Neil Christian (born Christopher Tidmarsh, 14 February 1943 – 4 January 2010)
- accessed December 2010 was an English singer. Christian had a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

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'' ...

in 1966, when "That's Nice" ( written by Miki Dallon), reached Number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. He remains, however, a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

. Follow-up singles "Oops" and "Two at a Time" never reached the charts. He was born

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

Career

Neil Christian and the Crusaders are one of the British

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

bands of the 1960s. They were signed to the Strike record label. In the early 1960s

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

was asked to join The Crusaders. Page toured with Christian for approximately two years, and later played on several of his records, including their November 1962 single, "The Road to Love" / "The Big Beat Drum", released on Columbia and produced by Joe Meek under his RGM Sound imprint. At various times the band included

Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...

and Alex Dmochowski, who later joined Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation.Larkin C 'Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) p112 When most of the line-up left to join Lord Sutch's Savages in 1965, Christian took on members of Luton Band The Hustlers, including Mick Abrahams, although in 1966 a touring version of The Crusaders was put together to promote the hit single "That's Nice" which consisted of Tony Marsh (

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

) (b. Anthony Marsh, 1946); Jimmy "Tornado" Evans (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s); Ritchie Blackmore (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

); and Bibi Blange (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

). Further singles failed to reach the charts, however, and Christian moved to Germany, where he remained popular. In fall 1970, Christian took on the management of Crushed Butler who changed their name to Tiger. Christian got them into

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

s both in Wembley at the new De Lane Lea Studios where he produced five songs by the band, and Tooting, London, at a demo studio producing the first version of Tiger's glam rock song "High School Dropout" in January 1971. Everything Christian released between 1962 and 1968 has been reissued on the CD compilation, ''That's Nice'', which also added several unreleased recordings from the same era. Allmusic.com biography by Richie Unterberger/ref>

Related session musicians

* Paul Brett *

* Ritchie Blackmore * Nicky Hopkins *

* Mick Abrahams * Carlo Little

References

External links

* Allmusic.com - biographybr>Chartwatch.com - discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Neil 1943 births 2010 deaths People from Hoxton English male singers Singers from the London Borough of Hackney

Career

Related session musicians

See also

References

External links