Chris Olley is a

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

based musician and photographer. He was the lead singer and guitarist for

Six By Seven Six by Seven (also written as SIX.BY SEVEN or six.by seven or six.byseven) are an English indie rock band, formed in 1992 in Nottingham. The classic lineup of the band featured singer/guitarist Chris Olley, guitarist Sam Hempton, drummer Chri ...

and also the band's main creative influence. He studied art at

Wakefield College Wakefield College is a Further Education and Higher Education College in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It has provided education in the city since 1868. On 1 March 2022, the college merged with Selby College to form the 'Heart of Yorkshi ...

(1990–91) and gained a BA (Hons) in photography at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...

(1991–94). It was at his time at University that Olley met Sam Hempton and together they formed six.byseven. Olley and Chris Davis were the only constant members in the different line-ups of Six By Seven over the years. Although born in England, Olley spent much of his early years in Germany, a fact alluded to on Six By Seven's first single "European Me". Consequently, some Six By Seven releases have featured tracks sung entirely in German, most notably the B-Side "Helden", a cover of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's song '' "Heroes"''. Olley also released music as part of his

Twelve project Twelve is the name given to the musical recordings made by Chris Olley, the lead singer of Six By Seven. Originally created as a separate side-project to Six By Seven, Twelve albums feature a mixture of ambient, instrumental, electronica and hea ...

during his time with six.byseven and after. In 2006 and 2008, Olley toured with

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

as merchandise man and roadie. Chris Olley at this time also recorded much of the album 'You Got A problem With Me' and is also credited with playing synthesizer on the album. Olley also recorded the album 'The Black Sheep' as well as contributing backing vocals and guitar. During this time Olley also edited and mastered Brain Donor as well as co writing and recording and providing German translations for the album "Vernichte Die Gotter" by a fictional Dutch duo named Kabalist. Olley appeared under the name Hugo De Klay and Julian Cope played synth and did vocals under his alias Ron Boots. Olley also played Wurlitzer and Hammond organ in Julian Copes band at the ATP show in Minehead 2007. In 2006, Cope's ''

Jehovahkill ''Jehovahkill'' is the eighth album by Julian Cope, released in 1992. After the critical success of ''Peggy Suicide'' (1991), Cope's idea for ''Jehovakill'' was to incorporate a krautrock attitude into his music. He began recording the album wit ...

'' album was re-released as a deluxe edition with an extra CD. Olley is acknowledged for the editing and tape transfer of disc 2 (in his own SNSM studios). 2009 saw the release of a debut solo album entitled ''

A Streetcar Named Disaster A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' and several other EP's including "East Of Edale" and "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wade" and "The Grapes of Hyman Roth" through his website and Cargo Records. In late 2007 Olley returned to his photography once more and undertook a project to photograph every football stadium in the first 4 leagues on a 250cc motorbike. The trip ended at the end of the summer of 2010 with an exhibition of all 92 images in Derby Museum's Salt Mill Gallery. More recently his 92 Stadiums project was shown in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

during the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Poland.

Discography

* ''A Streetcar Named Disaster'' * ''A Streetcar Named Disaster'' (Bonus Disc) * ''East Of Edale'' (website only EP) * ''Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wade'' (website only EP) * ''Six 8 Track Demo's'' (website only EP) * ''The Grapes Of Hyman Roth'' (website only EP) * ''A Dog Is For Christmas'' (website only album) DELETED * ''The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen By Proxy'' (Compilation Japanese Import) * ''Sign On You Crazy Diamond'' (Internet only Album) * ''The Blackest Soul'' * ''Crap On A Hot Tin Roof'' (Box Set) * '' Love And Peace And Sympathy''

References

External links

Chris Olley's Blog and six.byseven archive

Chris Olley's photography

Chris Olley photographs every league ground in the country

Nerve magazine interview 2010

A Streetcar Named Disaster Interview 2010

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olley, Chris Living people Musicians from Nottinghamshire Year of birth missing (living people)