Sad news from The House Of Love camp; Guy Chadwick took to Facebook last week to announce the passing of guitarist/vocalist Andrea Heukamp.
We only just heard the sad news of the passing of Andrea Heukamp who died in 2022. Andrea was in the band at the start until she left to go home to Germany at the end of 1987. She was a talented all round musician and played Bass, Drums, Guitars and had a wonderful voice, particularly showcased on The Hill. I was hoping to bring her into a much more central role in the band and was gutted when she announced she was leaving. We spoke a few years ago as I was trying to persuade her to perform with us at The Roundhouse show in 2018, but it wasn’t to be. RIP beautiful Andrea x
The House Of Love @ Facebook
Heukamp was one of the original members recruited by Chadwick for the band in 1986 – that’s her on the cover photo of their 1987 self-titled singles compilation, aka The German Album – and stayed through 1988, playing on the band’s original singles but leaving before their self-titled debut (aka Creation) was recorded, opting to return to her native Germany. In the liner notes for the 2007 reissue of the album, Chadwick said of her departure:
Losing Andrea Heukamp was a massive, massive blow for me: I loved her voice and I loved her playing, she was easily as important as Pete, Terry or Chris.
Guy Chadwick, The House Of Love
The House Of Love liner notes, 2007
That said, she remained in the band’s orbit and appeared on guitar and vocals on Babe Rainbow – perhaps conscripted to fill in for the departed Terry Bickers – and is also credited with backing vocals on Audience With The Mind. You can hear her vocals throughout their discography if you listen for it, but as Chadwick noted, it’s most memorable in her one lead vocal performance on “The Hill” (title “On The Hill” on the 2007 reissue of The German Album). It was a b-side for their 1988 debut single, “Christine”, and is a personal HOL deep cut favourite – a standout for both Heukamp’s lovely vocals and being an absolutely cracking song.
You can also hear her in this 1987 live recording from a London show supporting Felt, and while her role was as backup vocalist, the combination of her voice and Guy’s definitely added something special. If she’d stayed with the band, The House Of Love would have been a very different beast.
Heukamp mostly disappeared from music following House Of Love’s original dissolution in the ’90s, but did resurface as backing vocalist in German band Loving The Sun in the early aughts. However in recent years she became more reclusive and was apparently working as a house cleaner around the time of her passing.
