Tony Christie (born
Anthony Fitzgerald, 25 April 1943,
ConisbroughConisbrough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is located roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don at...
,
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
,
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. His mother was English and his father came from
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
He had two Top Twenty hits in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
in 1971 with "
I Did What I Did For MariaI Did What I Did For Maria was a Top 20 hit in 1971 for Tony Christie. It was written and produced by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, who were also responsible for Christie's 'Las Vegas' and 'Avenues And Alleyways'...
", which reached #2 and "
Is This the Way to Amarillo"Is This the Way to Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, referring to Amarillo, Texas. It is about a man travelling to Amarillo to find his girlfriend. The reason that Amarillo was chosen for the song was because it was the only place name that Sedaka could think of...
", which peaked at #18. He also had a minor hit with
Avenues and Alleyways"Avenues and Alleyways" is the second single by UK artist Tony Christie in 2005 and is a re-release of a 1973 song recorded by Christie as the theme song for the television series The Protectors. It was written and produced by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, who were also responsible for...
which reached #37, the theme to the
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
series
The ProtectorsThe Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson - his second TV series using live actors as opposed to animated puppets. It is also, to date, the only Gerry Anderson-produced television series that was not of the fantasy or science fiction genres. It was...
. His early
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s were dramatic big-voiced numbers, many of which were
writtenA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
by Mitch Murray and Peter Callandar.
Album wise he recorded regularly throughout the seventies and made infrequent appearances on the charts.
Tony Christie (born
Anthony Fitzgerald, 25 April 1943,
ConisbroughConisbrough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is located roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don at...
,
South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and the city of Sheffield...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
,
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. His mother was English and his father came from
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
Career
He had two Top Twenty hits in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
in 1971 with "
I Did What I Did For MariaI Did What I Did For Maria was a Top 20 hit in 1971 for Tony Christie. It was written and produced by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, who were also responsible for Christie's 'Las Vegas' and 'Avenues And Alleyways'...
", which reached #2 and "
Is This the Way to Amarillo"Is This the Way to Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, referring to Amarillo, Texas. It is about a man travelling to Amarillo to find his girlfriend. The reason that Amarillo was chosen for the song was because it was the only place name that Sedaka could think of...
", which peaked at #18. He also had a minor hit with
Avenues and Alleyways"Avenues and Alleyways" is the second single by UK artist Tony Christie in 2005 and is a re-release of a 1973 song recorded by Christie as the theme song for the television series The Protectors. It was written and produced by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, who were also responsible for...
which reached #37, the theme to the
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
series
The ProtectorsThe Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson - his second TV series using live actors as opposed to animated puppets. It is also, to date, the only Gerry Anderson-produced television series that was not of the fantasy or science fiction genres. It was...
. His early
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s were dramatic big-voiced numbers, many of which were
writtenA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
by Mitch Murray and Peter Callandar.
Album wise he recorded regularly throughout the seventies and made infrequent appearances on the charts. His album
With Loving Feeling sold well boosted by the hit single "
Is This The Way to Amarillo"Is This the Way to Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, referring to Amarillo, Texas. It is about a man travelling to Amarillo to find his girlfriend. The reason that Amarillo was chosen for the song was because it was the only place name that Sedaka could think of...
". He recorded an album in America in 1973 with top producer
Snuff GarrettSnuff Garrett is a retired American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. His nickname is a play on Garrett's Snuff, a brand of smokeless tobacco....
which did little to stop his commercial slant. A live album followed which sold relatively better. But by the mid 1970s recorded work became rarer and stage work took preference.
He played the role of Magaldi on the original 1976 album recording of the
musicalMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Evita, and sought to
represent the UK in the 1976 Eurovision Song ContestThe United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1976. It was held on February 25, 1976 and presented by Michael Aspel.-Results:
...
, with the song "The Queen of the Mardi Gras" but came third in the national contest to select an entrant, behind eventual contest winners Brotherhood of ManBrotherhood of Man are a British pop group who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 with "Save Your Kisses for Me".The group was created by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller in 1969 and scored a worldwide hit with "United We Stand" the following year. By 1974 the line-up had changed to...
.
Although his popularity waned in his native England through most of the 1980s and 1990s, he maintained a successful singing career in continental EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
during this period. This was especially so in GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, for example with four albums recorded with German producer Jack White, especially their first album collaboration Welcome To My Music, reaching no.7 in the German charts and going platinum. All in all, from 1991 to 2002 Tony recorded nine albums especially for the German market.
In 1999 he was the vocalist on the Jarvis CockerJarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and former frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s.-Biography:...
penned UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Top Ten hit, "Walk Like a Panther", as recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by the SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base...
bandIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
, All Seeing IThe All Seeing I are an English electronic music group from Sheffield, comprising Dean Honer, Jason Buckle and DJ Parrot...
. His influence on a new generation of singers was further demonstrated when indieIn popular music, independent music, often generally abbreviated as "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
band Rinaldi SingsRinaldi Sings is the stage name used by Steve Rinaldi, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose orchestrated pop music prompted the New Musical Express to describe him in 2004 as a "cocksure 20th Century Scott Walker".- Background :...
released a cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Avenues & Alleyways" in March 2004.
In 2002 "Is This the Way to Amarillo" was used in the TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
series Peter Kay's Phoenix NightsPeter Kay's Phoenix Nights is a BAFTA-nominated British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The show is written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey, produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation...
, leading to a resurgence in his popularity. The song was re-released on 14 March 2005 to raise money for the Comic Relief charity, and reached number one in the charts (outselling all the first release's chart run put together). This led to the biggest sales for a #1 singleIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
for the whole year, with seven weekA week is a time unit equal to a number of days, now usually seven days. Weeks of between 4 and 20 days have been used historically in various places.-Four-day:The Igbo of Nigeria have a traditional calendar with a 4 day week...
s at number 1. It also became the longest running chart-topper since CherCher is an American pop singer-songwriter, actor, director and record producer. She has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and a People's Choice Award for her work in film, music and television.Cher began her career at the age of seventeen and came to...
's "Believe"Believe" is a Grammy Award-winning global number one, multi-platinum dance song which served as the worldwide lead single for American singer Cher's twenty-third studio album Believe...
", almost 7 years earlier. The single was credited as "featuring Peter KayPeter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, producer, director and actor. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions.-Early career:Kay was born in Farnworth near Bolton,...
", though Kay only appeared in the videoA music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the...
; the audio track was the original 1971 issue. His album, The Definitive Collection also climbed to the #1 spot the following week in the UK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
, breaking records when it also came in at number one on the downloads chart.
In 2005 the DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
singer Albert West covered the same song. This release reached #25 in the Dutch record chartA record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. The same year Tony Christie himself re-recorded "Amarillo" together with the Hermes House BandThe Hermes House Band is a Dutch party band established in 1984 by members of the Hermes student society in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.From the band's establishment onward, a member of the band that finishes his/her studies has to leave the band immediately...
for the German market, reaching No.25 in the German charts and having several TV performances.
Following the song's success Christie was awarded the freedom of Amarillo, TexasAmarillo is the 14th-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 173,627 at the 2000 census. The Amarillo metropolitan area has an estimated population of...
, and made a guest appearance on the YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
based BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
TV soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
, EmmerdaleEmmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed British soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972...
.
A few months later he re-released another single "Avenues & Alleyways", as a follow-up to the success of "Amarillo". Although this only reached #26 on the UK Singles Chart, it once again out-performed the original release, which reached #37 in 1973.
Following on from this success Christie released a new single on 5 December 2005, a big bandA big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and...
cover of SladeSlade are an English rock band. Slade were one of the most recognizable acts of the glam rock movement and were, at their peak, the most commercially popular band in the UK...
's "Merry Xmas Everybody"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a single by the English glam rock band Slade. Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth and final number one single in the UK...
". The B-sideA-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
contained a big band version of "Is This the Way to Amarillo" and a live recording of "If It Feels Good, Do It" plus videos of the first two tracks. However, it only reached #49 on the UK Chart.
To coincide with the 2006 World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000...
, a new version of "Amarillo" was released on the novelty single "(Is This The Way To) The World Cup?" on 29 May 2006, reaching #8 in the UK. http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/gut/tony_england.htm. On 6 November 2006 Christie issued a new albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
, called Simply in Love.
In 2008 Christie recorded an album, Made in Sheffield-Production:After hearing the song "Coles Corner" by Richard Hawley on the radio, Christie suggested that it was the type of production he should be striving for. Christie approached Hawley to request his production duties on a new version of the track...
, with production from Richard HawleyRichard Hawley is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. After his first band Treebound Story broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Longpigs in the 1990s. He later played with Pulp, led by his friend Jarvis Cocker...
, and contributions from Alex TurnerAlexander David Turner is an English musician and member of Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets. He is the vocalist and lead guitarist in both bands...
and Jarvis CockerJarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and former frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s.-Biography:...
. On 20 May 2008 he performed one of the album's songs, "Danger Is A Woman In Love", at the Royal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
with Richard Hawley.
2009 sees the release of the download single "Every Word She Said".
Singles
- "I Did What I Did for Maria
I Did What I Did For Maria was a Top 20 hit in 1971 for Tony Christie. It was written and produced by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, who were also responsible for Christie's 'Las Vegas' and 'Avenues And Alleyways'...
"
- "Don't Go Down To Reno"
- "Is This The Way To Amarillo
"Is This the Way to Amarillo" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, referring to Amarillo, Texas. It is about a man travelling to Amarillo to find his girlfriend. The reason that Amarillo was chosen for the song was because it was the only place name that Sedaka could think of...
"
Albums
On MCA:
- Tony Christie
Tony Christie is an English musician, singer and actor. His mother was English and his father came from Ireland.-Career:...
- With Loving Feeling
- From America with Love
- Live
- I'm Not In Love
"I'm Not in Love" is a song written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman of the English group 10cc, from the album The Original Soundtrack...
Recent albums:
- Welcome To My Music (1991)
- Welcome To My Music 2 (1992)
- In Love Again
"In Love Again" is the fifth and final single released by Australian electro-Rock group Rogue Traders from their second album Here Come the Drums. It was released for digital download in Australia in 2006. At the time of release, digital downloads were not included as part of the main singles...
(1993)
- Calypso And Rum (1994)
- This Is Your Day
This is Your Day is a Christian television show hosted by pastor Benny Hinn and broadcast several times a week in the United States by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the Daystar Television Network, Revelation TV, Grace TV, VisionTV, INSP Networks, The God Channel and various local affiliates to...
(1996)
- Time For Love (1998)
- The Greatest Hollywood Movie Songs (1999)
- Weihnachten mit Tony Christie (2001)
- Worldhits & Love-Songs (2002)
- Definitive Collection
Definitive Collection is a compilation album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in Holland and Austria on November 7, 1995.-History:...
(2005)
- Simply In Love
Simply In Love is a 2006 album by Tony Christie. Forty years after his first solo single, Christie released Simply In Love - a collection of classic love songs and other covers including "Light my Fire" by The Doors and "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys. The album was titled Simply In Love and...
(2006)
- Made in Sheffield
-Production:After hearing the song "Coles Corner" by Richard Hawley on the radio, Christie suggested that it was the type of production he should be striving for. Christie approached Hawley to request his production duties on a new version of the track...
(2008)
External links