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Christopher Cross is an infamous name in music history. He is one of the best known examples of the Best New Artist Grammy’s infamous curse, the fact that an alarming amount of the recipients of that very award seemingly crashed and burned soon after receiving it. This may be true of Starland Vocal Band and A Taste Of Honey, but Christopher Cross is a very different beast altogether, and definitely one deserving of your time.
Before rising to fame, Cross first performed with a San Antonio based rock band called Flash. Those that only know Cross for his smooth pop hits might be surprised to know that he spend his time in Flash’s ranks thrashing away at a Flying V guitar covering Deep Purple tracks through Marshall amp stacks. It’s a long way between that and “Sailing” but there was a long time between those two events. Almost nine years in fact.
Cross signed his solo record contract in 1978, and if anyone successfully predicted the album’s success; they would have been called an optimistic fool. “Christopher Cross” was a worldwide smash, with four singles charting in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, Cross gaining a slot opening for The Eagles and 5 million copies sold in the US alone.
Then came then1980 Grammy awards, and if there was ever a way to make winning five of the most prestigious awards in the pop world a bad career move, Christopher Cross showed exactly how it could be done. Namely it involves beating Pink Floyd, whose timeless “The Wall” album Cross beat to Album of the Year.
A second album “Another Page” followed in 1983 that was a strong showing, but then MTV showed up. Cross just wasn’t the personality that was needed to make an impact in the first days of the music video and his commercial success took a harsh down turn because of it. The 90s saw him produce some of his most critically acclaimed work, however, and when you have an artist with as much commercial success behind him already, that’s what counts.
Since then he’s shown up in the most surprising places. He appeared on Tina Fey’s sitcom 30 Rock and his song “Ride Like The Wind” featured in Will Ferrel’s Anchorman sequel. Clearly, Cross is an artist with far more to give than history says so. Any fan of soft rock will be very pleasantly surprised, and he comes highly recommended.
Five Grammy awards for a debut album? If that isn’t a foreshadowing of musical genius and success, then I don’t know what is. His singer/songwriter career has blossomed over the years, and as he is still touring and gigging the circuits nationally, and internationally, it’s a great opportunity to catch a performance from a great musician.
The great thing about Cross is that whether you know his songs or not, you will find yourself singing along by the end of the track. Seeing him in concert was eye opening. I’d heard rumours of Cross giving short background synopsis for his songs, and it was fantastic to hear this in person. There were man songs that I had misinterpreted, and it was great to hear their motivations and real stories.
It’s over 30 years since Cross’s days of glory, so it’s understandable to question whether his voice will be up to the challenge of 120 minute sets. The answer is most definitely yes. Although he can’t belt out the high notes to the levels he may previously have done, his voice is strong as ever. The entire audience were on their feet screaming and cheering by the end of the set, absolutely everyone loved it and couldn’t wait for the encore, which was Sailing – the best song of the set!
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