Chris T-T | |
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 Chris T-T in the Leaf Lounge at 2000 Trees Festival July 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Christopher Jon Thorpe-Tracey (1974-09-16)16 September 1974 (age 51) Winchester, England |
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| Years active | 1997–2017, 2025 |
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| Website | christt |
Chris T-T was the professional music artist name ofChristopher Jon Thorpe-Tracey (born 16 September 1974), an English writer, producer and composer based inBrighton. In a 20-year career he released 10 studio albums, two live collections and a number of collaborations. Thorpe-Tracey is also an author, record producer, piano accompanist, activist and radio presenter, and he has written for a range of publications.[1] For several years he contributed a weekly column on the arts to the left-wing newspaperThe Morning Star.[2] T-T's most recent album isBest Of Chris T-T, a career retrospective double-CD released on 19 May 2017 by London-based independent labelXtra Mile Recordings.[3]
While Chris T-T did not achieve mainstream success, his influence as an underground artist is widely felt and his music was consistently praised by critics over two decades.[4]
Christopher Jon Thorpe-Tracey[5] was born and raised inWinchester, England. After performing in school bands, in 1993 he began an honours degree in Popular Music Studies atBretton Hall College (Leeds University). In 1996, T-T gained his degree and joined Norfolk bandMagoo as bass player, as they signed toChemikal Underground Records. In May 1997, Chris T-T moved to London to work at thePress Association.
In 1999, T-T's debut albumBeatverse was released on his own Wine Cellar Records.[6]BBC Radio 1 DJSteve Lamacq played the song 'Shit From All Angles'. FollowingBeatverse, T-T signed to London-based independent label Snowstorm Records.[1]
T-T's second albumPanic Attack at Sainsbury's was released in autumn 2000. First single 'You Can Be Flirty', was panned inNME but in early 2001 second single, 'Dreaming of Injured Popstars' gained better reviews. In December he performed a live session on Steve Lamacq's Radio 1Evening Session.
The albumsThe 253 (2001) andLondon Is Sinking (2003) followed. Both highly praised, each featured in theSunday TimesTop 5 Albums Of The Year for that year.[7] In autumn 2003 Chris T-T gave up full-time work and moved toBrighton.
In 2005, Snowstorm Records released9 Red Songs, an album of political folk-protest songs.
In 2007, T-T signed to Xtra Mile Recordings and in 2008 his sixth albumCapital was released, preceded by the 'This Gun Is Not A Gun' EP. With larger-scale production than his previous work, it included appearances fromAndy Burrows (exRazorlight drummer),Phil Sumner (British Sea Power cornettist),Jim Bob (Carter USM),Jon Boden (Bellowhead andSpiers & Boden fiddler) andEmmy The Great. Two further singles, 'A-Z' and '(We Are) The King of England' were also released.
T-T recruited a stable band line-up, Hoodrats, including Ben Murray (ex Le Frange) on drums, Johny Lamb (Thirty Pounds of Bone, Lynched Recordings) on bass and long-term collaborator Jen Macro (Graham Coxon,My Bloody Valentine,Robyn Hitchcock) on lead guitar. Through 2008 and 2009 T-T touredCapital in the UK, US and Europe. This band lineup is ongoing.[1]
In May 2008, T-T joinedFrank Turner's touring band on keyboards, also accompanying Turner in a duo format.
In July 2009, T-T performed on thefourth plinth inTrafalgar Square as part ofAnthony Gormley'sOne & Other project.[8]
In March 2010, Xtra Mile Recordings released T-T's seventh albumLove Is Not Rescue, accompanied by the single 'Nintendo'. Recorded in Norfolk and Los Angeles, this focused on personal themes. The second UK single 'Words Fail Me' was released on 25 April 2011.
In early 2011 T-T wrote, scripted and composed the score to 'Imagine A Health Worker', a short animated film commissioned by theWorld Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Alliance. The film opened their world conference in Bangkok and was then made available online.[9]
Through August 2011, T-T performed a one-man show,Disobedience: Chris T-T Sings A.A. Milne, atEdinburgh Fringe Festival. This comprisedA.A. Milne's children's poems set to new music composed by T-T on guitar and piano. In October 2011 he self-released a download-only studio album of the songs.
In October 2012, T-T gave aTED talk at TEDxBrighton on the theme 'The Generation Gap'. The talk was made available online.[10]
In January 2013, Chris T-T was the inaugural Artist-In-Residence (Popular Music) atLeeds Metropolitan University.[11]
From March 2013, for six months he was the inaugural Blogger-In-Residence at Brighton'sRoyal Pavilion.[12]
Chris T-T's ninth album,The Bear, recorded with his band Hoodrats, was released in October 2013. In 2014 Lindsey Scott (ex Le Reno Amps) replaced Johny Lamb as bassist in Hoodrats.
In September 2014, T-T joined Thee Concerned Citizens (Thee Cee Cees) as lead singer. In April 2015 Thee Cee Cees released their debut albumSolution Songs on Blang! Records.
In May 2015, T-T released a duo album of covers with folk singer Gill Sandell,Walk Away, Walk Away, on Rowan Tree Records. T-T and Sandell also performed the theme song for horror filmThe Outer Darkness, produced byBloodyCuts.
In May 2016, T-T released his 10th and final solo album9 Green Songs on Xtra Mile Recordings, a sequel to his 2005 album9 Red Songs. Through summer 2016 T-T was the inauguralNational Trust Creative Fellow atThe Workhouse, Southwell,[13] composingA Ballad For Southwell;[13] a new set of ballads telling stories of workhouse life.
In November 2016Jim Bob releasedJim Bob Sings Again, an album of piano and voice versions of songs from across his catalogue, featuring Chris T-T as piano accompanist.[14]
In March 2017, Xtra Mile Recordings announcedBest Of Chris T-T; a double-album career retrospective marking his 20th anniversary, to be released on 19 May.
In April 2017, Chris T-T announced he was giving up his music career and that a farewell gig in London in autumn would be his final live concert. His final tour was the previously booked May 2017 solo tour promoting hisBest Of double album.[15]Chris T-T performed his final live concerts in London on 2 and 3 December 2017.
In November 2025, Chris T-T performed a one-off London headline concert at the100 Club, to promote vinyl reissues of earlier albumsLondon Is Sinking and9 Red Songs.[16]
From October 2014 to June 2018, T-T presented a weekly two-hour folk-oriented radio programme onJuice 107.2 called Midnight Campfire, which lasted until the closure of the radio station. In 2006 and 2007, he presented a weekly live radio programme onPhoenix FM which gave first live sessions to artists includingTom Williams & The Boat andEmmy The Great.
T-T has been club DJ at live concerts by bands includingDinosaur Jr,The Thermals,Okkervil River,Jolie Holland &Samantha Parton andEfterklang.
In 2008, Chris T-T started a regular column in the Arts section ofThe Morning Star which ran for four years. He has written articles and short fiction forThe Quietus,Dark Mountain,Louder Than War,ecnmy.org,Huffington Post,NME and others. HisEmpties photo series was published in the bookDark Mountain Volume 2 and his short storyFive Dead Badgers inDark Mountain Volume 3.
In November 2010, Chris T-T was identified as the instigator of the #IAmSpartacus Twitter hashtag, an act of mass online civil disobedience to show support for accountant Paul Chambers, after he lost his appeal against a conviction for a joke he had made on Twitter, earlier in the year. Thousands of people copied Chambers' original message with the #IAmSpartacus hashtag and for a day it was the most popular Twitter hashtag in the world, attracting worldwide media coverage to the case.[17]
The tweet, including the 'Spartacus' reference, was repeated on the floor of theHouse of Commons byLiberal Democrat MPJulian Huppert.[18]
