Chris Rainbow
Vorlage:Infobox musical artist
Chris Rainbow (born Christopher James Harley on 18 November 1946 in Glasgow) is a Scottish rock singer/musician who had two minor hit songs, "Give Me What I Cry For" and "Solid State Brain" in the 1970's.
Apart from his solo career he also made frequent vocal contributions to The Alan Parsons Project, starting on their 1979 Eve album through to their 1987 album Gaudi, and Eric Woolfson's Freudiana (1990) (an APP album in all but name).
Early Life and Name
He is the son of Jimmy and Pam Harley.
He adopted the name "Rainbow" to avoid confusion with Steve Harley, saying: Vorlage:Quote box
The Alan Parsons Project
Before joining the Project, Rainbow was involved in a band called Hope Street for a year. Following this, he released 3 solo albums Home of the Brave in 1975, Looking Over My Shoulder in 1977, and White Trails in 1979, characterised by evocative songwriting and lush vocal harmonies, often reminiscent of Brian Wilson. Tracks from the latter two albums are collected on The Best of Chris Rainbow, 1972-1980, which has appeared in single and double CD sets and includes radio spots, and rare and unreleased material. At this time Rainbow received much wider recognition for his music through the support of Kenny Everett, then on Capital Radio in London, who featured his music extensively. Some of the jingles that Rainbow made for Capital at this time were later released on an album of out-takes, demos and unreleased material.
Touring
Rainbow recorded and toured with Camel, including singing some lead vocals on studio albums The Single Factor (1982) and Stationary Traveller (1984). He worked with Camel keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel on his 1984 album Heart of the Universe in a duo format, performing five lead vocals.
More recently, Rainbow produced several albums for Scottish Gaelic rock group Runrig.
Record Studio
Chris Rainbow also runs the Vital Spark Music Studio on the Isle of Skye. He is currently writing again and hopes to release new album in 2008.
Discography
Solo Work
- 1975: Home of the Brave UK-LP/Jap-LP
- 1978: Looking over My Shoulder UK-LP/Jap-LP
- 1979: White Trails UK-LP/Jap-LP
- 198?: The Instrumental Chris Rainbow UK mini-LP
- 1985: Body Music (video)
- 1993: Home of the Brave Jap-CD
- 1993: Looking over My Shoulder Jap-CD
- 1993: White Trails Jap-CD
- 2001: The Chris Rainbow Anthology, 1974-1981 UK-CD
- 2002: Unreleased & demo tracks, 1973-1983 Jap-CD
- 2003: The Best of Chris Rainbow 1972-1980 Jap-CD
- 20??: Heart of the Universe(guest vocals) Du-LP/Jap-CD
- 2008: Waves UK-CD
- 2007: Home of the Brave JapCD(re-Mastered)
- 2007: Looking over My Shoulder JapCD(re-Mastered)
- TBA-: White Trails JapCD(re-Mastered)