The Cross (band)

The band The Cross was a project of the Queen drummer Roger Taylor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Band History

After Queen on their Magic Tour (1986 ) appealed for a break, Taylor founded in the fall of 1987 the band The Cross in order to go back on tour can. The members he found through anonymous newspaper advertisements, followed by audition. No newspaper ad needed it for Spike Edney, who had already been between 1984 and 1986 as a touring keyboardist at Queen concerts there. The rest of the year the band spent with samples, recording a debut album and two television appearances.

On 25 January 1988, the album Shove It appeared after two singles were coupled before. All songs were written by Roger Taylor. The title Heaven for Everyone sang Freddie Mercury; on the single - or North American album version of the song, but only his backing vocals were used. The former recordings were also the basis for the subsequent new recording of the piece on the Queen album Made in Heaven. In parallel with the release of the single was toured Great Britain and Germany, which led to the fact that The Cross were able to place with this single for the first time in the German charts. Also listen to the album Shove It is the Queen guitarist Brian May ( in Love Lies Bleeding ).

In June 1988, the single manipulator appeared. Co- authors of this precedent to any album songs were alongside Taylor and Spike Edney and Steve Strange of Visage. The single did not make it into the charts. End of the year, the band was joined in a concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon of May and the Queen bassist John Deacon.

From September to December 1989, The Cross on the next album, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, which was released on March 26, 1990. On this album originate only the last two titles Old Men ( Lay Down) and Final Destination of Roger Taylor, all the other songs were co-written by the remaining members of the band, respectively. The CD edition of the album also includes a cover version of the Jimi Hendrix song Foxy Lady. The album did not make it into the charts; for this succeeded the published UK Single Power to Love.

The band toured this time by Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria. As a second single was released Liar: Included were a remix of the song as well as the previously unreleased In Charge of My Heart as a B-side. The last single Final Destination appeared only in France and Germany. The band ended this year with a concert for the Queen fan club in London's Astoria, in which Brian May made ​​a guest appearance; a live recording was later available as an exclusive fan club MC.

Blue Rock, the third album by The Cross, was released on 9 September 1991; it was produced from February to August. Also on this album Taylor is represented by only two self-penned tracks: New Dark Ages and The Also Rans. Guest musicians were Geoffrey Richardson (violin and viola) and Helen Leibman (cello) in Baby It's Alright and Life Changes and Andy and Claire Yates ( backing vocals ) in Baby It's Alright and The Also Rans. The album, although not appeared in Europe and Japan, due to the death of Freddie Mercury in November 1991 in the UK and the USA. A tour through Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia as well as single releases New Dark Ages and Life Changes followed. The latter contains the previously unreleased track Heartland, the single was however withdrawn due to Mercury's death and is therefore quite in demand in fan circles as a collector's item.

By the death of Freddie Mercury and the declining sales figures, the band decided to make no further studio recordings. However, there were performances at the Gosport Festival 1992 ( with Bob Geldof ) and at the two-day Queen fan club Christmas party at London's Marquee Club where The Cross was supported by the guest musicians Roger Daltrey and Tim Staffell. As the second day Brian May was there too, it came under this concert on December 22, 1992 to de facto date only, Reunion ' the queen predecessor Tape Smile - Taylor, May and Staffell. The last official concert of The Cross followed at Gosport Festival on 29 July 1993.

Edney founded as a consequence the SAS Band ( Spike 's All Stars band) and played keyboards with appearances by Brian May and Queen. Josh Macrae worked many times together with Taylor, for example, whose Happiness Tour from 1994 to 1995 and during the recording of several albums.

Without the participation of Taylor's, there were in September 1999, still a common appearance of the Cross - musicians on the Freddie Mercury Birthday Party Queen Fan clubs where Brian May and other guest musicians participated.

On December 7, 2013 The Cross played in Guildford, England, as part of the SAS Band Christmas Bash, a 50-minute Reunionkonzert the 20th anniversary of the band resolution. The concert, with 12 songs, was played in complete original cast.

Discography

Albums

• Shove It (1988 )
• Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (1990 )
• Blue Rock (1991 )

Singles

• Cowboys and Indians (1987 )
• Shove It (1988 )
• Heaven for Everyone (1988 )
• A manipulator (1988)
• Power to Love (1990 )
• Liar (1990 )
• Final Destination (1990 )
• New Dark Ages (1991 )
• Life Changes (1991, withdrawn: see above)

Live recordings

• Bootleg - Astoria Theatre, Dec 1990 (Live Recording: London, 7 December 1990, with Brian May and Mike Moran on behalf of Spike Edney, from the official Queen fan club in 1991 as a cassette published)
• Live in Germany ( Live recording: Dusseldorf, October 22, 1991; Fan club cassette, 1992)