Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He won five

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

" (1980), and "

Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" is a song performed and co-written by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, which was the main theme for the 1981 film '' Arthur'' starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. The song won the Oscar fo ...

" (from the 1981 film ''Arthur'') peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Sailing" earned three Grammys in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen).

Career

Early musical career

Geppert, bassist Andy Salmon and keyboardist Rob Meurer met in San Antonio when they were still teens. Geppert and Salmon became bandmates in Flash, with Geppert on guitar. Together, they formed Christopher Cross as a band and moved to Austin, where they added drummer Tommy Taylor. There, they played covers for cash while recording demo versions of original songs at Austin's Pecan Street Studios, which they shopped to record labels. Though they considered themselves a band, Warner Bros. signed Christopher Cross as a solo artist in early 1979.Margaret Moser
"The Reluctant Celebrity: Christopher Cross."
''The Austin Chronicle.'' 20 January 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2022. Although best known for his vocals and songwriting, Cross is also a skilled guitarist.

Donald Fagen Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his ...

and Walter Becker of

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from liv ...

invited Cross to play on their albums, but Cross declined. Cross also substituted for

Richie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and Organ (music), organ sounds. He is prolific in c ...

during a Deep Purple concert in 1970 when Blackmore fell ill.

The first album and immediate success

Cross released his self-titled debut album, '' Christopher Cross'', on Dec. 27, 1979. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 20 hits from this album included " Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald), "

", " Never Be the Same" and "Say You'll Be Mine" (featuring backing vocals by Nicolette Larson). "Ride Like the Wind" hit number two on the U.S. Hot 100, while "Sailing" topped the chart for one week. "Never Be The Same" went number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Cross, the album and the song "Sailing" were nominated for six Grammy Awards in 1981 and won five.23rd Annual GRAMMY Awards
at Grammy.com. Retrieved 25 July 2022. Cross was the first artist in Grammy history to win all four general field awards in a single ceremony, bringing home Record of the Year ("Sailing"),

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

(''Christopher Cross''), Song of the Year ("Sailing") and Best New Artist at the

23rd Annual Grammy Awards The 23rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1981, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1980. Album of the Year went to ...

. This feat was not replicated for 39 years, until Billie Eilish won all four awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020."A Virtual College of Grammy Knowledge"
by Wook Kim, ''

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'', 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-07. In addition, "Sailing" won for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). ''Christopher Cross'' has been certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

five times in the U.S., selling over 5 million copies. Later in 1981, Cross released "

", co-written by Burt Bacharach, which was the main theme for the 1981 film '' Arthur''. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981, and was nominated for three Grammys, but did not win.24th Annual GRAMMY Awards
at Grammy.com. Retrieved 25 July 2022. In the U.S., it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts in October 1981, remaining at the top of the Hot 100 for three weeks while it also was a top-ten hit in several other countries. The song became the second and last American number-one hit by Christopher Cross.

The second album

Cross's second album, ''

Another Page ''Another Page'' is Christopher Cross's second studio album, recorded in 1982 and released in early 1983. It was not as commercially successful as its predecessor (it was certified Gold by the RIAA, but only after his self-titled debut album had ...

'' (1983), produced " All Right", "No Time for Talk", and "

Think of Laura "Think of Laura" is a popular song by the American Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Christopher Cross. Released as a single in late 1983 from Cross's second studio album, '' Another Page'', "Think of Laura" became the singer's fourth (and, ...

". "All Right" was used by

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, while "Think of Laura" is used as a reference to characters on the soap opera ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest-running American soap opera in production, and the second in American history after '' ...

''. Cross allowed ABC to use his song in this context; however, he has stated that he wrote "Think of Laura" not in reference to the television characters, but to celebrate the life of

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...

college student Laura Carter who was killed when she was struck by a stray bullet. ''Another Page'' sold well, getting

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

certification. He also co-wrote and sang the song "A Chance For Heaven" for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

The 1980s

After 1984, Cross's star quickly dimmed. As music television channel

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

grew to dominate the mainstream music scene in the United States, Cross's style of music proved to be a bad fit for the network, and Cross's brand of

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qu ...

declined in popularity. Cross's next two albums, 1985's '' Every Turn of the World'' and 1988's '' Back of My Mind'' did not produce any top 40 hits or reach Gold or Platinum status. He did, however, place the song "Swept Away" in the TV show '' Growing Pains''. It was used during a video montage while

Kirk Cameron Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor and evangelist. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom '' Growing Pains'' (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Glo ...

's character Mike fell in love with a local girl while vacationing with the family in Hawaii.

The 1990s

Cross made three more albums in the 1990s, and although some of his releases gained critical response, he was not able to attract the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid-1980s, he toured and opened for various acts during the 1990s.

The 2000s

Christopher Cross in beaumont ca (2637703689) (cropped)

The year 2002 saw the release of the ''Very Best of...'' album, and in 2007 he completed a Christmas album titled ''A Christopher Cross Christmas''. In 2008, Cross recorded a new acoustic album of his hits titled ''The Cafe Carlyle Sessions''.

The 2010s

In 2011, Cross released a new studio album titled ''Doctor Faith''. In 2013, he released ''A Night in Paris'', a 2-CD live album he recorded and filmed in April 2012 at the Theatre Le Trianon in Paris, France. The song "Ride Like the Wind" was featured on the '' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'' original movie soundtrack, released in 2013. In September 2014, he released ''Secret Ladder'', followed in November 2017 by ''Take Me as I Am''. In 2017, he played a concert in his hometown, at the Tobin Center, San Antonio, Texas. In 2018, he joined with other musicians in Austin to form the band Freedonia. In late 2019, Cross toured with Todd Rundgren, Jason Scheff, Micky Dolenz and Joey Molland of Badfinger in celebration of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' ''White Album'' on the "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – A Tribute to the Beatles' White Album". Cross performed "

" and " Ride Like the Wind". Since 2018, Cross has been playing in a band called Freedonia. They have 2 full length albums: "Freedonia" and "Firefly" and an EP titled "Bring Back The Dinosaurs".

Flamingo

One common feature of Cross's album covers is the appearance of a flamingo. According to Cross, there is no meaning behind this other than the painting chosen for his first album cover featured the bird, which has been used as a motif ever since.

Personal life

A self-described "Army brat", Cross is the son of a U.S. Army pediatrician stationed at

Walter Reed Army Hospital The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s, acting as physician for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Dwight Eisenhower's grandchildren. He attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio and graduated in 1969. He was involved in football and track and field. Cross was married to Roseanne Harrison from 1973 until the couple divorced in 1982. His 1988 marriage to Jan Bunch ended in a 2007 divorce. On April 3, 2020, Cross confirmed through his Facebook page that he had tested positive for the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

virus, and was ill, but was recovering. Cross later reported on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that he has lost the use of his legs, but his doctors have told him he should fully recover. Physicians told him his COVID-19 disease triggered an episode of Guillain–Barré syndrome that caused the nerves in his legs to stop functioning properly.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

*1991: ''The Best of Christopher Cross'' (WEA) *1999: ''Greatest Hits Live'' (CMC) *2001: ''Definitive Christopher Cross'' (Warner Bros./Asia) *2002: ''The Very Best of Christopher Cross'' (Warner Bros.) *2011: ''Crosswords: The Best of Christopher Cross'' (101 Distribution)

Soundtracks

*1981: '' Arthur'' (Motion picture soundtrack) "

" *1983: ''

'' (TV series soundtrack) "Think of Laura" *1984: '' Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad'' "A Chance For Heaven" (swimming theme) *1986: '' Nothing in Common'' (Motion picture soundtrack) "Loving Strangers (David's Theme)" *2010: ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

'' (TV series soundtrack) "Lemon's Theme"

Singles

Other appearances

*1974: ''Electromagnets'', (with Eric Johnson) - "Motion" *1981: ''Chris Christian'', (Boardwalk Records) - "Don't Give Up on Us" (guitar solo) *1982: ''Long Time Friends'',

Alessi Brothers The Alessi Brothers, also known as Alessi, are an American pop rock singer-songwriter duo who first came to international prominence with their 1977 hit single "Oh Lori". The duo are identical twin brothers, Billy and Bobby Alessi (born July 12, ...

- "Forever" (background vocals) *1985: ''Soul Kiss'',

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one s ...

- "You Were Great, How Was I?" (background vocals) *1985: ''Crazy from the Heat'',

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

- "California Girls" (background vocals) *1988: ''Brian Wilson'', Brian Wilson - "Night Time" (background vocals) *1989: ''Christmas at My House'',

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorded ...

- "Ringing the Bells of Christmas" *1991: ''Love Can Do That'', Elaine Paige - "Same Train" *1994: ''Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume III'' - " Arthur's Theme" (live version) *1996: ''Venus Isle'', Eric Johnson - "Lonely in the Night" (background vocals) *1996: ''On Air'',

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Parsons was involved with the production of several notable albums, including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' ( ...

- "So Far Away" *1998: ''Imagination'', Brian Wilson (special edition "Words and Music" bonus disc) - "In My Room" *2001: ''A Gathering of Friends'', Michael McDonald - "Ride Like the Wind" *2001: ''When It All Goes South'',

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

- "Love Remains" *2004: ''Confidential'', Peter White - "She's in Love" *2006: ''Skylark'', Gigi Mackenzie - "That's All" *2008: ''Soundstage: America Live in Chicago'' - "Lonely People", "A Horse with No Name" *2013: ''Train Keeps a Rolling'', Jeff Golub - "How Long" *2013: ''Imagination of You'', Eric Johnson - "Imagination of You"Golden Globe Award for best original song

Awards

*Academy Award, 1981 – Best Original Song, "

" *Golden Globe Award, 1981 – Best Original Song, "

" *Grammy, 1981 – Record of the Year – "Sailing" *Grammy, 1981 – Song of the Year – "Sailing" *Grammy, 1981 –

– ''Christopher Cross'' *Grammy, 1981 – Best New Artist – Christopher Cross *Grammy, 1981 – Best Arrangement – "Sailing" *ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, 1991 – "

Nominations

* Primetime Emmy Awards, 1988 - Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics, Growing Pains (1985) episode Aloha - "Swept Away"

Performances and in popular media

*Cross filled in for guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple (who had fallen ill) by performing with the band in San Antonio, Texas, in 1970. *Cross wrote and performed "Mary Ann" for the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in 1980, in which he finished as a finalist. *Cross contributed backing vocals (along with

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

' Carl Wilson) to

's 1985 hit " California Girls". *Cross performed the song "Sailing" alongside the pop band

'N Sync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to European ...

at the Fifth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards in 1999. *Cross also performed lead vocals on "So Far Away", a song from

' album '' On Air''. When Parsons was touring in support of that album, Cross sometimes joined the band onstage to sing the song if he was available. *Cross spent much of his youth living in a home on Newbury Terrace in Terrell Hills, just outside San Antonio, Texas. That home had earlier belonged to the Cummins family. Another notable San Antonian, the historian and author

Light Townsend Cummins Light Townsend Cummins (born April 23, 1946) is an American educator and historian. He was the Bryan Professor of History at Austin College in Sherman, Texas prior to his retirement in 2018 and was the official State Historian of Texas from May 20 ...

, had grown up in that same house a decade earlier. It has since been demolished. *A small snippet of Cross's early hit "Sailing" (in slow-motion) was played in the DreamWorks- Aardman Animations film '' Flushed Away''. *"Sailing" was also featured in an episode of the Fox sitcom '' Family Guy''. It was also revealed that the full name of Chris Griffin's character is Christopher Cross Griffin. *Cross performed his hit song "Ride Like the Wind" on the NBC show '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' on Monday, October 5, 2009, in a " Yacht Rock" themed episode. He was joined by Michael McDonald, whom he has worked with in the past. As the credits were rolling, Cross, McDonald, and The Roots, the Fallon house band, broke into "Sailing", which he also performed in an online-only performance on NBC.com. *Toured as part of the 2002 "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour with

, Mark Farner, Jack Bruce,

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

, and Todd Rundgren. *Performed as part of the 2003 "A Walk Down Abbey Road" show, which consisted of two performances at the Atlantic City Hilton on August 8–9, with Alan Parsons, Todd Rundgren, Joey Molland, and

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

. * Christopher Cross was portrayed in the parody web series '' Yacht Rock'' by Justin Roiland. * " Ride Like the Wind" was featured in a skit on the television series '' SCTV'' in which the song's use of Michael McDonald's distinct yet decidedly sparse backup vocal is satirized. This skit was the subject of an episode of ''Yacht Rock''. *

Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A * Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer * Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 196 ...

booked Christopher Cross for his Millennium party in Season 8 Episode 20 of '' Seinfeld''. * Singer Robyn Hitchcock named " Arthur's Theme" as his 'most-hated' song in a 2013 A.V. Club interview. *"Sailing" was also featured in an episode of the Fox comedy '' The Last Man on Earth''. * "Ride Like the Wind" is featured in a party scene from the film '' The Worst Person in the World (film)''. *"Sailing" was featured in the Hollywood blockbuster Ambulance in a tense scene during a police chase, it was partly sung along to by Jake Gyllenhaal and

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (; born July 15, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Black Manta in the superhero films ''Aquaman'' (2018) and ''Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'' (2023), Bobby Seale in the Netflix historical legal drama ' ...

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Living Legends – Christopher Cross Interview Series
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Christopher 1951 births Living people 20th-century American Jews Alamo Heights High School alumni American acoustic guitarists American male pop singers American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American pop rock singers American pop guitarists American rock guitarists American rock songwriters American soft rock musicians American people of German-Jewish descent Ballad musicians Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters Golden Globe Award-winning musicians Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Texas Grammy Award winners Musicians from San Antonio Reprise Records artists Singer-songwriters from Texas Warner Records artists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American Jews Singer-songwriters from California American people of German descent American people of Irish descent