Michael "Mic" Christopher (21 September 1969 – 29 November 2001) was an Irish singer-songwriter, best known for his posthumously-released debut album '' Skylarkin'''.

Early life

Michael Christopher was born in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York City, to Irish parents Harry Christopher from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and Vaun Heaney from Sixmilecross, County Tyrone. They moved back to Dublin in 1972 when Michael was still a toddler. He later attended Coláiste Chilliain in

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

. He started playing traditional Irish music with school groups until he was about fifteen years old when he started

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...

. Busking in Dublin over the next five years, Christopher made friends with many of the musicians on the Dublin circuit, including brothers Karl and David Odlum,

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

and others.

Musical career

In 1990, Christopher formed the band The Mary Janes with former Kila bass player and fellow busker Karl Odlum, and added Simon Good on guitar and Steven Hogan on drums. The band's line-up evolved over the next nine years, becoming a three piece without drums when Hogan left the group. It was the three-piece version that recorded the band's first album, ''Bored of Their Laughing.'' In 1994, the Mary Janes signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell. In 1996 the band acquired the drumming talents of Australian Mark Stanley, with this line-up recording their second album, ''Sham'', in 1998. Over the years The Mary Janes played everywhere from the Feile and Fleadh music festivals in Ireland, to

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

in England, to the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

in New York City. The band also performed a six-week stint in Bosnia with the War Child charity. The Mary Janes split in 1999 and Christopher embarked on a three-month solo tour of Victoria, Australia. In 2001, having recovered from a bad motorbike accident, Christopher released his solo ''Heyday'' EP and announced that he would be supporting

The Waterboys The Waterboys are a rock band formed in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott (Scottish musician), Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Britain and Ireland, with Scott re ...

on their next tour.

Death

Christopher’s 2001 tour with The Waterboys performed in in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, Netherlands, on 16 November 2001. That night, after he had played his set supporting The Waterboys, Christopher was found unconscious, having apparently struck his head on some steps during an accidental fall. On arrival at a local hospital, he was found to have lapsed into a coma as a result of severe swelling to the brain. He never regained consciousness, and died on 29 November 2001.

''Skylarkin

Christopher had been working on a solo album entitled ''Skylarkin''' prior to his death. The album was incomplete but Christopher had made notes as to how the recordings could be improved. During November 2002, work from many of his friends and family resulted in the posthumous release of Christopher's first and only solo album. ''Skylarkin later won Best Album at the 2003 Meteor Awards. His family were present to collect the award.

Legacy

* Since Christopher's death,

of The Frames has dedicated each of that band's albums to him. They also dedicate their cover version of his hit "

Heyday Heyday may refer to: * ''Heyday'' (The Church album), 1986 * ''Heyday'' (Fairport Convention album), 1987 * Heyday (song), a 2000 song by Mic Christopher * ''Heyday'' (novel), a historical novel by Kurt Andersen * Heyday Books, an independent ...

" to him when played live. *

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper (band), Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate succe ...

dedicated his album '' O'', released eight weeks after Christopher's death, to his departed friend. * Lisa Hannigan dedicated the song "Splishy Splashy" to him on her debut album ''

Sea Sew ''Sea Sew'' is the debut studio album released by Lisa Hannigan. It was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008, with the lead single, "Lille", made available as a free download on lisahannigan.ie on 25 August. ''Sea Sew'' was a critical succe ...

'' (2008). *

Rónán Ó Snodaigh Rónán Ó Snodaigh (born 1 January 1970 in Dublin, Ireland) is a songwriter, composer, musician, poet and founding member and lead vocalist in the musical group Kíla. He has revolutionised the playing of the bodhrán and written many songs in ...

from

Kíla Kíla is an Irish folk music group formed in 1987 in Coláiste Eoin, an Irish language secondary school in County Dublin. History Early formation The original lineup of the band included Rossa Ó Snodaigh (whistle and Bones (instrument), bon ...

, who co-wrote the song Friends with Mic and shared a flat with him in the years before his death, wrote the song "The dream I haven't shown her" on his album ''The Playdays'' for Mic, it is a medley of the W.H. Auden poem; Funeral Blues and a song written by Mic Christopher Embrace the Day. * In 2021, The Mary Janes released a previously unrecorded track named "Heartbreaker" about Christopher. * In 2021, Christopher's friends and family held a tribute concert, titled ''Happy Birthday Mic Christopher''. The concert was held at Whelans, Dublin. On 21 September 2021, a live album, recorded by Christopher in 2001, was released.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Skylarkin''' (2002)

Live albums

*''Live at the Lobby'' (2021)

References

External links

Mic Christopher's official site

at Irish Music Central * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christopher, Mic 1969 births 2001 deaths People from Clondalkin Musicians from the Bronx Musicians from Dublin (city) Irish male singer-songwriters Irish buskers American emigrants to Ireland Accidental deaths in the Netherlands Accidental deaths from falls Deaths from head injury 20th-century Irish male singers 20th-century Irish singer-songwriters