Christopher Stewart (born 27 March 1951) is a British author who was the original drummer and a founding member of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

. When not writing, he runs a farm, where he lives, near Orgiva in Spain.

Background and musical career

Stewart was born in

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

and grew up in

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, Sussex. He was a classmate of Tony Banks and

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and joined them in a school band called the Garden Wall. This was joined by classmates

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...

and

Anthony Phillips Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play mo ...

to form Anon, which was renamed Genesis in January 1967. Stewart appears on Genesis's first two singles, "The Silent Sun" / "That's Me" and "A Winter's Tale" / "One-Eyed Hound". Although several demos from Stewart's time with the band appear on the ''

Genesis Archive 1967-75 Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

'' box set, he is not credited with playing on any of them (though one track features drumming that may have been done by Stewart). At the recommendation of

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

, Stewart was – rather inelegantly – fired from the band in the summer of 1968 due to his poor technique and was replaced by John Silver.

Farmer and author

After travelling and working throughout Europe, Stewart settled and bought a farm named El Valero in the

Alpujarras The Alpujarra (, Arabic: ''al-bussarat'') is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, ...

region of

Andalucia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

, where he lives and works with his wife Ana Exton and daughter Chloë. He came in last place for the position of local councillor in the 27 May 2007 local elections in

Órgiva Órgiva is a Spanish town municipality in comarca of Alpujarra Granadina (which is located within the larger Alpujarras region) in the province of Granada, Andalusia. It has a population of around 6,000 and lies in the Alpujarra valley between the ...

representing the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

, where he received 201 votes (roughly 8 per cent). He is now known for his autobiographical books, ''Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia'' (1999, ) and the sequels, ''A Parrot In The Pepper Tree'' (2002, ) and ''The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society'' (2006, ), about his life farming in Spain. All three are also available as

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

s (''Lemons'' , ''Parrot'' , and ''Almond'' ), narrated by Stewart. Stewart's publisher, ''

Sort of Books Sort of Books is an independent British publishing house started in 1999 by Mark Ellingham and Natania Jansz, founders of the Rough Guides travel series. The company publishes both original and classic fiction and non-fiction titles: "The sort of ...

'', announced plans to release yet another Stewart memoir in 2009, this one focused on sailing, entitled ''Three Ways to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist Afloat''. This was fulfilled as . In 2014, Sort Of Books published a further book of stories, ''Last Days of the Bus Club'' (4 June 2014, ), which focuses on his daughter's going to university, and his and Ana's subsequent life alone on the farm. Stewart has also contributed to two books in the

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

series: the ''Rough Guide to Andalucia'' and the ''Rough Guide to China''.

References

External links

Biography and news
*
Sort of Books
a small British publisher initially founded to help Stewart publish his debut book (se
About us

Chris Stewart's blog about thrifty-living in Spain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Chris 1950 births Living people British Book Award winners British male drummers English drummers English expatriates in Spain English farmers English memoirists Genesis (band) members People educated at Charterhouse School People from Crawley ja:クリス・スチュワート