The Cross

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cross
The Cross (1990)
The Cross (1990)
General information
Genre (s) skirt
founding 1987
resolution 1993
Members
Roger Taylor
Peter Noone
guitar
 Clayton Moss
Josh Macrae
Spike Edney

The band The Cross was a rock project of the Queen - drummer Roger Taylor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Band history

After Queen took a break after their Magic Tour (1986), Taylor formed the band The Cross in the fall of 1987 in order to be able to go on tour again. He found the members through anonymous newspaper advertisements followed by auditions. Spike Edney , who had been touring keyboardist at Queen concerts between 1984 and 1986, didn't need a newspaper advertisement . The rest of the year was spent rehearsing, recording a debut album and making two television appearances.

On January 25, 1988, the album Shove It was released after two singles had previously been released. All songs were written by Roger Taylor. Freddie Mercury sang the title Heaven for Everyone ; on the single or North American album version of the song, however, only its backing vocals were used. The recordings at that time were also the basis for the later re-recording of the piece on Queen's album Made in Heaven . At the same time as the single was released, they toured Great Britain and Germany, which meant that The Cross was also able to place itself in the German charts for the first time with this single. The Queen guitarist Brian May (in Love Lies Bleeding ) can also be heard on the album Shove It .

In June 1988 the single Manipulator was released . Co-authors of this song, which is not represented on any album, were besides Taylor also Spike Edney and Steve Strange from Visage . The single didn't make it into the charts. At the end of the year, May and Queen bassist John Deacon joined the band at a concert in London's Hammersmith Odeon .

From September to December 1989, The Cross recorded the next album, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know , which was released on March 26, 1990. On this album only the last two tracks Old Men (Lay Down) and Final Destination are from Roger Taylor, all other songs were written by the other band members or together. The CD edition of the album also contains a cover version of the Jimi Hendrix song Foxy Lady . The album didn't make it into the charts; this was achieved by the single Power to Love released in Great Britain .

This time the band toured Germany , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Spain and Austria . The second single was Liar : It contained a remix of the song and the previously unreleased In Charge of My Heart as the B-side . The last single Final Destination only appeared in France and Germany. The band ended this year with a concert for the Queen's fan club in London's Astoria , which Brian May also made a guest appearance at; a live recording was later available as an exclusive fan club MC .

Blue Rock , The Cross ' third album , was released on September 9, 1991; it was produced from February to August. On this album too, Taylor is only represented with two self-written titles: New Dark Ages and The Also Rans . Guest musicians were Geoffrey Richardson (violin and viola) and Helen Leibman ( cello ) in Baby It's Alright and Life Changes and Andy and Claire Yates (backing vocals) in Baby It's Alright and The Also Rans . Although the album was released in Europe and Japan , due to the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991, not in the UK and the US . A tour through Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia as well as the single releases New Dark Ages and Life Changes followed. The latter contains the previously unreleased track Heartland , but the single was withdrawn due to Mercury's death and is therefore in great demand as a collector's item in fan circles.

Due to the death of Freddie Mercury and the falling sales, the band decided not to make any more studio recordings. However, there were 1992 appearances at the Gosport Festival (together with Bob Geldof ) and at the two-day Queen Fan Club Christmas Party in London's Marquee Club , where The Cross was supported by guest musicians Roger Daltrey and Tim Staffell . When Brian May was there on the second day, this concert on December 22, 1992 saw the de facto only “reunion” of the Queen's predecessor band Smile - with Taylor, May and Staffell. The Cross's last official concert followed at the Gosport Festival on July 29, 1993.

Edney subsequently founded the SAS Band (Spike's All Stars Band) and played keyboards in performances by Brian May and Queen. Josh Macrae worked with Taylor many times, for example on his Happiness tour from 1994 to 1995 and when recording several albums.

Without Taylor's participation, the Cross musicians performed together at the Freddie Mercury birthday party of the Queen fan club in September 1999 , in which Brian May and other guest musicians also participated.

On December 7, 2013, The Cross played in Guildford, England, as part of the SAS band Christmas Bash, a 50-minute reunion concert to mark the 20th anniversary of the band's breakup. The concert, with 12 songs, was played with the full original line-up.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Shove It
  UK 58 02/06/1988 (2 weeks)
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
  DE 48 04/02/1990 (11 weeks)
Singles
Cowboys and Indians
  UK 74 10/17/1987 (1 week)
Heaven for Everyone
  DE 68 06/20/1988 (3 weeks)

Albums

  • Shove It (1988)
  • Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (1990)
  • Blue rock (1991)

Singles

  • Cowboys and Indians (1987)
  • Shove It (1988)
  • Heaven for Everyone (1988)
  • Manipulator (1988)
  • Power to Love (1990)
  • Liar (1990)
  • Final Destination (1990)
  • New Dark Ages (1991)
  • Life Changes (1991, withdrawn: see above)

Live recordings

  • Bootleg - Astoria Theater, Dec 1990 (recorded live: London, December 7, 1990, with Brian May and Mike Moran on behalf of Spike Edney; released on cassette by the Queen's official fan club in 1991)
  • Live in Germany (Live recording: Düsseldorf, October 22, 1991; Fanklub-Cassette, 1992)

Web links

swell

  1. ^ British Hit Singles & Albums , 18th Edition, Guinness World Records Limited 2005, ISBN 9781904994008
  2. ↑ Chart sources: Chartsurfer / Charts.de