Christopher Cross

Biography Wikipedia

Wikipedia:

Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his US Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the last of which he recorded for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore. "Sailing" earned three Grammy Awards in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen).

Career

Cross first played with a San Antonio-based cover band named Flash (not to be confused with the early 1970s English band of the same name) before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros.

Cross released his self-titled debut album, Christopher Cross, in 1979, which garnered him five Grammy Awards. He was the first solo artist to win all four General Field Grammy Awards (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist) in the same year. Hot 100 top 20 hits from this album included "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald), "Sailing", "Never Be the Same", and "Say You'll Be Mine" (featuring backing vocals by Nicolette Larson).

Cross' second album, Another Page (1983), included the hit songs "All Right", "No Time for Talk", and "Think of Laura". "All Right" was used by CBS Sports for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, while "Think of Laura" is used as a reference to characters on the soap opera General Hospital. Although Another Page sold respectably, it did not nearly live up to the high expectations set by his debut album.

Cross' next two albums, 1985's Every Turn of the World and 1988's Back of My Mind failed to produce any top 40 hits, and did not sell as well as his first two albums.

Cross made three more albums in the 1990s, and although some of his releases have gained critical response, he has failed to catch the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid-1980s, he has toured and opened for various acts since the 1990s and released his second greatest hits package in 2002.

Cross completed a Christmas album, A Christopher Cross Christmas, released in 2007. Cross finished recording a new acoustic album of his hits titled The Cafe Carlyle Sessions.

Cross released a new studio album Dr. Faith in 2011.

Personal life

Cross married his wife, Jan, in 1988. They divorced in 2007. They have two children; son, Christopher, and daughter, Madison.

Awards

Academy Award for Best Song, 1981, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, 1981, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"Grammy, 1981 – Record of the Year – "Sailing"Grammy, 1981 – Song of the Year – "Sailing"Grammy, 1981 – Album of the Year – Christopher CrossGrammy, 1981 – Best New Artist – Christopher CrossGrammy, 1981 – Best Arrangement – "Sailing"

Performances

Cross filled in for guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple (who had fallen ill) by performing with the band in San Antonio, Texas in 1970Cross contributed backing vocals (along with The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson) to David Lee Roth's 1985 hit "California Girls"Cross performed the song "Sailing" alongside the pop band 'N Sync at the Fifth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards in 1999Cross also performed lead vocals on "So Far Away", a song from Alan Parsons' album On Air. When Parsons was touring in support of that album, Cross would sometimes join the band onstage to sing the song if he was availableCross spent much of his youth living in a home on Newbury Terrace in Terrell Hills, just outside San Antonio, Texas. That home had earlier belonged to the Cummins family and another notable San Antonian, the historian and author Light Townsend Cummins, grew up in that same house a decade earlier. It has since been demolishedA small snippet of Cross's early hit "Sailing" was played in the DreamWorks film "Flushed Away"Cross performed his hit song "Ride Like the Wind" on the NBC show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, October 5, 2009, in a "Yacht Rock" themed episode. He was joined by Michael McDonald, whom he has worked with in the past. As the credits were rolling, Cross, McDonald and The Roots, the Fallon house band, broke into "Sailing", which he also performed in an online-only performance on NBC.comToured as part of the 2002 "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour with Alan Parsons, Mark Farner, Jack Bruce, Eric Carmen, and Todd RundgrenPerformed as part of the 2003 "A Walk Down Abbey Road" show, which consisted of two performances at the Atantic City Hilton on August 8–9, with Alan Parsons, Todd Rundgren, Joey Molland and Denny Laine