Christie are an English

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 ...

band that formed at the end of the 1960s. They are best remembered for their UK chart-topping

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

", released in 1970, which hit number one in 26 countries that year.

Career

In addition to Jeff Christie (born Jeffrey Christie, 12 July 1946,

Chapel Allerton Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from the city centre. It sits within the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council and had a population of 18,206 and 23,536 at the 2001 and 2011 census respe ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, Yorkshire, England) their vocalist, bassist and songwriter; they initially included guitarist

Vic Elmes Vic Elmes (born Victor George Elmes; 10 May 1947, Dagenham, Essex, England – 11 April 2017) played with several groups such as Acid Gallery and The Epics, before helping to form the band Christie in 1970. Christie had several hits: "Yellow Ri ...

and drummer Mike Blakley (born Michael Blakley, 12 January 1947,

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, Kent, England, brother of

Alan Blakley Alan David Blakley (1 April 1942 – 1 June 1996) was a British musician and record producer. A member of the Tremeloes from 1958 to 1996. He was the father of actress Claudie Blakley. As a producer, he worked on the hit song She's Gonna W ...

). Jeff Christie had previously worked with several bands, including The Outer Limits, who released "Just One More Chance" / "Help Me Please" (1967) and "Great Train Robbery" / "Sweet Freedom" (1968). In 1970, Jeff Christie offered his composition "

" to

The Tremeloes The Tremeloes (formerly Brian Poole and The Tremeloes) are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with ...

. They recorded it to release as a single but changed their minds as they were going more progressive as the seventies started. At the same time Tremeloes member Alan Blakley's brother Michael had a little group called the Epics and Alan wanted to give his brother a break. They decided to get Jeff Christie to come down from Leeds and let him use the Tremeloes' backing track. The Epics became Christie with Jeff as the lead vocalist and the result was a UK number one

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

in June 1970, and subsequently No. 23 in the US, also accumulating more weeks (23) on the Hot 100 than any other entry on that chart completely inside 1970. It was a worldwide hit and was number one in 26 countries with global sales of over 3 million. The follow-up single from October 1970, " San Bernadino" (misspelled if referring to, for example,

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

, California), reached UK Number 7 and Number 1 in Germany, but only US No. 100. Both tracks became flash songs on their eponymous debut album of that year, and it stayed on US

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

for ten weeks. But the

trio Trio may refer to: Music Groups * Trio (music), an ensemble of three performers, or a composition for such an ensemble ** Jazz trio, pianist, double bassist, drummer ** Minuet and trio, a form in classical music ** String trio, a group of three ...

failed to sustain a lasting career, and Blakley was replaced by Paul Fenton (born 4 July 1946, Huddersfield, Yorkshire) just before the release of the band's second album, ''For All Mankind'' (1971). Lem Lubin (ex-

Unit 4 + 2 Unit 4 + 2 were a British pop band formed in Hertfordshire, England, who had a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1965 with the song " Concrete and Clay". The track topped the UK chart for one week. Career Early days In 1962, Brian Park ...

) was added to the line-up after the release of ''Iron Horse'' (1972), but the title track proved to be the band's final

. The departure of Fenton and Lubin hastened the demise of the original line-up, but Jeff Christie returned with new members Terry Fogg (drums) (born Terrence George Fogg, 25 September 1945, Chesterfield, Derbyshire), Roger Flavell (bass), and Danny Krieger (guitar). A 1974 single "Alabama" / "I'm Alive" failed to resurrect the band's fortunes, and new members Tony Ferguson (guitar) and Roger Willis (drums) were brought in to join Christie and Flavell. "JoJo's Band", written by Elmes, was a major hit for Christie in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, while the last Christie hit, "Navajo", was Number 1 in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In 1982 Vic Elmes enlisted Mick Blakley and Peter Morrison of NYPL, to tour Germany on a package tour. At the end of the tour, the band folded. The band recorded an Elmes song, Deep in the Night, produced by Alan Blakley. Jeff Christie reformed the band in 1990 with members of UK band Tubeless Hearts, Kev Moore, Simon Kay and Adrian 'Fos' Foster. Tubeless Hearts tried to represent

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 with the song "A Message to Your Heart", written by Paul Curtis, and performed by Samantha Janus. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporat ...

with a Jeff Christie song, "Safe in your Arms", but were unsuccessful. They continued to

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

for a further 16 years all over Europe, Russia and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, recording intermittently. Following the release of Jeff Christie's ''Floored Masters''

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

, the 1990 line-up of Christie embarked on a 2009 European Tour. In 2012, a Christie double album, ''No Turn Unstoned'', was released, a collection of Christie demos and unreleased songs.

Band members

Current members

*Jeff Christie – bass, vocals, keyboards (1969–1976, 1990–present) *Simon Kay – guitar (1990–present) *Adrian Foster – drums (1990–present)

Former members

*Vic Elmes – guitar (1969–1973) *Paul Cardus - bass guitar (1969) *Mike Blakley – drums (1969–1970) * Paul Fenton – drums (1970–1973) *Lem Lubin – bass guitar (1972–1973) *Terry Fogg – drums (1973–1974) *Roger Flavell – bass guitar (1973–1976) *Danny Krieger – guitar (1973–1976) *Tony Ferguson – lead guitar (1974) *Roger Willis – drums (1974–1976) * Kev Moore – bass guitar (1990–2003)

Discography

Albums

* ''Christie'' (1970) * ''For All Mankind'' (1971) * ''Iron Horse'' – unreleased (1972) * ''Los Mas Grandes Exitos'' (1972) * ''Navajo'' eleased in Mexico(1974) * ''Christie Again – Greatest Hits and More'' (2004) * ''Jeff Christie – Floored Masters (Past Imperfect)'' (2009) * ''Christie – No Turn Unstoned'' (2012) * ''Jeff Christie – Here and now'' (2024)

Singles

Jeff Christie with The Outer Limits * "When the Work Is Thru'" (1967) * "Just One More Chance/Help Me Please" (1967) * "Great Train Robbery/Sweet Freedom" (1968) Christie Jeff Christie solo * "Both Ends of the Rainbow/Turn On Your Love Light, Turn on Your Lovelight" (1980) * "Tightrope/Somebody Else" (1980) * " Happy Christmas (War Is Over)/Yuletide Lights" (1997) * "Hattrick of Lions (Come on England)" (2010) * "You're Not There" with Lorenzo Gabanizza (2021) * "I guess I am the only one" with Lorenzo Gabanizza (2022) * "I don't want to live without you" with Lorenzo Gabanizza (2023) * "Rainy day man" with Lorenzo Gabanizza (2024)

References

Reference bibliography

* * *

External links

Christie official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie CBS Records artists English soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1976 Musical groups reestablished in 1990 Rock music groups from Leeds 1969 establishments in England