Christopher Julian Leslie (born 15 December 1956) is a British folk rock musician. He joined

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

in 1997.

Early years

Leslie grew up in Banbury,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. His brother John steered him toward

The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous fam ...

' ''Frost and Fire'', Dave Swarbrick, and The Corries. In 1969 he began to teach himself

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

and modelled himself on the fiddle-playing of Dave Swarbrick of

, Peter Knight of

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

, and Barry Dransfield. Leslie made his first recording at the age of 16, with a Banbury-based folk rock band and then went on to forge a successful career around the folk clubs with his brother John - cutting their first album, ''The Ship of Time'' in 1976. During this period he was also the fiddle player for The Hookey Band and a member of the morris dancers at Adderbury. It was around this time that he first came to the attention of Fairport's Dave Pegg. From 1981-1983 Chris Leslie studied violin making, under the watchful eye of maker Patrick Jowett, at the Newark School of Violin Making in Nottinghamshire, England. He currently plays the second fiddle he made at Newark on stage.

Session work

Since then he has worked with

Whippersnapper Whippersnapper or whipper snapper is a young, impertinent and irritatingly overconfident person. It may also refer to: *Whippersnapper (band), an English folk group *"Whipper Snapper", a song by LaVern Baker *Whipper-snapper, another name for Stu ...

, the Albion Band, All About Eve, Simon Mayor and

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

(of Jethro Tull). In 1981 he contributed to a cassette tape produced by

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

. It was called ''Demo Tape'' and had limited distribution. Also on the tape were songs by Fairport Convention. In 1983 he contributed to ''More Demo Tapes'', again a cassette for CND. He accompanied Steve Ashley on the song "Down By the Embankment" on the album ''All Through the Year'' (1991). This was a compilation of original tracks. He appeared on ''People on the Highway'' ( Bert Jansch tribute album, 2000). There were other appearances on Steve Ashley albums (see discography). In 2003, Chris played violin on several tracks from Mostly Autumn's album ''Passengers''. In late 2007 he recorded violin and mandolin parts on Dan Crisp's debut album ''Far From Here''.

With Fairport and solo albums

In 1997 he joined Fairport Convention as singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded five solo albums - ''The Flow'', ''The Gift'', ''Dancing Days'', ''Origins'', ''Turquoise Tales'' and ''Fiddle Back''. At first sight ''Dancing Days'' appears to be a Fairport Convention album, as it features

Simon Nicol Simon John Breckenridge Nicol (born 13 October 1950) is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the ...

, Dave Pegg,

Ashley Hutchings Ashley Stephen Hutchings, MBE, sometimes known in early years by his nickname, "Tyger" Hutchings (born 26 January 1945) is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founding member of t ...

and

Ric Sanders Richard Sanders (born 8 December 1952) is an English violinist who has played in jazz-rock, folk rock, British folk rock and folk groups, including Soft Machine and Fairport Convention. Biography Sanders' first experience with a professional ...

. However, each of these artists appears only in a sequence of duos with Leslie. He has also recorded collaborations with Ashley Hutchings including ''Grandson of Morris On'' . Chris also takes part in an annual Christmas tour with St Agnes Fountain and also takes part in "A Feast of Fiddles" - a collaboration with Peter Knight, Tom Leary (The Hookey Band), Ian Cutler, Phil Beer ( Show of Hands) and

Brian McNeill Brian McNeill (born 6 April 1950, Falkirk, Scotland) is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new m ...

( The Battlefield Band).

Personal life

He is Buddhist, a vegetarian, and a teetotaler.

Discography

Solo

* 1994 - ''The Gift'' * 1997 - '' The Flow'' * 2004 - '' Dancing Days'' * 2013 - ''Origins'' * 2015 - ''Turquoise Tales'' * 2020 - ''Fiddle Back''

In groups

* 1985 - Whippersnapper: ''Promises'' * 1987 - Whippersnapper: ''Tsubo'' * 1988 - Whippersnapper: ''These Foolish Strings'' * 1990 - Whippersnapper: ''Fortune'' * 1991 - Whippersnapper: ''Stories'' * 1996 - The Albion Band: ''Demi Paradise'' * 1997 - Fairport Convention: '' Who Knows Where the Time Goes?'' * 1999 - Fairport Convention: ''

The Wood and the Wire ''The Wood and the Wire'' is the twenty-first studio album released in 1999 by folk rock band Fairport Convention. Gerry Conway returned to Fairport on drums for his first appearance since 1973, but the album most strongly features Chris Leslie, ...

'' * 2001 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Acoustic Carols for Christmas'' * 2001 - Fairport Convention: '' XXXV'' * 2002 - Morris On Band: ''

Grandson of Morris On Grandson of Morris On is a thematic album produced by Ashley Hutchings and others. Twenty-six years after recording "Son Of Morris On", Hutchings put together an ensemble to play another selection of Morris dance tunes. Compared to previous effor ...

'' * 2002 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Comfort and Joy'' * 2004 - Feast of Fiddles: ''Nicely Wrong'' * 2004 - Fairport Convention: '' Over the Next Hill'' * 2006 - St Agnes Fountain: ''The White Xmas Album'' * 2007 - Fairport Convention: ''

Sense of Occasion ''Sense of Occasion'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by British folk-rock veterans Fairport Convention, released in February 2007. Overview The title comes from the fact that 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the band (although only one mem ...

'' * 2008 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Soal Cake'' * 2010 - Feast of Fiddles: ''Walk Before You Fly'' * 2010 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Spirit of Christmas'' * 2011 - Fairport Convention: ''

Festival Bell ''Festival Bell'' is the twenty-fifth studio album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in January 2011. Overview The name of the album (as well as the cover and the title track) is a reference to the bell of the same name t ...

'' * 2012 - Fairport Convention: ''

By Popular Request ''By Popular Request'' is the twenty-sixth studio album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in January 2012. It is a compilation of studio re-recordings of previous material. Overview The album was released to coincide with ...

'' * 2012 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Twelve Years of Christmas'' * 2013 - Feast of Fiddles: ''Rise Above It'' * 2014 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Christmas is Not Far Away'' * 2015 - Fairport Convention: ''

Myths and Heroes ''Myths and Heroes'' is the twenty-seventh studio album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in January 2015. Recording and release Recording for the album began in March 2014 and concluded in November. During their winter tou ...

'' * 2017 - Fairport Convention: '' 50:50@50'' * 2017 - Feast of Fiddles: ''Sleight of Elbow'' * 2017 - St Agnes Fountain: ''25/12'' * 2020 - Fairport Convention: ''

Shuffle and Go ''Shuffle and Go'' is the twenty-ninth studio album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in January 2020. It was their last to feature drummer Gerry Conway who left the group in 2022. Recording and release Recording for the a ...

'' * 2021 - St Agnes Fountain: ''Night of a Million Stars''

Appearances with Steve Ashley

*1999 - ''The Test of Time'' *2001 - ''Everyday Lives'' *2006 - ''Live in Concert''

References

External links

The Hookey Band
*, including two written and performed by Chris Leslie
Website
of

Chris Leslie on CND tapes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Chris 1956 births Living people People from Banbury English folk musicians English fiddlers British male violinists Fairport Convention members British folk rock musicians 21st-century violinists 21st-century British male musicians The Albion Band members Whippersnapper (band) members