Porn’s Disco Darling!
She was born Andrea Marie Truden in Nashville, Tennessee on July 26, 1943. She had a fairly strict upbringing and attended Saint Cecilia Academy, a Catholic school for girls. After graduating, Andrea left the family and Nashville and headed to New York City to seek her fame and fortune as a mainstream film actress.
Andrea was able to secure some minor roles in mainstream movies from time to time, including 1973’s “The Way We Were”, but the fame she was hoping for never happened. When friends asked her to join them in the making of a pornographic movie out of the country, she went along with the idea. The money was good, she could travel and an opportunity to gain more experience with films and acting. Little did she know what the future would have in store for her.
That was in the early and mid 60’s and she performed in porn films in Scandinavia. By the end of the decade she began appearing in American porn films. Andrea would wind up doing more than fifty porn films throughout the 1970s and into 1980. Aside from doing porn and gaining somewhat of a star status Andrea’s vocal talents would shine making her an even bigger star in the recording field.
In 1975 she was hired by a real estate business in Jamaica to appear in their commercials. During her stay she collaborated with record producer Gregg Diamond to compose the song “More, More, More”. It was remixed in the states by recording engineer Tom Moulton and “More, More, More” became a fast favorite in discos and nightclubs. Record sales took off and the song would reach number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. With that success, and disco in full swing, an album with the same title soon followed and was a big seller. The single also reached the charts in the UK peaking at # 5, in Germany # 9. Since that time the song has been used many times in a wide variety of radio and TV commercials.
Andrea admitted she was burned out from doing porn and looked to her new fame as a recording star as the direction she wanted to go. However, her subsequent singles such as “”N.Y., You Got Me Dancing” in 1977 did okay, but it was nowhere near her first one. She left porn totally to concentrate on her singing, put a good group together called “The Andrea True Connection” and went on tour, but after a couple of years and subsequent albums that didn’t fare well and the club and concert appearance becoming less and less, she decided to return to porn.
This was in 1980, but now she was almost forty and things had begun to change so that return was a very short lived one. She would also discover there would be no return to music because a goiter that developed on her vocal cords required surgery, essentially ending her ability to sing. She dropped out of sight for a number of years but in 2000 Andrea took on another life. Using her given birth name she moved down to Clearwater Beach, Florida and set herself up as a psychic reader and also became a respected counselor for drug and substance abusers. Fortunately, Ms.True would continue to receive royalties from her music, and because “More, More, More” remained a popular song on TV, movies and commercials it gave her a decent income in her later years.
There was a renewed burst of publicity when Andrea appeared on several VH1 specials including 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000 (“More, More, More” was the No. 45 greatest dance song), Where Are They Now and 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders both which aired in 2002. On the shows she said she wanted to be remembered as a person who “gave people pleasure” and made sure to emphasize the words, “with my music.” She would also make a guest appearance in the 2005 documentary movie “Inside Deep Throat”. It can always be said that Andrea True is the only porn star to ever have a Top 5 record on the Billboard charts.
The multi-talented lady died on November 7, 2011, of heart failure in Kingston, New York at the age of 68. Why this true pioneer has never been inducted into the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame where she belongs, is a mystery. She did close to 100 films in her career and also accomplished something no other porn star, male or female, has ever done. Hopefully the day will come when she gets the recognition she is due. Andrea True was a “true” star in both in porn and in music.
Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN
