Andy Cloninger was born in a hut on the cliffs of Dover, and was raised by migrant farmers in the wilds of Indonesia, Cleveland, OH, and the ball pit of a Wendy’s restaurant in Hoboken, NJ.” After a brief stint as a child model, Andy hit it big with his first invention, the elastic waistband.
He was first bit with what he likes to call “the urgent need to race soapbox derby cars” at the age of 25. Sure, his friends all had real cars, but Andy was always a loner who liked to live on the edge. Well, as soapbox junkies often do, he got hooked on the dippin dots and the flav-o-sticks and even some chick-o-sticks and some of them monkey-o-sticks. Well, needless to say, he was setting himself up for a fall.
After a brief stint as a male spokes model for underage gasoline rights, Andy began making cartoon caricatures out of belly button lint and a bit of old cereal. Sure, no one bought them and couldn’t stand the smell and vomited a lot, but it was art, man, art.
Pretty soon he had mastered all levels of your favorite video game and could be found hanging out at Star Trek fan conventions talking politics with anyone who was wearing fake Spok ears.
One time Andy saved a puppy from drowning only to realize it wasn’t a puppy at all.
As for now, Andy can only say that he has finally given up pitted olives once and for all and plans on planning more of his plans in the future.
(No you can not have back the last 5 minutes of your life….It’s mine, ALL MINE!!!)
Andy finds it hard to laugh authentically at jokes that begin with “have you heard this joke”, or “I heard a funny joke yesterday”, or “I’ve got a good one.”
Andy really likes watermelon, to a strange degree.
Andy would go barefoot most of the time if life allowed it, but he has realized that a good pair of shoes are better than wining about the fact that life doesn’t allow for a full time barefoot existence. Plus a man in his thirties going barefoot all the time starts seeming creepy to neighbors and adults in general, and Andy doesn’t want to freak people out, or join a commune. And Sanuk makes some shoes that kind of feel like going barefoot.
Andy really likes watching people walking around in public places. There are 50 songs to be written about people in any given mall or market on any given night. You just have to fill in the blanks.
Andy’s mind really wants to learn to play the piano, but his schedule really wants him to stay a guitar player.
Andy is a microphone and recording equipment geek.
Andy was an athlete in high school and college and didn’t really get seriously into music until his twenties (but he could sing a pretty good cover of U2s Running to stand still in ninth grade).
Andy can wrestle four kids effectively for extended periods of time with minimal damage (to the kids).
Andy’s favorite color is clear.
Andy Cloninger is a singer songwriter whose songs offer hope, peace, fun and insight, bridging the gap between people who are cynical about God and faith and believers who are sometimes judgmental of the world. His goal is to create music to connect people to God and have a darned fun time doing it. His fun, deep, and sometimes wildly improvisational concerts and worship leading experiences have been enjoyed by people all over the country.
Andy Cloninger is a songwriter, author, performer and music producer. His number one song, “Every time I Breath” recorded by Big Daddy Weave and co-written with lead singer Mike Weaver, remained atop the GMA charts for over twelve weeks in 2007. Andy has authored two books in the best selling Email from God series, one co-written with his mother, Claire.
At his own Dancing Dog Studios, Andy enjoys producing projects for bands and individual artists.
A veteran performer and recording artist himself, Andy travels the country performing his brand of original acoustic music with richly textured lyrics.
At home in Daphne, AL, Andy and wife, Jenni, share their greatest successes, their marriage and their 4 children: Kaylee, Drew, Reed, and Samuel.