Chris de Burgh | |
|---|---|
 de Burgh performing atFrankenhalle inNuremberg, Germany in 2016 | |
| Born | Christopher John Davison (1948-10-15)15 October 1948 (age 77) Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe Province, Argentina |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1974–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingRosanna Davison |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | County Wexford, Ireland |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Labels | |
| Website | cdeb |
Musical artist | |
Christopher John Davison (born 15 October 1948), known professionally asChris de Burgh (English:/dəˈbɜːr/də-BER), is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician born in Argentina. He started out as anart rock performer and progressed to writing more pop-oriented material. He has had several top 40 hit singles in the UK and two in the US. He is more popular in other countries, particularly Norway and Brazil.[1] His 1975 "A Spaceman Came Travelling" became a popular Christmas song and his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red" reached number one in several countries. De Burgh has sold over 45 million albums worldwide.[5]
De Burgh was born inVenado Tuerto,Argentina, to Colonel Charles John Davison,[6] a British diplomat, and Maeve Emily (née de Burgh). His maternal grandfather was GeneralEric de Burgh, aBritish Army officer who had beenChief of the General Staff in India during theSecond World War.[7] He took his mother's maiden name, "de Burgh", as a stage name when he began performing. His legal surname remained "Davison".[8] His father had substantial farming interests and Chris spent much of his early years in Malta, Nigeria and theBelgian Congo, as he and his mother and brother accompanied Colonel Davison on his diplomatic and engineering work.
The Davison family finally settled inBargy Castle,County Wexford, Ireland, a dilapidated twelfth-century castle which Eric de Burgh had bought in the 1960s. It was converted into a hotel and a young Chris sang for the guests there.[7]
De Burgh attendedMarlborough College inWiltshire, England, where he was in the year belowNick Drake. He wanted to join a jazz band that Drake had formed with four schoolmates, the Perfumed Gardeners, but was rejected because his musical tastes were considered "too poppy".[9] De Burgh went on to study English and French atTrinity College Dublin.[10]
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De Burgh signed his first contract withA&M Records in 1974. He supportedSupertramp on their Crime of the Century tour and acquired a small fan base. His début album,Far Beyond These Castle Walls, was a folk-tinged stab at fantasy in the tradition ofthe Moody Blues. It failed to chart upon its release in late 1974. A few months later, he released a single, "Turning Round", from the album. It was released outside the UK and Ireland as "Flying". It failed to make an impression in the UK, but it stayed on top of the Brazilian charts for 17 weeks. This became a familiar pattern for the singer/songwriter, as every one of his 1970s albums failed to chart in the UK or US while they achieved big sales in continental European and South American countries.
In 1975, de Burgh's second album,Spanish Train and Other Stories, was released. It was not a huge commercial success but the album and tour expanded his fan base and de Burgh started to attract a cult following. With the title track, other favourite tracks from the album included "Patricia The Stripper" and "A Spaceman Came Travelling" which was released the following year as a single. The album made the lower end of the Canadian charts, giving de Burgh his first North American chart exposure. He maintained a fan following and consistent chart success in Canada for the rest of his major label career.
De Burgh's third album,At the End of a Perfect Day (1977), featured formerFairport Convention drummerDave Mattacks and later Fairport drummerGerry Conway. Two years later he released his fourth album,Crusader.Crusader took a more electric direction, including guitar contributions fromIan Bairnson (formerly ofPilot), bass playerDavid Paton (also of Pilot), and drummerStuart Elliott (formerly of both Cockney Rebel andSteve Harley & Cockney Rebel), a.k.a.Alan Parsons's band, all of whom were also working at the time withKate Bush. The album also featuredSky keyboard playerFrancis Monkman andMike Moran. It attracted a significant number of new fans but still failed to break through in the UK and US. 1980'sEastern Wind also failed to build further on de Burgh's cult following in the major territories.
In 1981, de Burgh had his first UK chart entry withBest Moves, acompilation album of his work. It set the stage for 1982'sThe Getaway, produced byRupert Hine, which reached number 30 in the UK chart and number 43 in the US. This followed the success of the single "Don't Pay the Ferryman", which became his first single to chart in the UK and reached the USBillboard Hot 100 Top 40.
In 1984, de Burgh's follow-up album,Man on the Line, also performed well, charting at number 69 in the US and number 11 in the UK and topping the charts in Germany and Switzerland.[11] Its first single, "High on Emotion", became an international success and reached the Top 20 in several countries[12]> It entered the top five in Ireland,[13] France and Switzerland and the Top 50 in the UK[14] and US.[15]
In summer 1986, de Burgh released aballad, "The Lady in Red", which became a worldwide hit single. It reached number one in the UK and number three in the US.[16] Its accompanying album,Into the Light, reached number two in the UK and became theseventeenth best-selling album of the year there. It reached number 25 in the US. That Christmas season, a re-release of his 1975 Christmas song "A Spaceman Came Travelling" became a Top 40 hit in the UK.
Flying Colours (1988), a follow-up toInto the Light, produced a second UK top five hit, "Missing You", and the single topped the Irish chart. The album entered the chart at number one in the UK and Ireland but failed to enter the US chart. De Burgh did not have another hit in the US and his commercial fortunes began to slide in the UK in the early 1990s. He retained a following around the world.[17]
In 1997, de Burgh wrote "There's a New Star Up in Heaven Tonight", dedicated toDiana, Princess of Wales, who counted de Burgh among her favourite music artists.[18] The song was released as a 100-copy limited edition and included on the compilationsThe Ultimate Collection (2000) andNow and Then (2009).[19]
In 2007, a concert in Tehran was planned for mid-2008 with local bandArian, which would have made de Burgh the first western pop singer to perform in Iran since the1979 revolution. The concert was cancelled because he had not been given permission by the Iranian authorities to perform in the country.[20]
In 2008, de Burgh releasedFootsteps, his seventeenth album, which included cover versions of thirteen songs that had inspired him throughout his career[21] by artists includingBob Dylan,the Beatles,Toto andPete Seeger.[21] The album reached the top five in UK.[22] In 2011, de Burgh released his follow-up,Footsteps 2, which entered the UK Top 40.[23] De Burgh was the first Western act to play in Lebanon after theLebanese Civil War.[24]
On his 73rd birthday, 15 October 2021, de Burgh released a music video for his single "Legacy" directed by Iranian filmmaker/animatorSam Chegini. It came from the animated music video for his 27th studio album,The Legend of Robin Hood.[25][26]
In October 2024, de Burgh released a new album called50, which chronicled his 50 years in the music business.[27] He made a guest appearance onLOL: Last One Laughing Ireland, during which he sang "The Lady in Red" for the contestants.[28]
De Burgh has been married to his wife Diane since 1977. They lived inDalkey,Dublin. In 1997, they moved to the Bushey Park Estate inEnniskerry,County Wicklow. They sold Bushey Park in 2023.[29]They have two sons, Hubie and Michael, and a daughter,Rosanna, who was the winner of theMiss World competition in 2003 for Ireland. His second cousin,[30]Danny Kinahan ofCastle Upton, served asMember of Parliament forSouth Antrim between2015 and2017.
In 1994, de Burgh was found to have had an affair with his children's 19-year-old Irish nanny, Maresa Morgan, who was assisting the family while de Burgh's wife Diane was recuperating in hospital from a broken neck, suffered during a horse-riding accident. De Burgh later said he felt very guilty about the affair and was subsequently reconciled with his wife.[31]
In 2011, bottles from de Burgh's vintage wine cellar sold for over $500,000, which included a world record set for a magnum collection of postwar vintages.[32] De Burgh has an interest in war history, especially of theFirst andSecond World wars. His songs contain numerous references to soldiers and battle, and in 2006 he purchased a rare First World War letter written by an unknown soldier.[33] He enjoys classical music, includingHandel,Bach andPachelbel.[34]
De Burgh has said that he is "certainly a believer inChrist", but he has always had a deep distrust of organized religion.[35] He believes in the power of spiritual healing as an alternative therapy to reduce pain. He claims that he has been able to heal people with his own hands and that he gained an "all-encompassing strength" that was contacted through prayer.[36]
During the 1970s, de Burgh received mainly positive feedback from the music press as he attempted to build his career. Since the release of "The Lady in Red" in 1986, both the music and news media have become more negative towards him, both personally and professionally.[citation needed]
De Burgh has pursued and won 16 defamation actions.[37]The Irish Independent said he has always been a bit prickly about criticism. Peter Crawley, a theatre reviewer atThe Irish Times, received a directed response from de Burgh when he wrote a less than sympathetic review of de Burgh's show in Dublin'sGaiety Theatre in September 2009. Crawley wrote: "He departs the stage for 'Lady in Red', invading boxes and draping himself over audience members ... Certain toes will never uncurl after this experience, but it is almost admirable how unaltered de Burgh has remained by the flow of time."[38] In a lengthy, much-publicised reply to the critic, de Burgh made his feelings known, particularly in thepostscript:
We were wondering by way of explanation and, as you seem to portray yourself as a bitter and unfulfilled man, were you much teased by your school chums in the schoolyard and called 'Creepy Crawley'?[39][40]
AllMusic critic Greg Prato stated, "Depending on who you ask, Chris de Burgh either specializes in pretentious, bombastic art rock disguised as pop or is a master of penning soaring and majestic compositions."[2] TheBBC said of de Burgh, "To his millions of fans, Chris de Burgh is the ultimate romantic singer. But to many others he's a figure of fun."[41] When the staff ofMelody Maker were putting together a lampoon edition of a new arts and music magazine, they chose de Burgh for the cover.[41] Hissignature song, "The Lady in Red", has been repeatedly voted one of the public's most disliked songs.[42][43][44] In 2006,Neil Norman, writing forThe Independent, described de Burgh as "the world's naffest balladeer".[45] In his favour, Mike DeGagne, writing for AllMusic, acclaimed de Burgh as "a genuine master of the soft ballad" and "one of the finest mood-invoking artists ever".[46]
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards | 1988 | "The Lady in Red" | Most Performed Song | Won | [47] |
| Echo Music Prize | 1993 | Chris de Burgh | Best International Male | Nominated | [48] |
| 2012 | Nominated |
