Chris Thompson
Christopher Malcolm Thompson is a singer/songwriter who has recorded with such luminaries as John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Dave McArtney (Hello Sailor). He also played guitar for well known Californian folk singer Julie Felix, and toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan. While in England in the early 1970s Chris jammed with British Folk-Blues legends Wizz Jones and Davey Graham. In 1974 Chris toured with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee; he has maintained a lifelong friendship with Brownie, for whom he wrote a song ("Letter to Brownie"), which was videoed by TVNZ. Chris has had three albums reach the finals of the N.Z. Music Industry awards and had his songs recorded by N.Z. artists Mike Harding, Jimmy Young and James Wilkinson, Chris Priestley, and (internationally) Meg Baird of the Philadelphia neo-folk group The Espers.
Chris is an old boy of Southwell Scool and has spent most of his life in and around Hamilton, where he recorded Hometown Voodoo in 1981; this album contains the song Hamilton, about the city. This song has become widely known since in a version played by Big Muffin Serious Band. He moved to Auckland in 1985, and married a Canadian-born musician and songwriter Lynne, with whom he has released two albums. They relocated to Raglan in 1988. Chris is now living in Hamilton again, near his daughter Lora (who plays bass in the Heavy Metal band "Wretch").
In 2000 Chris released a track Vox Populi on the Hamilton compilation Acoustic Magic. He recorded some tracks with Tim Armstrong in 2007; taking part in "The Monday Club" project, has played with Emit Snake-Beings in "The Dirt Band" - with whom he has made several Youtube videos (see below) - completed his Arts degree at Waikato University in 2009, and hosts the "Folk, Blues and Beyond" show on Community Radio. Chris is still performing local gigs (he is currently rehearsing with Julie Grace (fiddle) and Emmanuel Comer (hand-drums) for the "Summer in the Swamp" concert at the lake on 28 November 2009, and will commence training to become a secondary school teacher in 2010. Chris' most recent studio album "The White Sapphire" (a.k.a. "The Sister of Ravishing Ruby, the Truck-Stop Girl") is available for download from amplifier.co.nz.
Releases
- Chris Thompson album, 1973
- Echoes from the Pit album, 1975
- Minstrelsy album, 1977
- Hometown Voodoo album, 1981
- The Natural Blues, 1983
- The Road to Raglan album, 1990
- Far Out & Solid album, 1992
- Coffee Break album, 1993
- Song for Laura album, 1995
- Time Flies album, 2000
- For my Double, 2004
- The White Sapphire album, 2005 (Available from Amplifier)
as Chris and Lynne Thompson:
- Together album, 1985
- Live in Concert album, 1988
- Evolution The Monday Club 2008 (available through http://www.timarmstrongband.co.nz)
- I Wanna Be Me appears on the 1979 compilation Festival Music
- Vox Populi appears on the 2000 compilation Acoustic Magic
External Links
Videos on Youtube:
with The Dirt Band:
This Chris Thompson should not be confused with Chris Thompson, the vocalist from Manfred Mann, who also spent time in Hamilton, including attending Hamilton Boys High School, and who is English-not a Kiwi.
