| Chris Cross | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Thomas Allen |
| Also known as | Chris Allen, Chris St. John, Chris Cross |
| Born | 14 July 1952 |
| Origin | Tottenham, London, England |
| Genres | New Wave, synthpop, glam rock |
| Occupations | Musician, Psychotherapist, Mental Health Counsellor/Supervisor |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 1973–1988 2009 (Ultravox tour) |
| Associated acts | Stoned Rose, Tiger Lily, Ultravox, John Foxx, Midge Ure |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson EB-3 Fender Precision Bass (fretless) EMS synthesizer Minimoog synthesizer |
|
Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London, England[1]) is the bass guitarist in the band Ultravox.
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Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, William Forster Comprehensive. He began his music career playing in different bands, in Tottenham, North London, his major early influences were The Small Faces, Desmond Dekker, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Later he joined Stoned Rose, in Preston, Lancashire, alongside Pete Hughes and Mick Carroll, who later went to form Ritzi,[2] but also decided to study a long standing interest in Psychology at college.
In 1973, he returned to go to Art College in London, begun studying Art and Psychology meanwhile he also answered the ad for members to form a 'new' band, put by in Dennis Leigh, an art student in London, thus forming Tiger Lily along with guitarist Stevie Shears, drummer Warren Cann joined shortly and violinist/keyboardist Billy Currie added the next year. During the Tiger Lily phase he began to name himself as Chris St. John.
In the meantime, as Chris Allen, he wrote several songs with his brother Jeff for Jeff's Glam Rock group Hello (1972–1979)
The Band spent a year constructing/arranging and rehearsing their songs written mostly by Leigh in Modrenos a mannequin refurb workshop in Kings Cross London. After doing gigs from 1974 to 1976, in the latter year the band chose to call themselves Ultravox! and signed to Island Records, while St. John also changed his artistic name to Chris Cross (while Dennis Leigh called himself as John Foxx).
In 1979, after three commercially somewhat unsuccessful but influential albums - Ultravox! (1977), Ha!-Ha!-Ha! (1977) and Systems of Romance (1978) - and a tour through USA and Canada, original vocalist John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon, who replaced Stevie Shears a year before, left Ultravox, so Cross worked on another part time "Purely for Fun" project with Pretenders' guitarist James Honeyman-Scott one of his favorite guitar players and Eddie and the Hot Rods' vocalist Barrie Masters and The Rods drummer Steve Nicholls.
With Midge Ure added in Ultravox, the band continued working more on their unique synthesizer sounds during the recording of their successful Vienna album. By that time, he and Ure began to be close friends, collaborating on another projects like the direction of the Bananarama's Shy Boy video, Fun Boy Threes 'The Telephone Always Rings' video. Took part in the Band Aid video and writing the music to "The Bloodied Sword". After another few successful albums - Rage in Eden (1981), Quartet (1982), Monument (1983) and Lament (1984) - and the last which was less successful, U-Vox, and a tour in 1987, the band drifted into other projects and he says, "never got round to working on Ultravox".
Cross now works as a Psychotherapist and Counsellor and Supervisor, which he studied at college before joining Ultravox.
In November 2008 it was announced that Ultravox were to embark on the "Return To Eden" tour in April 2009, plus two festivals and additionally a Best Of Ultravox CD/DVD was released by EMI.
During the Ultravox was led by John Foxx, he used a White Gibson EB-3, Fender Fretless Precision bass guitar and electronica on an Ems Synthi AKS Synth and later a Mini Moog Ampeg amp and 8x10 Speaker.
While the recording of Vienna album, he used a Yamaha bass Fender Precision Fretless and a Mini-Moog synthesizer and Yamaha Synthesiser
Later he also used Status and a Steinberger basses.
Cross's distinctive grey bass guitar is an Ibanez Roadster from the early 1980s; this guitar has been used on many of Ultravox's albums and was Cross's primary instrument during the first stage of the 'Return to Eden' Tour in 2009.
On the 'Return to Eden' tour in 2010, he also used a Rickenbacker 4003 Cherryburst bass, and a standyby Black Fender Telecaster bass.