Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert on May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him all of the "Big Four" Grammy Awards in one year, a feat that is yet to be equalled. He also received an Oscar and a Golden Globe relating to his work with music in hit films.
He is best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," the latter of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. "Sailing" earned three awards at the 1981 Grammy Awards Ceremony, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen.)
Cross first played with a San Antonio-based cover band named Flash before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros. Cross released his self-titled debut album, Christopher Cross, in 1979, which garnered him five Grammy Awards. He is the only solo artist to receive all of the "Big Four" Grammy Awards (Best Record, Song, Album, and New Artist) in the same year. Hits from this album included "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald) and "Never Be the Same".
His second album, Another Page, which came out in 1983, included the hit songs "Think of Laura", "No Time For Talk", and "All Right." "All Right" was used by CBS Sports for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, won in an upset by North Carolina State, which defeated the University of Houston (the Phi Slamma Jamma team with Clyde Drexler) in the championship game, 54-52. Although Another Page sold respectably, it did not nearly live up to the high expectations set by his debut album.
Cross released his third album Every Turn of the World in 1985. However, the album failed to produce any top 40 hits, and did not sell well. He went on to make three more albums in the 90's and although some of his releases have gained critical response, he has failed to catch the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid 1980s, Cross has toured and opened for various acts since the '90s and released his second Greatest Hits package in 2002.
Cross completed a new Christmas album, A Christopher Cross Christmas, released in 2007. Christopher has just finished recording a new acoustic album of his hits titled The Cafe Carlyle Sessions. He is also working on a new studio album that is expected to be released in the spring of 2010. He does about 100 live performances a year.
Christopher Cross's daughter Madison is also interested in singing, beginning from when she sang a duet with her father at school as a little girl. From there, she began traveling with him, and sometimes performing at his shows. At the age of nine, Madison began an acting career in musical theater. In 2005, Cross recorded her first single, He Was Just Like Me, dedicated to Mattie Stepanek, a young poet who died in 2004 due to muscular dystrophy. The single was put into rotation on Radio Disney.
Sailing
Arthur's Theme
Think Of Laura
Never Be The Same
All Right
Swept Away
Is There Something
Words Of Wisdom
Ride Like The Wind
