Christopher Cross
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Christopher Cross (born Christopher Geppert, 3 May 1951, San Antonio, Texas) is an Oscar, Golden Globe and five-time Grammy winning, American singer-songwriter.
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[edit] Career
He is best known for composing "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen.)
Cross first played with an Austin based cover band named Flash 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 is, along with Norah Jones, the only artist to receive all of the "Big Four" Grammy Awards (Best Record, Song, Album, and New Artist) in the same year (it should be noted however that although Jones sang the song, she did not personally receive the Song of the Year Grammy because it is a songwriter's award). Hits from this album included "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald) and "Never Be the Same."
His second album, Another Page, which came out in 1983, included the hit songs "Think of Laura" and "All Right."
[edit] Singles
| Title | US HOT 100 | Serial number | Year | From album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Ride Like The Wind" | #2 | Warner 49184 | March 1980 | Christopher Cross |
| "Sailing" | #1 | Warner 49507 | July 1980 | Christopher Cross |
| "Never Be The Same" | #15 | Warner 49580 | October 1980 | Christopher Cross |
| "Say You'll Be Mine" | #20 | Warner 49705 | April 1981 | Christopher Cross |
| "Spinning" | - | Warner | 1980-1981 | Christopher Cross |
| "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" | #1 | Warner 49787 | August 1981 | Arthur(Soundtrack) |
| "All Right" | #12 | Warner 29843 | January 1983 | Another Page |
| "No Time For Talk" | #33 | Warner 29662 | May 1983 | Another Page |
| "Think Of Laura" | #9 | Warner 29658 | December 1983 | Another Page |
| "Charm The Snake" | - | - | 1985 | Every Turn Of The World |
| "Ride Like The Wind(Remix)" | - | Warner | 2001 | - |
[edit] 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 - Album of the Year- "Christopher Cross" (self titled debut)
- Grammy, 1981 - Best New Artist - "Christopher Cross"
- Grammy, 1981 - Song of the Year - "Sailing"
- Grammy, 1981 - Best Arrangement - "Sailing"
[edit] Discography
- Christopher Cross (1980)
- Another Page (1983)
- Every Turn of the World (1985)
- Back of My Mind (1988)
- Rendezvous (1992)
- The Best of Christopher Cross (1993)
- Window (1995)
- Walking in Avalon (1998)
- Greatest Hits Live (1999)
- Red Room (2000)
- The Very Best of Christopher Cross (2002)
[edit] Trivia
- Many people associate "Think of Laura" with the Luke and Laura plotline of the soap opera, General Hospital, which was very popular at the time, but it was actually written about a friend of Christopher's girlfriend at the time (named Laura) who had recently been killed by a stray bullet while riding in the back of a car[1].
- Cross contributed backing vocals, (along with The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson,) to David Lee Roth's 1985 hit "California Girls."
- Christopher Cross performed the song "Sailing" alongside the pop band 'Nsync at the Fourth Annual Blockbuster Awards in 1999.
- Cross 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 available.
- Cross' single "All Right" was used as the music for a montage of highlights following the championship game of the 1983 NCAA men's basketball tournament by CBS. In perhaps the greatest championship game in NCAA tournament history, Lorenzo Charles redirected a 30-foot airball by Dereck Whittenberg through the hoop at the buzzer to give North Carolina State an improbable 54-52 victory over the University of Houston's feared Phi Slamma Jamma team at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- Christopher Cross 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 demolished.
- His daughter, Madison is a singer and actress. She wrote and recorded a single dedicated to poet Mattie Stepanek in 2005.
[edit] External links
Associates Michael McDonald • Madison Cross
Albums: Christopher Cross • Another Page • Every Turn of the World
Singles: "Ride Like The Wind" • "Sailing" • "Spinning" • "Ride Like The Wind - Remixes 2001" • "Think Of Laura"
Related articles: Discography • Warner Music Group
