Chris Bailey is the founder and front man of legendary rock band The Saints. He was born in Nanyuki, Kenya to Irish parents. Bailey grew up in Belfast until the age of seven, when his family emigrated to Australia.
The Saints were formed in Australia in 1974 and their fist hit was in the UK with (I'm) Stranded. As well as performing with The Saints Chris Bailey has also maintained a solo career.
A cover of The Easybeats' "The Music Goes Round My Head" was issued as a single in December 1988 and featured on the soundtrack to the film Young Einstein. In 1991, Bailey formed the Chris Bailey Combo including Paul Hester, Nick Seymour, Dror Erez and a revolving cast of guest players.
Demons was Bailey's second solo album, recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been sent by TVT records. Savage Entertainment was released in October 1992, and in 1993 Bailey wrote and recorded together with Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, which included a rework of the song "All Fools' Day".
Bailey's fourth solo album 54 Days . . . at Sea was recorded in Malmö, Sweden and was released in 1994. It featured Bolivian folk musicians Mundo Folk, whom Bailey had seen busking when visiting friends in Sweden the previous year. Swedish musicians Eddie Nyström (guitar), Magnus Börjeson (bass) and Stellan Colt (drums) provided the rock base for the album.
For the Earth Music compilation, issued in June 1994, Bailey contributed a cover of Tim Finn's "Not Even Close".
In 1996 Bailey decided it was time for a new Saints album (the previous one being Prodigal Son in 1988) and recorded Howling. This album was followed by Everybody Knows the Monkey (1998), Spit the Blues Out (2002), Nothing is Straight in My House (2005) and Imperious Delirium (2006), which were all recorded under the name of The Saints. (For full discography please go to The Saints.)
When Mushroom Music celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1998, Bailey was one of the invited artists to perform on a stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an audience of about 100,000 people. He performed two of his most famous songs, "Ghost Ships" and "Just Like Fire Would", solo and also a duet with Paul Kelly: "Wide Open Road", a tribute to the late David McComb of The Triffids.
2003 saw Bailey make a guest appearance, singing the chorus vocals on "Bring It On", on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Nocturama. Bailey then toured America with the group and performed with them on the Late Night with David Letterman show.
At the 2005 Queensland Poetry festival in Brisbane, at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Chris Bailey headlined the event.
Chris Bailey and the General Dog is another one of Bailey's constellations, their latest record being Bone Box in 2005. During the spring of 2007, Bailey undertook a solo tour of France, on occasion as a double act with French rock artist Mickael Furnon, alias Mickey, from rock group Mickey 3D.
SOLO ALBUMS
Casablanca 1983 12 Produced by Chris Bailey
LP FRA New Rose ROSE 20
What We Did On Our Holidays 1984 11 Produced by Chris Bailey
CD FRA New Rose (8 bonus tracks taken from "Casablanca")
LP FRA New Rose ROSE 30
Demons 1990 11 Produced by Jim Gaines and Chris Bailey
CD AUS Mushroom D 30510
AUS Mushroom MUSH32055.2
FRA New Rose ROSE 253CD
SWE Mushroom D 30510 (different cover, no lyrics)
LP AUS Mushroom L 30510
FRA New Rose ROSE 253
SWE Mushroom L 30510 (different cover, no lyrics)
Savage Entertainment 1992 11 Produced by Chris Bailey
CD AUS Mushroom
AUS Mushroom MUSH32053.2
FRA New Rose rosecd 297
MC AUS Mushroom
FRA New Rose ROSE 297
54 Days At Sea 1994 11 Produced by Chris Bailey and Martin Hennel
CD AUS Mushroom
GER Mushroom 74321 19716 2 (different cover)
Encore 1995 20 Produced by Chris Bailey
CD FRA Last Call 422009
DM Blues 2005 41
CD FRA Last Call ("What We Did On Our Holidays", "Savage Entertainment" and the EP "Do They Come From You")
Bone Box
Chris Bailey and The General Dog
2005 15CD AUS Liberation Blue BLUE0742
CURRENT RECORD LABLES
WILDFLOWER
CADIZ MUSIC
