Garry Christian is both ‘the face’ and ‘the voice’ of The Christians

Renowned for their endless string of soul-inspired hits …  Forgotten Town, Born Again, When the fingers point, Ideal World, The Bottle, Father, Perfect Moment, What’s in a word, Harvest for the World, to name a few.

The name The Christians refers to the brother’s surname (the original line up included Roger, Russell and Garry Christian as well as Henry Priestman). During their rise to fame the Liverpool based band developed a reputation for being ‘socially aware’ and unsurprisingly comparisons were drawn to The Temptations due to the depth and range of the brother’s magical vocal harmonies. As popularity grew with The Christians celebrating hit after hit and packing out venues like Wembley, understandably, there weren’t many households who didn’t own a copy of their work.

Outstanding, conscientious The Christians songs were laden with messages and morals but, crucially, without preaching. Described as adult band making music for adults capable of reaching adult decisions, and as such, were a splendid listen and phenomenally talented but nowhere near as commercially successful as their tunes merited. First single “Forgotten Town” made the charts and two more similarly enjoyable and discerning hits later, and the stunning “Ideal World” put them in the Top 20 for the first time in ’88, a year in which despairing musos could have a lot to thank them for.

Perhaps it was those tasteful people’s determination to show the nation that we were not all Brosettes (or the male equivalent, er…Brosees?) which finally allowed the Christians to hit the Top 10 later that year with an amazing cover of the Isley Brothers “Harvest For The World”, focal point Garry Christian, in possession of as rich and digestible a voice as anyone in the decade, added lyrics to the trad.arr muzac of “Words” to end the 80s on a typically high, yet paradoxically sombre note, helping the purists by putting all the lyrics on the single’s sleeve. They had also contributed to that year’s reworking of “Ferry Cross The Mersey” to raise cash for the families of Hillsborough victims. The ’90s saw their breathtakingly soulful “What’s In A Word” followed by a wonderful cover of Gil Scott Heron’s story of a street wino “The Bottle”.

Fast forward a few years and The Christians are still enjoying their everlasting success with the relatively new line up which includes Stewart Boyle, Joey Ankrah, Lionel Duke and Cliff Watson.  The vibe is relaxed … unplugged and acoustic but the voice is still incredible as is the sultry smile behind the Raybans!

The band are about to announce a new single to be released via Island records to celebrate almost a quarter of a century of making music and can be seen live at the following dates –

Jan 21 – Huntingdon Hall, Worcester / Jan 22 – The Bush Hall, London / Jan 29 – Whelans, Dublin / Jan 30 – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast / Jan 31 – Portrush Playhouse

www.thechristianslive.co.uk