Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him fiveGrammy Awards. He is perhaps best known for his US Top Ten hit songs, "Ride Like the Wind", "Sailing", and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the latter recorded by him for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore.[1][2] "Sailing" earned three Grammys 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).

Contents
[hide]
 * 1 Career
 * 1.1 Early musical career
 * 1.2 The first album, and immediate success
 * 1.3 The second album
 * 1.4 The curse of the MTV generation
 * 1.5 The 1990s
 * 1.6 The 2000s
 * 1.7 The 2010's
 * 2 Personal life
 * 3 Discography
 * 3.1 Studio albums
 * 3.2 Compilations
 * 3.3 Soundtracks
 * 3.4 Singles
 * 3.5 Other appearances
 * 4 Awards
 * 5 Performances
 * 6 In Popular Media
 * 7 References
 * 8 External links

Early musical career[edit]
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. in 1978.[3]

The first album, and immediate success[edit]
Cross released his self-titled debut album, Christopher Cross, in 1979. The Billboard 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). Due to the almost immediate success and popularity gained by his first album, he was nominated for several Grammy Awards, garnering him five.

He also made Grammy history by winning 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. To date, he is the only artist to have won those four awards in the same year. He also won a fifth for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), sharing the award with producer Michael Omartian and listed as "arrangers" for the song "Sailing."

The second album[edit]
Cross's 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. Another Page sold well, getting Gold Certification. He also co-wrote and sang the song "A Chance For Heaven" for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

The curse of the MTV generation[edit]
After 1984, Cross' star quickly dimmed. As music television station MTV grew to dominate the mainstream music scene in the U.S., Cross' physical appearance and style of music proved to be "a bad fit" for the network, and Cross' brand of adult contemporary music declined in popularity.[4]

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

The 1990s[edit]
Cross made three more albums in the 1990s, and although some of his releases have gained critical response, he has not been able to attract the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid-1980s, he toured and opened for various acts during the 1990s.[5][6]

The 2000s[edit]
In 2002 he released his Very Best of... album, and in 2007 he completed a Christmas album, A Christopher Cross Christmas. In 2008 recorded a new acoustic album of his hits titled The Cafe Carlyle Sessions.[7][8]

The 2010's[edit]
In 2011 Cross released a new studio album titled Doctor Faith.[9]

In 2013 he released A Night in Paris, a 2-CD live album he recorded and filmed in April 2012 at the Theatre Le Trianon in Paris, France.[10]

The song Ride Like The Wind was featured on the Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues original movie soundtrack, released in 2013.

In September 2014 he released his latest album, Secret Ladder.[11]

He currently continues to perform live shows.

Personal life[edit]
A self-described "Army brat," Cross is the son of a U.S. Army pediatrician. He was stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s (when Cross was elementary school age), where he was physician for President Dwight Eisenhower's grandchildren.[12][verification needed]

Cross married Jan Bunch in 1988. They divorced in 2007. They have two children; son Rain and daughter Madison.[13]

Compilations[edit]

 * 1991: The Best of Christopher Cross (WEA)
 * 1999: Greatest Hits Live (CMC)
 * 2001: Definitive Christopher Cross (Warner Bros./Asia)
 * 2002: The Very Best of Christopher Cross (Warner Bros.)
 * 2011: Crosswords: Very Best of Christopher Cross (101 Distribution)

Soundtracks[edit]

 * 1981: Arthur (Motion picture soundtrack) "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"
 * 1983: General Hospital (TV series soundtrack) "Think of Laura"
 * 1984: Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad "A Chance For Heaven" (swimming theme)
 * 1986: Nothing In Common (Motion picture soundtrack) "Loving Strangers (David's Theme)"
 * 2010: 30 Rock (TV series soundtrack) "Lemon's Theme"

Other appearances[edit]

 * 1974: Electromagnets (with Eric Johnson) "Motion"
 * 1982: Long Time Friends Alessi Brothers “Forever” (background vocals)
 * 1985: Soul Kiss Olivia Newton-John "You Were Great, How Was I?" (background vocals)
 * 1988: Brian Wilson Brian Wilson "Night Time" (background vocals)
 * 1989: Christmas at My House Larry Carlton "Ringing The Bells Of Christmas”
 * 1991: Love Can Do That Elaine Paige "Same Train"
 * 1994: Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume III "Arthur's Theme" (live version)[34]
 * 1996: Venus Isle Eric Johnson "Lonely In The Night" (background vocals)
 * 1996: On Air Alan Parsons "So Far Away"
 * 1998: Imagination Brian Wilson (special edition "Words and Music" bonus disc) "In My Room"
 * 2001: A Gathering of Friends Michael McDonald "Ride Like the Wind"
 * 2001: When It All Goes South Alabama "Love Remains"
 * 2004: Confidential Peter White "She's In Love"
 * 2008: Soundstage: America Live in Chicago "Lonely People", "A Horse with No Name"
 * 2013: Train Keeps A Rolling Jeff Golub, "How Long"
 * 2013: Imagination Of You Eric Johnson, "Imagination Of You"

Awards[edit]

 * 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 Cross
 * Grammy, 1981 – Best New Artist – Christopher Cross
 * Grammy, 1981 – Best Arrangement – "Sailing"

Performances[edit]

 * Cross filled in for guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple (who had fallen ill) by performing with the band in San Antonio, Texas in 1970[35]
 * Cross 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 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 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
 * A small snippet of Cross's early hit "Sailing" was played in the DreamWorks film Flushed Away
 * Sailing was also featured in an episode of the Fox sitcom Family Guy
 * 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.com
 * Toured as part of the 2002 "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour with Alan Parsons, Mark Farner, Jack Bruce, Eric Carmen, and Todd Rundgren
 * Performed 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

In Popular Media[edit]

 * Christopher Cross was portrayed in the parody web series Yacht Rock by Justin Roiland.
 * Ride Like the Wind was featured in a skit on the television series SCTV in which the song's use of Michael McDonald's distinct yet decidedly sparse backup vocal is satirized. This skit would further be the subject matter of an episode of the aforementioned web series Yacht Rock.
 * Newman booked Christopher Cross for his Millennium party in Season 8 Episode 20 of Seinfeld.