Chris de Burgh's new CD "The Road To Freedom" is available since March 2004. Have a look at the lyrics.

The CD is also available on the new "Official CdeB Record Store and Merchandising Site www.cdeb.net.

Chris de Burgh was born in Argentina on October, 15th in 1948. Before his father, a British diplomat, finalle settled in Ireland, his family moved to Malta, Nigeria and Zaire. In Ireland his parents bought a castle dating back to the 12th century which they changed into a hotel. Chris learned playing the guitar and playing and singing for the guests of the hotel he acquired a lot of experience. He studied English and French at the famous Trinity College in Dublin. Classics like Chrles Dickens, Robert Browning and W.B. Yates gave him ideas for his own lyrics.Looking for a job he got a friend's offer to sing in his restaurant (for 2 pounds a week and one hamburger an evening). When he realized that he could earn his living on singing he moved to London and in 1974 he obtained a contract with A&M. "Flying", his first single, was number 1 in the charts for seventeen weeks in Brazil. It was followed by "Far Beyond These Castle Walls", his first album. In 1977 "Spanish Train", his second LP, made him conquer the Canadian world of music and he achieved a platin record. Since then Chris de Burgh's popularity and success have increased throughout the world by convincing music and concerts.

Colin Vallance a former member of Chris' band has contributed some memories of the time when he toured together with Chris. He, Colin, worked in the seventies as a "session musician". At the end of the sixties he was in a band called "White Unicorn". Later on he was a member in a band called "Ocean". He joined Chris de Burgh for the 1978 UK Tour. Here are Colin Vallance's memories about this time:

I joined Chris de Burgh's band as bass player in January 1978. At the time I was the newest member of the band as Chris and the other musicians hadrecently returned from Canada where he had already had some success.At this time Chris was not well known in Engand except through his single 'A Spaceman Came Travelling' which was played a lot on 'Capital Radio' in London and the 'Spanish Train' album which had already earned him some recognition as a songwriter. Chris toured the UK in 1977 supporting 'Supertramp' who had already achieved major success at home and in the States with 'Crime of the Century' and 'Crisis what Crisis' . This was the year I first saw Chris perform at Earls Court Arena in London on Supertramp's 'Even in the Quietest Moments' Tour. That particular night there was a power cut just as Supertramp were about to take the stage and the whole arena was plunged into darkness until the emergency lighting came on. Nobody knew how long the power cut would last so Chris decided to save the day and entertain everyone while they were waiting. The only instrument that could be heard at all without amplification was the grand piano, so Chris sat down at it and started belting out some Beatles songs which he sang without amicrophone.From what I remember he managed to get most of the audience singing along to 'Let it be' until the power came back on!

Now back to the 1978  UK Tour .This was Chris's first UK tour as the main act and the line up for the band at this time was Jeff Phillips (Drums) Colin Vallance (Bass Guitar) Glen Morrow (Keyboards) and Ken Allardyce (Guitar). On this tour Chris had a supporting act, singer/songwriter Philip Goodhand-Tait who had written hit songs for 'The Love Affair' and Roger Daltrey of 'The Who'.Before the tour started  we recorded a BBC television programme called 'Sight and Sound' which also featured Gilbert O'Sullivan, a succesful pop artist from the Seventies! The UK tour included all the major venues in: Bristol, Exeter, Guildford, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and many others including  Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland and Belfast and Cork in Ireland.The last date of the tour was at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane London and was recorded for broadcast by Capital Radio.The tour was to promote the 'Perfect Day' album but we also performed a lot of songs from 'Spanish Train' .

In the middle of the set the band took a break having played an instrumental and Chris took a solo spot during which he played a few songs on guitar and
some on piano - 'A Rainy Night in Paris' was one of them. Altogether it was a very enjoyable tour and it was good to be a part of it.Hopefully the 1978 UK Tour helped to bring Chris de Burgh's music to a wider audience and establish him as a major songwriting talent.He's certainly gone from strength to strength since those early days and long may he continue!

Colin Vallance