Christopher Cross

This article is about the musician Christopher Cross. For his debut album see Christopher Cross (album) .

Christopher Cross (2000)

Christopher Cross (* 3. May 1951 as Christopher Charles Geppert in San Antonio , Texas ) is an American singer and songwriter with five Grammy awards won.

Life

The father was a pediatrician and employed in the US military. He was an alcoholic. The musician's mother originally came from Koblenz . His career began with the hard rock cover band Flash in Austin, before he won a recording contract as a solo musician in 1978. His breakthrough came with his first single Ride Like the Wind in the spring of 1980. Cross, who writes all of his songs himself, immediately reached number 2 on the US charts. He also drew attention to himself internationally. With his second single he was able to surpass the success and Sailing (not to be confused with the Rod Stewart hit of the same name ) spent a week at number 1 on the US charts .

Accordingly, Cross with his ballad-like soft rock was a hot candidate at the 1981 Grammy Awards and was the first artist ever to win the Grammys for best new artist, song and single of the year (each for Sailing ) and album of the year (his debut album named after himself ) and thus in all four main categories, the so-called Big Four Awards. Since then, only Norah Jones (2003), Adele (2009/2012) and Billie Eilish (2020) have succeeded.

His greatest success followed that same year with the theme song for the comedy film Arthur - No Child of Sadness with Dudley Moore in the lead role. His Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) , written with Burt Bacharach , Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen , became his second number one hit and sold over a million copies in the United States. It also reached the top 10 in many other countries. In addition, the song won the Oscar for best film song in 1981 .

Although his second album, Another Page , which came out in early 1983, was again successful, he was only able to build on the first super hits to a limited extent with his singles. All Right reached number 12 on the charts. And with Think of Laura he reached the top 10 again in early 1984, also because it was used several times in the popular US television series General Hospital .

After his third album Every Turn of the World (1985) disappointed commercially and his fourth album didn't even hit the charts, he had to look for a new record company. Nevertheless, it continued to appear on the Asian music market, but also in the hit parades in Germany.

The album The Café Carlyle Sessions contains well-known songs, but in a new, acoustically refined guise. Even without success in the charts, the musician tours to the present day, releases new albums and occasionally works as a music producer.

Cross has two adult children, a daughter and a son, from his marriage to Janet Bunch in 1988 and divorced in 2007.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1979	Christopher Cross	DE- gold DE	-	-	UK14th platinum (75 weeks)UK	US6th × 5 Quintuple platinum (116 weeks)US	First published: December 1979
1983	Another Page	DE2 gold (23 weeks)DE	AT18 (2 weeks) AT	-	UK4th gold (16 weeks)UK	US11 gold (31 weeks)US	First published: January 1983
1985	Every turn of the world	DE44 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US127 (6 weeks) US	First published: November 1985
1988	Back of My Mind	DE45 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: September 1988
1991	Ride Like The Wind - The Best of	DE58 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: October 1991
2011	Doctor Faith	DE48 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: April 2011

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1992: Rendezvous
• 1994: Window
• 1998: Walking in Avalon
• 1999: Greatest Hits Live
• 2000: Red Room
• 2001: Definitive
• 2002: The Very Best of
• 2007: A Christopher Cross Christmas
• 2008: The Café Carlyle Sessions
• 2010: Christmas Time Is Here
• 2011: Cross Words: The Best of
• 2013: A Night in Paris (live album)
• 2014: Secret Ladder
• 2017: Take Me As I Am

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1980	Ride Like the Wind Christopher Cross	-	-	-	UK69 (1 week) UK	US2 (21 weeks) US	First published: February 1980
	Sailing Christopher Cross	-	-	-	UK48 (6 weeks) UK	US1 (21 weeks) US	First published: June 1980
	Never Be the Same Christopher Cross	-	-	-	-	US15 (19 weeks) US	First published: October 1980
1981	Say You'll Be Mine Christopher Cross	-	-	-	-	US20 (14 weeks) US	First published: March 1981
	Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) Arthur - No Child of Sadness (OST)	-	-	CH6 (6 weeks) CH	UK7 (15 weeks) UK	US1 gold (24 weeks)US	First published: August 1981
1983	All Right Another Page	DE23 (13 weeks) DE	-	CH5 (7 weeks) CH	UK51 (5 weeks) UK	US12 (16 weeks) US	First published: January 1983
	No Time for Talk Another Page	-	-	-	-	US33 (10 weeks) US	First published: April 1983
	Think of Laura Another Page	-	-	-	-	US9 (17 weeks) US	First published: November 1983
1984	A Chance for Heaven The Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad 1984	-	-	-	-	US76 (5 weeks) US	First published: June 1984
1985	Charm the Snake Every Turn of the World	-	-	-	-	US68 (5 weeks) US	First published: October 1985
1992	In the blink of an eye rendezvous	DE51 (15 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: August 1992
1995	Been There, Done That Window	DE55 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: April 1995

literature

• Irwin Stambler: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition. St. Martin's Press, New York City 1989, ISBN 0-312-02573-4 , pp. 155f.

swell

1. ↑ Christopher Cross is 65 ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , WDR 4 audio podcast from May 2, 2016, accessed June 10, 2017  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

• Official website (English)
• Biography at allmusic.com (English)
• Biography interview on YouTube