Bryn Christopher (born 8 November 1985) is a British singer and songwriter. Born in

Great Barr Great Barr is now a large and loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Bir ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England, he attended the

Italia Conti Stage School The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. For ...

and was a contestant on '' Popstars: The Rivals''. His debut single, "The Quest", was featured in the TV series ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

''.

Musical career

Early years

Christopher was the support slot on the

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

tour at the end of 2007, while he was still relatively unknown (he also supported U.S. soul artist

Rahsaan Patterson Rahsaan Patterson (born January 11, 1974) is an American singer and actor, best known for portraying "The Kid" on the 1980s television show '' Kids Incorporated.'' Career 1984: ''Kids Incorporated'' After appearing in a school talent show in 19 ...

at London's Jazz Café). He has been picked up by the U.S. agency

William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ag ...

. He also co-wrote the Leon Jackson hit song "

Don't Call This Love "Don't Call This Love" is a song by the Scottish singer Leon Jackson, released on 12 October 2008 on CD and as a digital download. The song is taken from his first album, '' Right Now'', and is his second single release after his Christmas numbe ...

" with British producer/writer

Chris Braide Christopher Braide (born 1973) is an English songwriter, record producer and singer, formerly based in Malibu, Los Angeles, California, United States. Braide is known for being a pianist. First signed as a solo artist by David A. Stewart in t ...

. Christopher was also the opening act for

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

on her European tour 'Growing Pains' in 2008.

"The Quest"

Christopher's first single release, "The Quest", was released on 8 June 2008 through

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. The single draws on his brother's personal experience as a soldier stationed in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

. His brother two years later would be injured in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

losing both of his legs. "The Quest" was featured in the closing scene of ''

'' season 4 conclusion, which caused the song to become more known in the US. The song was made into a music video for the show to promote its fifth season, with scenes of Christopher singing in London as well as scenes from the show. The song was also featured in an episode of the BBC school-based drama '' Waterloo Road''. It was also covered by

Grigory Leps Grigory Viktorovich Lepsveridze (russian: link=no, Григо́рий Ви́кторович Лепсверидзе, ka, გრიგორი ვიქტორის ძე ლეფსვერიძე), known as Grigory Leps (born 16 July ...

in Russian which became a popular version. Christopher teamed up with co-writer/producer Jarrad Rogers and production team

Midi Mafia The MIDI Mafia is a music production duo consisting of American Bruce Waynne (born Waynne Nugent) from Brooklyn, New York and Canadian Dirty Swift (born Kevin Risto) from Ottawa, Ontario. Together as Midi Mafia since 2003, they are most notable for ...

to produce his debut album ''My World'', which was released September 2008. Midi Mafia secured the exclusive rights to use samples from the

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

Catalogue, and has used some of these for the first time ever on Christopher's album. His second single, "Smilin" was released on 2 September 2008. It peaked at No. 31. His third single "Fearless" was released on 18 January 2009 and failed to chart. His final single was "Taken Me Over", released on 4 August 2009 as a digital-only single. It also failed to chart. Christopher then left

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

, and signed with Geffen Records UK.

Festival appearances

Christopher hosted a residency at North London's live spot The Boogaloo throughout April 2007, and followed this with dates at London's Soho Revue Bar. He has also played at 2008's

Wireless Festival The Wireless Festival is a rap and urban music festival that takes place every year in London, England. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. While it started as primarily a rock and pop festival, in recent years it has focused on hip hop and ...

in Hyde Park on the same day as Jay-Z, as well as

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused B ...

Oxegen Oxegen was a music festival in Ireland, first held from 2004–2011 as a rock and pop festival and again in 2013 with dance and chart acts only. The event was regularly cited as Ireland's biggest music festival, and, by 2009, it was being ci ...

and V Festival. Christopher has also appeared at the Capital Summertime and Jingle Bell Ball's as the vocalist of

Sigala Bruce Fielder, known professionally as Sigala, is a British DJ and music producer. He has had eight songs peak within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, including his 2015 debut single " Easy Love", which samples " ABC" by the Jackson 5. C ...

's " Sweet Lovin'"; he also has appeared at V Festival and appeared in many other places during 2015–2017.

2010–present

Christopher co-wrote the Sub Focus song " Out the Blue", which was released 27 April 2012. He co-wrote and provided uncredited vocals for "Superstar" by

Knife Party Knife Party are an Australian electronic music duo consisting of Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, two members of the drum and bass band Pendulum. The duo has worked with artists such as Swedish House Mafia, Steve Aoki, MistaJam, Foreign Beg ...

, from their debut album '' Abandon Ship'' (2014). In 2015, he was a featured artist and co-wrote the song "City Lights" by Culture Shock. He also worked with

on the track " Sweet Lovin'", a tropical house track that has over 245 million hits on YouTube (as of October 2021) and reached number three on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. He also wrote "

Came Here for Love "Came Here for Love" is a song by English DJ and record producer Sigala and English singer-songwriter Ella Eyre. It was written by Klingande, Bryn Christopher and Scott Wild, with the song's production handled by Sigala, Klingande, White N3rd a ...

" by Sigala and

Ella Eyre Ella McMahon (born 1 April 1994), known professionally as Ella Eyre, is a British singer and songwriter. She is known for her collaborations with Rudimental on their UK number-one single " Waiting All Night" (2013), which won the 2014 Brit Awa ...

with White N3rd and

Klingande Cédric Steinmyller (born 14 May 1990), better known by his stage name Klingande (, literally: ''chiming''), is a French DJ and tropical house producer with a prominent use of the piano and the saxophone. Klingande was originally a duo, until 20 ...

, which reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and was the official London gay pride theme.

I See Monstas

In 2012, Christopher, under the pseudonym Skaar, joined producers Rocky and Rufio to form an electronic music group called MONSTA (subsequently renamed I See Monstas in 2013). The group charted at No. 48 in the UK with their first single "Holdin' On".

Personal life

Christopher is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. In an interview with ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''Gay Times Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ media brand established in 1975. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company now includes content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

'' in October 2018, he revealed he had not come out to his family and dismissed the idea of doing so until he was in a relationship.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Notes *A ^ "Taken Me Over" was released as a digital download single.

Other appearances

Songwriting credits

References

External links

*
Geffen Records website

Bryn Christopher interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' September 2008

Bryn Christopher French Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christopher, Bryn 1985 births 21st-century Black British male singers Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts British contemporary R&B singers English people of Barbadian descent English soul singers English tenors English gay musicians Geffen Records artists Gay singers Gay songwriters Living people LGBT Black British people English LGBT singers English LGBT songwriters Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Great Barr Polydor Records artists Popstars contestants 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people