My Home: Erasure's Andy Bell

As frontman of Erasure, Andy Bell has sold 25 million albums worldwide, achieved 24 consecutive UK Top 20 singles, and had a total of 17 British Top 10 hits. Their latest album, Light At The End Of The World is on sale now. Bell lives with his partner Paul in Highgate, north London.

I came across this house because I used to drive down road on the way to Annie Lennox's studio, where we were recording, in Crouch End, north London. It is a lovely road, it almost feels as if you're in the country – it's so quiet and tree-lined.

Every time I passed by, I thought it looked fabulous and then one day I noticed it was for sale. Two gay guys owned it at the time, and it was all done up in marble and very austere-looking. When we moved in we gave it a complete make-over and added lots of colour, changed the rooms around to create more space and opened up the windows at the back so the garden became more visible. I was influenced by the look and feel of Mexican houses. I love the style of Frida Kahlo and her Casa Azul in Mexico City.

This building was an old farmhouse, but over the years it has gone through a lot of changes – and not just the ones we made. Now it stands on its own in almost three acres of garden. Being a pop star, you tend to travel to most parts of the world, and one of my favourite things to do is pick up trinkets and artworks. I have a beautiful painting of a boat by a Portuguese artist, which I bought from San Francisco a few years ago. It hangs near the fireplace in the sitting room opposite the baby grand piano.

I also have some stunning work by Derek Jarman and we were fortunate to meet him before he died 13 years ago. As soon as you come through the front door, there is a portrait of Vince [Clarke, the other half of Erasure] and one by Pierre et Gilles. We actually went to their house in Paris – it was crazy. There were birds flying around everywhere – and bird shit all over the place. It is a great photo though. I love their stylised, colourful look.

Being brought up on one of the worst housing estates in Peterborough, I never quite imagined that I would one day live in a house like this. It is a wonderful, big open-plan place with the most amazing views over London – each bedroom has its own balcony and we have a huge garden that has foxes darting in and out of it.

Colour plays a strong theme in our house. I decided to have it completely repainted to brighten the place up and make it look warm and welcoming after my partner had been very ill in hospital with a stroke in Los Angeles in 2000. He was in a coma for more than three weeks and I was so desperate that the house would be complete and looking its best when he came home. We had been staying in LA for a few months, and I managed to explain the colour scheme that I wanted to the painter over the phone. It was quite a miracle really that he understood what I wanted!

We have bright red in the kitchen, lilac and magenta in the sitting room, and gold, dark blue and orange upstairs. But we also have a lot of fun, kitsch ornaments. When we were in LA, we me one guy called Mickey Song who used to be Marilyn Monroe's hairdresser. When he passed away, he left us a fantastic array of memorabilia – some beautiful black-and-white prints that we have put up in the hallway upstairs alongside portraits of Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.

In the bathroom downstairs we have a Marilyn Monroe doll that sings " Happy Birthday". Actually I think she looks rather like Princess Diana. They said when they were clearing out her stuff they discovered she had an Erasure CD, which I was touched to hear. I am quite into Fifties movie idols, we also have a black and white screen in the sitting room – Audrey Hepburn on one side and Marilyn Monroe on the other – to suit your mood.

We both have our own bedroom and en suite bathrooms. I think if you're living with someone it is good to be able to have your own space as well. I have a small digital radio beside my bed, and I always love to listen to the World Service before I go to sleep. The Shipping Forecast is very relaxing.

I have just been converted to iPods. At first I was dead against them and I thought, "how dare they throw all this stuff in your face on iTunes?" Now I have loads of different tunes on mine, and I am especially into the electro sound of Datarock, Hot Chip and Giorgio Moroder.

I love this area of London, and happily travel about by the Tube and bus. I think once you've been on the scene for a while, and then it all dies down, people just leave you alone as they think you're part of the furniture.

Since I came to London, I've always lived north. When we're here we like going to regular places to eat, like Cafe Rouge and Carluccios. But I do like going south of the river. It is almost like going abroad. When we're not here we love to spend time at our villa in Mallorca. But that's another story.

We don't tend to entertain all that often, but we did have a cracking fireworks party recently, with a barman downstairs serving countless cocktails.

We had all the windows opened up and had a great time. The neon lights in the sitting room and the disco lights around the floor made it look wonderfully theatrical.

www.erasureinfo.com

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