Christopher James Mannix Bailey (29 November 1956 – 9 April 2022) was a Kenyan-born Australian singer, songwriter, musician and producer. He was the co-founder and singer of rock band the Saints.
Chris Bailey | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bailey (right) with Peter Wilkinson and Caspar Wijnberg, in Amsterdam in 2006 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher James Mannix Bailey |
| Born | 29 November 1956 Nanyuki, Colony of Kenya |
| Origin | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 9 April 2022 (aged 65) Haarlem, Netherlands |
| Genres | Rock, punk, post-punk, blues, grunge, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1976–2022 |
| Labels | Highway 125 |
| Formerly of | Kid Galahad and The Eternals The Saints The Chris Bailey Combo Chris Bailey and The General Dog |
| Website | saintsmusic |
Early life
editBailey was born in Nanyuki, Colony of Kenya[1][2] to Irish parents. He grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, until the age of seven, when his family migrated to Australia. His family settled in Inala in Brisbane, Queensland. He and his sister Margaret[3] attended Inala State High School, Oxley State High School and Corinda State High School, where Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay were also students.[4]
Career
editBailey, Kuepper and Hay formed the band, The Saints in 1973. Their first significant success was in the UK with the classic punk anthem "(I'm) Stranded". The band slowly evolved toward a more sophisticated sound on their next few albums. Bailey continued to lead the band into the 1980s. A cover of the Easybeats' "The Music Goes Round My Head" was issued as a single in December 1988 and featured on the soundtrack to the film Young Einstein.
Later activities
editIn 1991, Bailey formed the Chris Bailey Combo which included Paul Hester, Nick Seymour and Dror Erez as well as a revolving cast of guest players.[5]
Demons was Bailey's second solo album, recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been sent by TVT Records. Savage Entertainment was released in October 1992. In 1993, Bailey wrote and recorded with Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, including a reworking of the song "All Fools' Day". Bailey's fourth solo album, 54 Days ... at Sea, was recorded in Malmö, Sweden, and was released in 1994. It featured Bolivian folk musicians Mundo Folk, whom Bailey had seen busking when visiting friends in Sweden the previous year. Swedish musicians Eddie Nyström (guitar), Magnus Börjeson (bass) and Stellan Colt (drums) provided the rock base for the album. For the Earth Music compilation, issued in June 1994, Bailey contributed a cover of Tim Finn's "Not Even Close".
After several years of solo adventure, Bailey revived the Saints to record Howling in 1996. This album was followed by Everybody Knows the Monkey (1998), Spit the Blues Out (2002), Nothing is Straight in My House (2005), Imperious Delirium (2006) and King of the Sun (2012-Australia, 2013-Europe) which were all recorded under the name of the Saints. When Mushroom Music celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1998, Bailey was one of the invited artists to perform on a stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an audience of about 100,000 people. He performed solo two of his most famous songs, "Ghost Ships", and "Just Like Fire Would", and also a duet with Paul Kelly on "Wide Open Road", a tribute to the late David McComb of the Triffids. In 2003, Bailey made a guest appearance singing the chorus vocals on "Bring It On" on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Nocturama. Bailey then toured America with the group and performed with them on the Late Show with David Letterman. At the 2005 Queensland Poetry festival in Brisbane, held at the Judith Wright Arts Centre, Bailey headlined the event.
Bailey and the General Dog was another of Bailey's constellations, their last record being Bone Box in 2005.[5] During 2007, Bailey undertook a solo tour of France, on occasion as a double act with French rock artist Mickaël Furnon (alias Mickey) from the rock group Mickey 3D.
Death
editChris Bailey died in Haarlem on 9 April 2022, aged 65.[6][7][8]
Discography
editSolo albums
edit- Casablanca (1983)
- What we did on our holidays (1984)
- Demons (1991)
- Savage Entertainment (1992)
- 54 Days at Sea (1994)
- Encore (1995)
- Bone Box (2005)
The Saints albums
editReferences
edit- General
- McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Whammo Homepage". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 5 April 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2010. Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
- Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1.[9] Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
- Specific
- ^ "Ed Kuepper Guitar - Powerhouse Museum Collection". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ "Los Angeles Times: The Patience of a Saint 4 November 1998". Los Angeles Times. 4 November 1998. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ Meyering, Isobelle Barrett (26 September 2019). "The Margaret Bailey case: high school activism, the right to education and modern citizenship in late 1960s Australia". History of Education Review. 48 (2): 183–197. doi:10.1108/HER-05-2019-0014. ISSN 0819-8691. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ Stafford, Andrew (2006). Pig city: from The Saints to Savage Garden. University of Queensland Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 9780702235610.
- ^ a b Holmgren, Magnus. "The Saints". Passagen.se. Australian Rock Database. (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 8 January 2004. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
- ^ Risen, Clay (25 April 2022). "Chris Bailey, Who Gave Australia Punk Rock, Dies at 65". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ "Pioneering punk Chris Bailey, who helmed Aussie legends The Saints, dead". ABC News. 10 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Hirwani, Peony (11 April 2022). "Chris Bailey death: Lead singer of Australian band The Saints has died aged 65". The Independent. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
- ^ Who's who of Australian rock / compiled by Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry. National Library of Australia. 2002. ISBN 9781865038919. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2010.