Chris De Burgh

I've always liked Chris De Burgh for his songs sweetly make you relax and comfortable but I started listening to his music seriously after hearing the Spanish Train and its strange story of a deal between the Lord and the Devil of winning more souls and how the devil still chests and wins more souls and as for the Lord well, He's just doing His best...! I do love that song and its weird storyespecially now that I've heard the Devil's Eye, quite a follow up to the Spanish Train for again this time devil's putting people under his spell by dominating their TV screens but erupted when something's happening, sounds like thunder, maybe the Lord is on His way, He's still angry and He's after me since I cheated on that Spanish Train....Wow! Nobody can illustrate the battle between the good and the evil as interestingly as Chris De Burgh did. Hey, sure you know by now that these two songs are my most fav ones of his works (apart from his Crusader that really gives me the feeling of having taken part in the battle between the Saladin's Saracens and the army of Richard the Lionheart, well, the same feeling occurred to me while I was playing Microsoft's Age of Empires II : The Age of Kings ^_^ ). I'll name my favourite Chris De Burgh songs later on this page but now let's see who this really talented gentleman is?

Chris De Burgh (born Christopher Davidson on 15 October 1948 in Argentina) is the son of a British diplomat. He started writing pop songs while studying at Trinity College in Dublin. After being signed to A&M Records he was pushed out as a support act for Supertramp, when they were enjoying massive success in 1975. His debute Far Beyond These Castle Walls had his light-rock tales of historical fantasy which were deemed a little fey(!) by the critics. A single Flying taken from the album failed to sell in the UK but became a #1 hit in Brazil.

His second album,Spanish Train and Other Stories, included a title track about playing cards with the Devil and a hauntingly catchy A Spaceman Came Travelling which became a perennial Christmas radio hit.

Whilst Chris de Burgh could not break through in Britain and the United States, he was highly successful in Canada, South Africa, Europe and South America (and later I guess the Middle East incl. Iran). His 5th album the EASTERN WIND outsold the Beatles' LET IT BE in Norway as it topped their charts.

De Burgh's first British and American hit was DON'T PAY THE FERRY MAN(1983) from the Rupert Hine-produced album THE GETAWAY.

His best received album, MAN ON THE LINE came in 1984 with another minor hit HIGH ON EMOTION, but it was the following year that the compilation THE VERY BEST OF made him a big name in the UK.

After 11 years of touring and two dozen singles, De Burgh finally made the UK #1 in 1986 with the irresistably romantic LADY IN RED. The record became a worldwide hit and established him as a major artist. All his back catalogue bagan to sell to a new generation of fans and the re-released A SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING finally made the UK charts in 1987. De Burgh maintained his ability to write a perfect pop song with the infectious MISSING YOU in 1988 which narrowly missed the top spot in the UK, while INTO THE LIGHT continued his now easier march into the best sellers. FLYING COLOURS became his biggest selling album to date when it topped the UK album lists in 1988.

In 1991, following the Persian Gulf War, Chris De Burgh donated all proceeds from his song THE SIMPLE TRUTH/A CHILD IS BORN to the Kurdish refugees.

His 1992 release POWER OF TEN maintained his standards. De Burgh is to be congratulated for the way he has stuck to his guns by not changing his musical direction for the sake of commercial gain, and in his own words from his letter to the A&M Records chairman:"Ther is life after the Sex Pistols". He presently lives in Eire.

(Sources: Vol.2 of the Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music -6 Volumes- edited by Colin Larkin published back in 1995 in London through Guinness Publishing LTD and Square One Books LTD

The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music written by Phil Hardy & Dave Laing published in 1995(revised and updated) by Faber and Faber Limited, London, United Kingdom.

note : I've purchaised these books at the Tehran International Book Fair running once a year.

And here are the songs by Chris that I enjoy listening to them more, you can click on them to read their related lyrics, NO MP3! (sorry for that but mp3's take a lot of storage space and I'm not allowed that much MB's on my Tripodic site!!)

The Last Time I Cried

The Girl With April in Her Eyes

Revolution

Light a Fire

Last Night