/june-25-mistakes-new/?contest=video-detail&video_id=64542

And Connect with Andy on Talent Is Timeless here: https://www.talentistimeless.com/members/andysmith1758