WHET Christopher Cross?

At first he always seemed destined for great things. The sort of person who'd have a long, long career at at time when looks weren't THAT important. All I remember is Sailin' & that when you get caught between the moon and New York City thing (great lyrics) and a sweaty, tragic performance of it at The Oscars. But Sailin' was HUGE and rightly so...or did you hate it?

• He finished puberty and his crystal tenor turned into a cloudy baritone.

  Freddy Mercurial

• It saddens me that he has been so invisible since the 80's. I loved his music, too. It could be that his music was over-exposed in the early 80s. Sometimes too much air play can doom a performer.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Cross

• He's also responsible for Think of Laura.

• Peter "Bi-Coastal" Allen wrote the Moon & New York line and won an Oscar for it. He thanked the air traffic controller who kept the flight he was on in the air over New York at the Oscars.

  Danny in VA

• As Christopher Graf Zeppelin Cross looks today. He tours and will be at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California, March 15 and 16. No kidding.

  http://www1.sk-static.com/images/media/img/col6/20091007-200129-388444.jpg

• He was a great singer, but he had the unfortunate timing to hit the music scene at the same time MTV took off. MTV changed the music game in the 1980s - you had to look hot and have an 'image' or you couldn't be successful. A lot of the 70s music stars' careers ended overnight. Poor Christopher was just too fat and unattractive for the MTV 80s.

• Great singer? His voice was weak and thin, with a nasal tone- it seemed like there was a lot of studio enhancing with echo chamber type effects to make his voice seem richer. That said, he was produced well. I enjoyed that single ('Ride Like the Wind?') the one with MIchael Mcdonald on background. Think of Laura = cesspool.

• I mentioned in the other thread (Think of Laura) that Christopher actually lost a fair amount of weight back then. Here he is looking much slimmer in 1984. I'd say he's kind of cute here, but I'm sure I'd get flamed.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D1bFi5ul1XCQ

• I can't hear Ride Like the Wind without thinking of the SCTV spoof with Rick Moranis as Michael McDonald.

• [quote] I enjoyed that single ('Ride Like the Wind?') I'd forgotten about that one. Me too. I liked this one. It was B side to Sailing. It shows his voice at its best towards the end. Funny, listening to these again reminds me of the music from 'Fame' which was exactly the same era.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dv3jtXKmj5cc

• You nailed his voice r7, I hate his naive man-child singing, but that's apparently the perfect sound for the Adult-Contemporary chart. MTV never would've played that elevator shit no matter what he looked like.

• [quote] Here he is looking much slimmer in 1984. Wow! What a transformation! I don't remember Think Of Laura, so hearing it for the first time, I think it's quite nice. Was it played to death?

• "Destined for great things?" Oh, please! He was a fat, unprepossessing flash in the pan.

• he got caught between the moon and overexposure

• He was used as the Poster Child for Grammy overkill then -- won 5 in one night for his very first album/single and most found that ridiculous, even back then. Kind of up there with A Taste of Honey beating Elvis Costello for Best New Artist. The "Arthur" theme was his peak complete with Oscar -- or, as Bette Midler put it in her intro "Four on a Song" since it took that many to write it. After that... And Then There Were None.

• [quote]The "Arthur" theme was his peak complete with Oscar -- or, as Bette Midler put it in her intro "Four on a Song" since it took that many to write it. Yeah. Bette's not known for being a gracious loser.

  Karen%20Carpenter%2C%20slipping%20in%20under%20the%20door

• He's fighting for Air Supply's audience at finer amusement park venues everywhere.

  Leo%20Sayer

• Hey r15, that Taste Of Honey album is really good. It's produced by the Mizell brothers, who were part of Motown's The Corporation. Previously they'd produced many acclaimed albums with jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd (who died a few days ago) doing a jazz/disco hybrid that really pissed off the purists. "Boogie Oogie Oogie" is the only overtly disco song on it, it's mostly that classy jazz/funk blend they were doing with Byrd. Discophobes can scoff all they want, it's a great album.

• No argument here... "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was definitely of its time. For better or worse. Cross was reviled even more for his mellow debut when his album beat out Sinatra, Streisand ("Guilty", no less), Billy Joel and -- the most fair argument against him -- Pink Floyd's "The Wall". Let's just say "The Wall" was more hip then and has held up well since. And then, to add to the misery, that male version of Lena Dunham waddled up to the podium all night and wasn't much fun.

• [quote]I don't remember Think Of Laura, so hearing it for the first time, I think it's quite nice. Was it played to death? Luke & Laura were popular characters on the soap opera General Hospital. The song was played when Laura left the show and was played over and over again to pump ratings for GH.

• Too pasty, too sweaty, too fat for MTV.

• He said in an interview that he was courting a new woman after his contentious divorce named "Paige" who had a friend named Laura who died. He wrote Laura's Song not for GH but as a tribute to his girlfriend's bf.

• He's the classic example of "video killed the radio star". It's no accident that his first album had no pictures of him. Once peope saw what he looked like, his career slowed considerably.

• Not this time, R16, Bette was presenting Best Original Song Oscar so not a sore loser. she was wonderfully irreverent as she announced nominations like "For Your Eyes Only" and they weren't kidding, I couldn't watch a single frame" and "Endless Love from that endless endless movie..." I remember it well, ha, guess I could also post this on Childhood Indicators You Would be Gay board -- but I wasn't a kid in 1981, I was fresh out of college and living in L.A. already.

• I liked his music. Still do.

• Our ABSOLUTE fave!

  Dentist%27s%20offices%20and%20elevators%20everywhere%21

• He's Saling.

• Any album that beats out Billy Joel can't be all bad.

• Yeah and it was really BAD Billy Joel too -- "Glass Houses", awful.

• He was terrible live...could barly sing.

• He was corny, too, R30.

• Yeah, it's really easy to see why the video era was not his friend.

  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XUBM3cl8iHM/TnOLg455JyI/AAAAAAAADwk/yN1JpH868T8/s400/christopher-cross.jpg