Andrea Marie Truden, better known by her pseudonym Andrea True, was an Americanpornographic actress and singer from the disco era. In addition to her given name, she had multiple stage names, including Inger Kissin, Singe Low, Sandra Lips, Andrea Travis, and Catherine Warren. As a singer, she is best known for the 1976 pop-disco hit "More, More, More", which peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.
Early life
Andrea Marie Truden was born in Nashville, Tennessee, where she attended St. Cecilia Academy, a Catholic school for girls dedicated to the performing arts. She studied music at George Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Her father, Frank, was an engineer, who died when True was 16 years old. Her mother, Anne, owned a silver plating business and was a professional singer, specializing in polka, and had recorded her own record and had performed with Frankie Yankovic's band. Her parents were immigrants from Slovenia. As a child, True studied classical piano and was given a high rating for her piano audition for St. Cecilia Academy in 1954. At age 15, she hosted her own television program, Teen Beat, for Nashville station WTVF. While a junior at St. Cecilia, True participated in Junior Achievement, serving as vice-president of a TV production enterprise. In 1960, she received an award for her work from the Radio and Television Council of Middle Tennessee. In a recorded interview published by The Rialto Report, True stated that she married at age 19, leaving college to follow her husband's academic career, first to Oklahoma and then eventually to New York City in the late 1960s.
Career
True performed in a few pornographic films in Scandinavia in the 1960s and, by the end of the decade, began appearing in American adult films. Eventually, she performed in more than fifty hardcore porn films throughout the 1970s and early to mid-1980s in the early New Yorkadult film industry. During her heyday as a porn actress, around 1975, True was hired by a real estate business in Jamaica to appear in their commercials. While she was working there, the Jamaican government banned asset transfers in response to sanctions imposed by the U.S. after the election of Michael Manley, a supporter of Fidel Castro. In order to return to the U.S., True would have either to forfeit her pay or spend the money before she went home. True, who by this time was trying to break into the music industry, chose to invest the money in recording a demo of "More, More, More", a song she had been working on with record producer Gregg Diamond, her partner in a project called The Andrea True Connection. Remixed by recording engineer Tom Moulton, "More, More, More" became a favorite in nightclubs. It reached No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and a full album with the same title followed. The single also reached the charts in the UK, Germany and Italy. By the time of her singing career, True admitted she was burned out and tired of porn, saying, "I'd rather be a waitress or a typist than make another adult film", and also, "Don't think of me as a porn star any more, think of me as a recording star. I just want to record and perform". In early 1977, True released the single "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing", from her follow-up album, White Witch. The single became True's second biggest hit, reaching No. 27 on Billboard's pop chart. In 1978, she had a second hit in the UK with "What's Your Name, What's Your Number", which peaked at No. 34 in the UK. Both albums included studio musicians with a new band assembled for the tour, the second line-up, which included future Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick. In 1980, she released her third and final album, War Machine. A more hard rock-oriented album, it was released only in Europe, but it flopped. After True's third album failed, a goiter developed on her vocal cords that required surgery, essentially ending her singing ability. She continued receiving royalties from her music, and "More More More" remained a popular song on TV and movies. True received a renewed burst of publicity in 1999 when the Canadian group Lensampled the instrumental break from "More, More, More" in their single, "Steal My Sunshine". Subsequently, True appeared on several VH1 specials including 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000, Where Are They Now and 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders, in which she said she wanted to be remembered as a person who "gave people pleasure" — then emphasized the words — "with my music". She also made an appearance in the 2005 documentary movieInside Deep Throat.
Death
True died on November 7, 2011, at a hospital in Kingston, New York. She was 68 years old. The cause was given as heart failure. In line with her wishes, True's body was cremated.
