Chris Evans (musician)

Chris Evans (*  10. May 1940 in Melksham, Wiltshire as Christopher Evans Ironside ) is an English musician , composer and music producer . He lives in Hamburg .

biography

At the age of 21 Evans arranged and wrote for Gerd Böttcher , whose hit Geld wie Heu , the cover version of Pat Boone's Johnny Will , which reached number 2 on the hit lists and was noted for a total of 25 weeks. Then he concentrated on his studies. During this time he got to know Drafi Deutscher , with whom he has worked closely ever since and realized various projects (Masquerade, Mixed Emotions , Mr. Walkie Talkie ). In 1970, for example, Chris Evans produced his song Weil I love you for Deutscher . Evans not only produced the songs for Deutscher, but also composed them and wrote the lyrics for Amigo Mine and Try Me (both 1976). In addition to Deutscher, Evans also produced, composed and wrote the lyrics for Claus Liedtke Alexandra (Would you still be here today) (1976), Klimper Klan Five Funny Fingers , The Cheerful Country People , Die Vogelfänger-Gang u. a. (1977 and 1978), Mike Mareen Sunshine Of Your Smile and Tell Me Friend (1977) for Tina Rainford Charly Boy (1976), Ronny Coleman Carneval (1979).

Evans then turned to electronic (disco) music and progressive rock . Under the pseudonym "Overdrive" he published his solo album Electric Overdrive in 1979 . Werner Böhm alias "Gottlieb Wendehals" also worked on the song Magic Moon . Together with singer David Hanselmann , Chris Evans created the progressive rock album Stonehenge in 1980 and the sequel Symbols Of The Seven Sacred Sounds a year later .

For their debut, the two musicians Evans and David Hanselmann were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque for the best concept album at the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival . The album Stonehenge was released in 2013 in a revised new edition with additional material. This new, revised work is mostly rejected by fans of the Stonehenge album from the 1980s, because not only has the order of the tracks been changed, but also changed in such a way that the original progressive rock character has largely been lost. The newly added material also does not have the quality of the old song pieces.

After working with Hanselmann, Evans created another solo album in 1982 entitled Empty Spaces . In 1986 he created a new version (double LP) for the ballet entitled Empty Spaces - Rock Ballet . This was performed in the Theater & Philharmonie Essen.

In collaboration with Michael Chambosse, Evans worked on the concept album The Timemachine. As in Jeff Wayne's musical The War of the Worlds , The Timemachine is the musical adaptation of a science fiction novel by HG Wells .

In the 1980s, Evans and Deutscher composed various titles under the two pseudonyms Masquerade and Mixed Emotions . One of the hits of 1983 was Guardian Angel . Sung in the English version by Deutscher under the pseudonym "Masquerade", it appeared in the same year in the German hit version by Nino de Angelo under the title Jenseits von Eden . Both titles temporarily occupied the first two places in the German charts. The German version was also covered by Den Ärzten in 1986 .

Together with Deutscher, Evans wrote and produced the single Keep The Home Fires Burning under the name “Deutscher & Evans” . The title Herz an Herzfühl , the German version of his single Sensuality , also released in 1986 , became a hit for Germans and stayed in the German charts for 18 weeks . The accompanying album Mixed Feelings went platinum.

Chris Evans also produced for Ulla Meinecke and Vicky Leandros in the 1980s .

In the 1990s Evans continued to work intensively with Drafi Deutscher, but also created works such as the titles Wie ein Stern am Horizont (sung by Roy Black ) or Without you (sung by Frank Schöbel ), as well as Erika Berger's album Ich Liebe Dich .

In 2004 Chris Evans produced for "Mike Mareen vs. Da Freaks “various songs and had his hit Guardian Angel / Jenseits von Eden covered by various artists, most of whom he also produced.

For the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he created the World Cup song Super Germany Olè . Under the name “Fanprojekt Super Deutschland” he had the Hamburg choir Schola Cantorosa and seven fans / musicians sing the track. Evans, who also produced and arranged the song, commented: "The song is for all the German fans because I have a wonderful life here in Germany." He had attended a HSV game prior to the World Cup and was from the drawn-out chants of the fans were inspired with “Olè, Olè, Olè”.

Evans also provided the soundtrack for the film Die Rättin (based on a novel by Günter Grass ), audio plays such as Schubiduuuh (episodes 1 to 8) and short films such as Schlüsselerlebnis (Germany 2009) or Go to the Dogs (Germany 2011) and even funny pranks with Hanni and Nanni by the British children's author Enid Blyton and the music for the protocol of a decision (D 2003 by Thomas Plöger). He also created the music for the Nachtkind ensemble, the musical Nachtkind .

Others

Evans worked in Lutz Rahn's recording studio in Hamburg-Finkenwerder . It was there that Drafi Deutscher's solo album “Mixed feelings” was created. He also works in Europaound Studios, Star Studio Hamburg.

Discography (selection)

Solo albums

• 1979: Cuts For Commercials
• 1980: Space Drive
• 1981: Cuts For Commercials: Volume 2
• 1984: Empty Spaces
• 1985: Video vision
• 1986: Empty Spaces - Rock Ballet
• 1986: Mother's Luck
• 1987: Multiple Image
• 1987: High turnover

Web links

• Chris Evans at Discogs (English)
• Chris-Evans-Ironside Music, lyrics, productions (selection)
• Chris-Evans-Ironside discography (selection)
• Evans birth dates
• PPG Wolfgang Palm