''Christopher Cross'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter

Christopher Cross Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1979), and " Arthur's Theme (Best ...

, released on December 27, 1979, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. Produced by

Michael Omartian Michael S. Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. H ...

and recorded in July 1979, the album was one of the first in popular music to be digitally recorded, utilizing the 3M Digital Recording System. Cited as one of the most influential

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

albums of the late 1970s and early 1980s, it won five

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

at the 1981 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year,

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

, Song of the Year, and

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that ar ...

, with Cross becoming the first artist to win the four major categories in the same year — a feat not replicated until

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...

at 2020 awards.

Reception

According to

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

, the album was "a huge hit and widely acclaimed, at least among industry professionals (critics didn't give it a second listen), leading to

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

success and Grammys." In his retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Erlewine says that while its success as a

album has little cachet with most listeners, it "remains one of the best mainstream albums of its time" because of consistent song quality and Cross's skillful musicianship: "Yes, he does favor sentimentality and can be very sweet on the ballads, but his melodicism is rich and construction tight, so there's a sturdy foundation for the classy professional gloss provided by his studio pros and friends, including indelible backing vocals by Michael McDonald." In retrospective appraisals, ''Christopher Cross'' is regarded as a key release of

yacht rock Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast soundThat ' ...

music. For ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' in 2009,

Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nati ...

lists it among the genre's eight essential albums. ''Vinyl Me, Please'' magazine's Timothy Malcolm includes it in his 2017 list of the 10 best yacht rock albums, explaining that, "It’s actually a sonic outlier for the yacht rock genre, heavy on acoustic guitar and strings. But its message fits the genre (a fool searching for inner peace), and yeah, it’s still undeniably smooth." For The Vinyl District's online publication in 2018, Michael H. Little calls it the genre's best album as well as one of its smoothest, crediting it for making Cross "the face of soft rock".

Track listing

'Mary Ann' was originally written for the YAMAHA World Music Festival in Japan and released in 1980 as a Japan only single.

Personnel

– lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar (1, 4, 6–9), backing vocals (1, 5–8), guitar solo (5, 6) *

– acoustic piano (1–4, 6, 7, 8), synthesizers (9), backing vocals (9) * Rob Meurer – synthesizers (2–4, 6–8), electric piano (3, 4, 7, 8),

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

(3), acoustic piano (5, 9),

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

(5) *

Jay Graydon Jay Joseph Graydon (born October 8, 1949, Burbank, California) is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards (in the R&B category) ...

– guitar solo (1, 4) *

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts including Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. One of the most sought after guitarists of his era, Carlton has ...

– guitar solo (2, 7) * Eric Johnson – guitar solo (9) * Andy Salmon – bass *

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), centre-forward and was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United ...

– drums *

Lenny Castro Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...

– percussion (1, 2, 4–7, 9) *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

–

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

(3, 4), percussion (3, 7, 8) *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for ...

– saxophone (2, 6) * Jackie Kelso – saxophone (2, 6) * Don Roberts – saxophone (2, 6) * Tomás Ramírez – sax solo (9) * Lew McCreary – trombone (2, 6) *

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical ab ...

– trumpet (2, 6),

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

(3) * Assa Drori – concertmaster (3, 5, 6, 8) *

Nicolette Larson Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer. She is best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's " Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary ...

– backing vocals (1) * Michael McDonald – backing vocals (2, 6) * Valerie Carter – lead and backing vocals (3) * Myrna Matthews – backing vocals (4) * Marty McCall – backing vocals (4) * Stormie Omartian – backing vocals (4) *

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician who is a founding member of the rock band the Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and co-lead vocalist, as well as its sole continuous member. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles ...

– backing vocals (7) * JD Souther – backing vocals (7)

Production

* Producer – Michael Omartian * Assistant Producer – Michael Ostin * Engineer and Mixing – Chet Himes * Second Engineer – Stuart Gitlin * Mastering – Bobby Hata * Artwork – Danny Henderson and James Flournoy Holmes * Design – James Flournoy Holmes and Wonder Graphics * Flamingo Concept – Jim Newhouse

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Accolades

Cross, the album and the hit "Sailing" won the following

:23rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com
/ref> Producer

accepted the Album of the Year award on behalf of

and the album's personnel.

References

External links

The 45 version of "Sailing" on YouTube"Ride Like The Wind" Promo VideoAlbum playlist
{{Authority control Christopher Cross albums 1979 debut albums Grammy Award for Album of the Year Albums produced by Michael Omartian Warner Records albums