Christopher Cross playing for Deep Purple

[Dan Roth]

I had never heard this story, but Cross was recently asked about it and - according to him - he filled in for Blackmore:

from http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interv...stopher_cross/



Songfacts: Did you play a show once with the band Deep Purple, on guitar?

Christopher: Yeah. I had a promoter friend named Joe Miller who I did a lot of gopher work for and stuff like that. I had a local band, and he was kind of managing me at the time. Joe was promoting the Deep Purple show at a place called the Jam Factory. It was their very first show in the United States ever, and someone advised them to get flu shots. They did, and Ritchie Blackmore got very sick.

They didn't want to cancel the show if they could help it, and Joe said, "You know, there's this guitarist in town who's a big fan of Ritchie's and he could probably step in."

The singer was in favor of it, I remember, but Joe pretty much ran the band and was the one that made the decision that it was better to play than not play. So I came down. I had a Flying V and long hair, and I'm this big Ritchie fan. We played the songs that I knew and then we jammed some blues. They told the crowd Ritchie wouldn't be there. It was a great moment for me.

Then when they left town I went to the airport and got to meet Ritchie and he thanked me for covering for him. He was cool. But what's funny is, Eagle Rock Records, which released Doctor Faith, my last album in 2011, they have Deep Purple on the label. So I asked Max Vaccaro, who runs the label, if he mentioned the story to Jon Lord [Deep Purple organist]. He did, and Jon Lord said that never happened, ever.

So Max Vaccaro was kind of like, "I think you're bullshitting." There's a guitarist in Austin named Eric Johnson. Do you know who he is?

Songfacts: Yeah. He had the hit with "Cliffs of Dover" in the early '90s.

Christopher: And he's played on some of my records. He's a big guitarist. Anyway, Eric had a band called Mariani at the time, and they opened the show. So when Max said Jon Lord said it didn't happen, I called up Eric, and I said, "Man, is this a flashback or something? Am I imagining this?" He goes, "No way, I was there. We opened and you played with them." He said, "Jon Lord's lying."

But it's like I told Max later. I said, "This is something that Jon Lord wanted to forget and I wanted to remember." Because it was a nightmare for them. It was just horrible. Their very first show and then their star, Ritchie, wasn't part of it. But it's a very cool thing. Somebody sent me a thing from the Web recently, it's a picture of the ticket. It doesn't have my name on it, but it says "Deep Purple" from that show. So those things are really cool memories for me in the business that also allowed me to be exposed to the inner workings of the business at that level.

My band opened for Zeppelin and we got a lot of great opportunities from this guy, Joe Miller, in San Antonio. So it all inspired me in one way or another.

Songfacts: Cool. You should try to find a photographer that may have been at that show. Maybe there's pictures that exist of you playing with Deep Purple.

Christopher: Yeah, I should probably do that at some point. You know, it's so funny with the whole thing with that. The photography thing is so weird. I was friendly with Michael Jackson, who was a lovely person, and Michael told me he was going to be singing with McCartney. I told Michael, "You've got to let me meet him." So I went down when they did "The Girl is Mine," and got to meet McCartney, who I subsequently see occasionally.

But there was a group picture taken of Michael and Paul and I, and I never got a copy of the picture. I subsequently learned that the key to that is to go over to the photographer, give him your number, and say, "I'll pay for the picture." But if you don't do that, it just disappears into the archives somewhere.

Songfacts: That's true.

[Digital_Man]

When you're caught between the moon and Ritchie Blackmore the best you can do is pretend it never happened.

I assume this is the same Christopher Cross who did "sailing?" That's a pretty far cry from Deep Purple.

[Scott Bails]

Very cool story. Love that kinda stuff.

[GuitarGeek]

When you're caught between the moon and Ritchie Blackmore the best you can do is pretend it never happened.

I assume this is the same Christopher Cross who did "sailing?" That's a pretty far cry from Deep Purple.

Yes, the same one, another example of how the Best New Artist Grammy should really be renamed "The Kiss Of Death" award. Apparently, his song Ride Like The Wind was the inspiration for Frank Zappa's Teen Age Wind. Frank actually intended to have CC come sit in with his band for a show in Santa Monica in 81 (I believe it was Arthur Barrow who was apparently an old friend of CC's), but in the event, it didn't actually happen. That's why there's a bootleg of a show in NYC where Frank and his band do Ride Like The Wind, because it was sort of a "dress rehearsal" for the Santa Monica event that ended up not happening.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

Wow! Totally incongrous, although Eric Johnson was on Cross's hit album! That record was heavily hook-laden!

[GuitarGeek]

Wow! Totally incongrous, although Eric Johnson was on Cross's hit album! That record was heavily hook-laden!

And Cross also performed on EJ's albums. I think he also has some co-songwriting credits on some of those records. Of course, those typically to be EJ's "pop song" excursions. I remember reading in Guitar Player where EJ was asked why he insisted on doing pop songs that weren't going to get played on the radio and would serve only to alienate guitar geeks (not me, I always dug EJ's pop songs). EJ simply said "It's part of who I am, if I leave those off the records, you're not getting a full picture of who I am", or something like that.

[ronmac]

The shit you learn on PE.

[Digital_Man]

The shit you learn on PE.

[profusion]

It's possible this happened, but there are some wild inaccuracies in Cross' story:

Deep Purple's first and only show at the Jam Factory in San Antonio happened in 1970 and wasn't even the first show on that U.S. tour, let alone their first show in the USA. Their first U.S. show was almost two years earlier at the Forum in Inglewood, California (most likely opening for Cream). Some local schmoe in San Antonio/Austin named Joe Miller was most certainly NOT "pretty much running" Deep Purple, who were already internationally famous by then.

It's certainly possible that Eric Johnson's early band Mariani opened at that 1970 show, however. It's also entirely possible that Jon Lord simply forgot about that one forgettable night in San Antonio 40 years earlier.

[Jay G]

Funny but according to Cross's Wiki page he actually played this gig in 1970 so it was far from DPs first US tour. Perhaps he just mis-remembers the date. Also, any time sooner would have been unlikely as he was born in 1951 and if he had played in 67 or 68 he would have only been 16 or 17 years old. Looks like the first time he played with EJ was in 1974 on the first Electromagnets album.

[profusion]

Funny but according to Cross's Wiki page he actually played this gig in 1970 so it was far from DPs first US tour. Perhaps he just mis-remembers the date. Also, any time sooner would have been unlikely as he was born in 1951 and if he had played in 67 or 68 he would have only been 16 or 17 years old. Looks like the first time he played with EJ was in 1974 on the first Electromagnets album.

Cross also may not know that much about Deep Purple, though you'd think he would if he was a major Ritchie Blackmore fan. The first American DP tour in 1968 didn't come anywhere near Texas, so maybe Cross didn't realize that they'd already played a previous tour here. As for playing with EJ, that's also not surprising. EJ was out of the music scene in the early '70s after Mariani broke up, going to college and being away from Texas with his family. I love the first Electromagnets album and didn't realize Cross played on it.

[luvyesmusic]

[ronmac]

It's possible this happened, but there are some wild inaccuracies in Cross' story:

Deep Purple's first and only show at the Jam Factory in San Antonio happened in 1970 and wasn't even the first show on that U.S. tour, let alone their first show in the USA. Their first U.S. show was almost two years earlier at the Forum in Inglewood, California (most likely opening for Cream).

Yep, that's right. They did open for Cream. That's also the only live recording known to exist of the MkI band (aside from BBC stuff). In fact, there's a poor video which was shot on an early Beta recorder. The audio is not bad and had been officially released.



I'm wondering if the CC appearance could have been DP's first US show with Gillan.

[A. Scherze]

Also, any time sooner would have been unlikely as he was born in 1951 and if he had played in 67 or 68 he would have only been 16 or 17 years old.

Why is this strange? Blackmore was playing in local bands at 15 and by 18 was doing sessions and playing in pro bands. Carl Palmer and Eddie Jobson were pros by 16 and Jobson recorded with Curved Air when he was 17.

[Yodelgoat]

Jon Lord probably never put the name Christopher Cross and Chris's real name together.

[Brainforest]

Back in the 80's, I worked at Valley Arts, a long-gone music store here in Studio City, CA. They made great custom guitars and Chris was one of the artists that played them. He was in there a lot and I remember him as being a really good player, much more rock than his pop hits at the time.

[ronmac]

I have to admit that I never even knew CC played guitar, much less played that well. "Sailing" was enough to utterly nauseate me to the point where I had no interest whatsoever.

[GuitarGeek]

I have to admit that I never even knew CC played guitar, much less played that well. "Sailing" was enough to utterly nauseate me to the point where I had no interest whatsoever.

I knew he was a guitarist, because I remember years ago seeing pictures of him playing a custom built doubleneck that looked to have been assembled from an old Strat and a Fender Electric XII. But I never knew he had "lead guitar" skills. I figured that's why he had people like Eric Johnson playing on his records, when he wanted that kind of cutthroat guitar playing.

[GuitarGeek]

Back in the 80's, I worked at Valley Arts, a long-gone music store here in Studio City, CA. They made great custom guitars and Chris was one of the artists that played them. He was in there a lot and I remember him as being a really good player, much more rock than his pop hits at the time.

I remember those Valley Arts guitars! Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton played them. In fact, when Carlton started playing those Strat and Tele style guitars in the mid 80's, there was some mild shock from the guitar geek community, as Carlton was so associated with the ES-335 that he was even nicknamed Mr. 335. I think the Valley Arts axes were what Lukather played after his deal with Ibanez ended, but before he started using those Music Man guitars he's been playing for the last 20 years.

[Scott Bails]

I think the Valley Arts axes were what Lukather played after his deal with Ibanez ended, but before he started using those Music Man guitars he's been playing for the last 20 years.

Yep - that's the way I remember it.

[simon moon]

Yeah, I remember seeing CC playing live on some TV show just after he had his hits.

I was more than impressed and surprised with his chops.

[profusion]

I'm wondering if the CC appearance could have been DP's first US show with Gillan.

It was on Gillan's first US tour with DP, but it was actually the next-to-last show on the tour (which was relatively short by their later standards).

I'm not a big fan of "Sailing" (though EJ's rhythm style on it is heavily apparent), but "Ride Like The Wind" is just flat-out awesome. I had that album when it came out--it's at my parents' house and I haven't listened to it since probably 1981.

[A. Scherze]

[Vic2012]

I saw CC on TV once playing lead guitar. I don't remember if he was playing to a backing track or if he mimed the whole thing. IIRC, it was "Ride Like The Wind" and he rips on the guitar solo. I was surprised to say the least. If ever anyone betrayed their own talent.

[trurl]

Kind of like Glen Campbell... the average fan never knew he was a serious session player back in the day before he hit as a singer. Not that CC was like Steve Lukather or anything but he could definitely play.