Chris Thompson

There are two artists with this name: I) Born in the UK and raised in New Zealand, Chris Thompson's unique vocal styling has left an impression with some of the best loved songs in rock history. Returning to England in 1974, Chris would soon join Manfred Mann's Earth Band in time for the breakout album The Roaring Silence featuring the worldwide number one hit Blinded By The Light (written and performed by Bruce Springsteen). He kept the Mann engine running with vocals on such hits as Spirit In The Night, You Angel You, Davy's On The Road Again, Lies (Throught The 80s), For you and Runner.

I) Born in the UK and raised in New Zealand, Chris Thompson's unique vocal styling has left an impression with some of the best loved songs in rock history. Returning to England in 1974, Chris would soon join Manfred Mann's Earth Band in time for the breakout album The Roaring Silence featuring the worldwide number one hit Blinded By The Light (written and performed by Bruce Springsteen). He kept the Mann engine running with vocals on such hits as Spirit In The Night, You Angel You, Davy's On The Road Again, Lies (Throught The 80s), For you and Runner.

He took a brief hiatus in 1979 to record with his new band Night. The self-titled debut produced two top 50 hits with Hot Summer Nights and If You Remember Me, the latter from the film "The Champ". Night produced a second album Long Distance and Chris returned to the Mann camp in time to record the Somewhere in Afrika album featuring the hit Runner. Chris then co-produced the Live in Budapest album and video with drummer John Lingwood.

In 1983 Chris released his first solo album Out of the Night and worked extensively with Doobie Brothers's Patrick Simmons on his first solo album Arcade. Chris's second album Radio Voices featured Queen's Brian May. Chris wrote and performed the official championship song The Challenge for the 1989 Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

From 1983 trough 1985 Chris performed both live and in the studio with The Alan Parson's Project, which resulted in the hit single YOU'RE THE VOICE which was also a top hit for John Farnham. During the nineties Chris has been back working with Manfred Mann, as well as releasing several solo recordings and a project with several Norwegian musicians, Rediscovery which focuses on Chris's New Zealand home. This collection of recordings will truly be a rediscovery of Chris's talents for fans both old and new.

---

II) New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Chris Thompson (not to be mistaken with Manfred Mann's Chris Thompson who was born in England and ironically moved to New Zealand as a child and even went to the same school in Hamilton!) began playing guitar, listening to Woody Guthrie, digging Peter Paul and Mary and working as a session musician in his home town of Hamilton before turning professional in 1968.

Moving to London in 1971 after an invite to play guitar with Julie Felix (a popular folk artist, resident singer on the Frost report and subsequent TV star). Thompson had an obvious talent and passion for playing and quickly associated himself with and began gigging with legendary folk scene musicians such as Wizz Jones, Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, John Martyn and many others.

In 1973, Thompson released a self-titled album on the 'Village Thing' label; self-produced, from 'home-made' tapes, and recorded at Apple Studios. The main players consist of himself on guitar and vocals, Keshav Sathe on Tabla, and Brian Dunning on flute. The style is reminiscent of John Renbourn. Thompson wrote all the music and lyrics, bar one song, which is an adaptation of a W.B. Yeats poem. He appears to have returned to New Zealand shortly after this, and this may be his only recorded work.