Christopher Mark Bailey (31 May 19504 April 2013) was an Australian

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

ist and vocalist. He was a member of various rock groups including

Headband A headband or hairband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plast ...

(1971–1974), The Angels (1976–1982, 2008–2013),

GANGgajang Ganggajang, stylised as GANGgajang are an Australian pop rock band which formed in 1984. The four founders are frontman Mark 'Cal' Callaghan (ex- Riptides) on guitar and lead vocals, Chris Bailey on bass guitar, Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup on dru ...

(1984–2013), and The Stetsons (1987, 1997). Bailey died of

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

, aged 62.

Biography

Christopher Mark Bailey was born on 31 May 1950 in Keith, a rural town some 225 km south-east of Adelaide. His parents Alfred "Bill" Bailey and Gladys (née Spencer) were

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

licans. Bailey was sent to

Prince Alfred College Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia, Kent Town, near the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, South Australia. One of th ...

in Adelaide as a school boarder from the age of five. From the age of 15, Bailey began playing bass guitar with various Adelaide bands. His earliest group was Tattered Sole, which he formed in 1966 while still at school, with James Ashby (guitar/vocals), Rick "Fred" Frolich (lead vocals), Rob Tillett (lead guitar/vocals), and Bob Wiltshire on drums. In 1967 the band replaced Bob Wiltshire with another schoolmate, John Freeman (drums/vocals), Freddy Frohlich with Richard Tipping (vocals/percussion) and Jim Ashby with Robert "Jakes" Jacobs on rhythm guitar. In 1968, Tattered Sole morphed into alternative rock outfit, Red Angel Panic, featuring Rob Tillett (lead guitar/vocals), Chris Bailey (bass guitar/vocals), John Freeman (drums/vocals), Ken Skinner (keyboards) and Robert "Jakes" Jacobs on rhythm guitar. Chris left the Red Angel Panic in 1971, by which time the line-up featured Rob Tillett (lead guitar/vocals), Chris on bass and vocals, Leon "Moses" Carmen on keyboards and Peter McCormack on drums. The band reformed in early 1971 with Ron Anderson on bass guitar, Lee Cass on drums, Moses on keyboards and Rob Tillett on lead guitar and vocals. Later that year Peter McCormack rejoined the band, replacing Lee Cass. The band broke up in 1972, when Rob Tillett paralysed three fingers on his left hand after a motor cycle accident. However, Red Angel Panic reformed in 1975, with a stellar lineup, including Chris Bailey (bass), Mick Jurd (lead guitar), Russ Johnson (guitar), Graham Davidge (guitar/flute), Moses (keyboards), John Freeman (drums), and Rob Tillett (vocals). The band later included Graham "Buzz Throckman" Bidstrup (drums), then when Buzz joined The Angels in 1976, JJ Hackett on drums. Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, described the group's style as "psychedelic/cosmic blues rock" and they were "one of the first outfits of the day to espouse a social and political agenda. The band played the college circuit, as well as the usual round of moratoriums and protest marches". Bailey was recorded on Red Angel Panic's first single, "Viet Rock"/"Private Investigator" (late 1970) and a number of so far unreleased recordings between 1970 and 1977, which are now being remastered to be released in 2015. (Some of these previously unreleased Red Angel Panic tracks are now accessible on SoundCloud.) In February 1971, Bailey formed

with Joff Bateman on drums, Peter Beagley (later known as

Peter Head Peter Head (born Peter Beagley), is an Australian rock musician, pianist, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work with the progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock mu ...

) on keyboards and lead vocals, and Mauri Berg on guitar and lead vocals. McFarlane described this group's style as "progressive/blues rock ... heyplayed everything from blues and jazz to folk and country". They disbanded in 1974 and, in March the next year, Bailey issued a solo single, "Sunday Too Far Away", on

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Bailey rejoined Head in Mount Lofty Rangers, an "''ad hoc'' country rock outfit", which had a variable line up including

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...

. During 1975 Bailey hosted a music TV series on

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC), ''Solid Air''. Between 1975b and 1977 he rejoined Red Angel Panic (in its Dangerball phase) and recorded quite a number of tracks with the band, which are being remastered to be released in 2015. He had a short stint with another band, Salvation Air Force. In 1976, he joined pub rockers, The Angels, with

Graham Bidstrup Graham Leslie "Buzz" Bidstrup (born 30 August 1952) is an Australian musician, songwriter, music producer and talent manager. He was a member of the Angels (1976–1981), the Party Boys (1983–1984) and Gang Gajang (1984–1987, 1993–1996, ...

(aka "Buzz Throckman") on drums, John Brewster on rhythm guitar and vocals, his brother Rick Brewster on lead guitar, and Bernard "Doc" Neeson on lead vocals. Upon joining Bailey "allowed Neeson to concentrate on his duties as frontman", Neeson had previously played bass guitar for the group. During New Year's Eve 1979, The Angels performed on the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

steps, where Bailey and Neeson both received head cuts requiring stitches from bottles thrown by the audience. Bailey left the band early in 1982 after working on their first five studio albums. Bailey worked with a range of artists including Gotham City (with former bandmate, Rob Tillett, in 1982), PM, Invisible Men, Wendy Saddington Band, The Famous Nobodies, and Rat Tat Tat. During late 1983, Bailey was living in Sydney and was approached by ABC to join a songwriting team working on a TV pop music drama, ''

Sweet and Sour Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia and has been used in English cuisine, England since the Middle Ages.Clarissa Dickson WDickson ...

'' (July–August 1984). Bailey co-wrote tracks with Bidstrup and Mark Callaghan (ex-

Riptides The Riptides were an Australian power pop group which was formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977 as The Grudge. Their founding mainstay was Mark Callaghan on lead vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and as principal songwriter. Former member M ...

on guitar and vocals), together they formed a pop rock group,

, with Geoffrey Stapleton (ex- The Aliens) on keyboards, guitar and vocals. Bailey remained with the group until his death. Periodically from 2001 he also performed in various line-ups of The Angels.

Personal life

Just prior to his death, Chris Bailey married his partner, Josie O'Reilly, an actor-comedian, with whom he had a son. In January 2013 Bailey was diagnosed with mouth/throat cancer. The Angels confirmed his condition with a media release in January 2013, " eare deeply saddened to learn that our bass player, Chris Bailey, has an aggressive, life-threatening cancer and is now undergoing palliative chemotherapy". Bailey died of the disease on 4 April 2013, aged 62.Angels bassist Chris Bailey dies after cancer battle
The Advertiser (Adelaide) accessdate 22 July 2018 A tribute concert, Adelaide Salutes Chris Bailey, was held in his honour on 17 April with proceeds donated to his wife and son. The performers included Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss, Phil Small, and Don Walker (all of

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums, Les Kaczmarek on bass and Don Walker (musician), Don Walker on pia ...

);

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne Order of Australia, OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian musician. He achieved fame as the lead singer of Australian Crawl, and subsequently went on to a successful solo career. Biography Early years Reyne was born ...

, his own band

, Swanee with The Brewster Brothers, and The Angels with

Dave Gleeson David Sean "Gleeso" Gleeson (born 3 June 1968) is the lead singer of Australian hard rock group The Screaming Jets. He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales and currently resides in Adelaide Hills, South Australia. With the death of Screami ...

(of

The Screaming Jets The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle, New South Wales from the band Aspect formed in high school by Grant, Dave, Frank Manitta and Grant Wiltshire (deceased) in 1984 which Paul Woseen was also a later member o ...

Discography

Singles

* "Sunday Too Far Away" (1975) * " Little Egypt" (with Nathan Cavaleri) (1992) – #63 ARIA

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

"Red Angel Panic"
''Messenger Press'' photo, 1970, held at

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research li ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Chris 1950 births 2013 deaths Australian rock bass guitarists Australian male songwriters Deaths from cancer in South Australia The Angels (Australian band) members Musicians from Adelaide 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century Australian guitarists People educated at Prince Alfred College