Hansi Cross has passed away

[Guess Who]

Swedish musician Hansi Cross (a chief of Progress Records) has passed away..

[the winter tree]

Very sad. He was a really nice guy and an excellent guitarist.

[Rarebird]

I only have his album Dream reality, which I wrore a review for. Not bad, but not outstanding either.

[JKL2000]

I remember reading a pretty interesting interview with him in I think Background magazine about how the band and label got started. I'd never heard any Cross but was always aware of them, so I'm checking them out a bit. I think what Rarebird says applies to the earlier stuff, but they apparently got more interesting later on. Anyway, I'm always interested to check out neo prog from the period, so I'll even look into the earlier stuff. He seems to have had some good friends in the prog world.

This is on his Facebook page:

It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I inform you
that Hansi Cross has passed away after a tough battle
with cancer.

This is a tremendous loss not only for us who were close to him but also for the progressive music community.

Thank you all for supporting Hansi and the band over the years.

See you again, Rebel Brother.

- Tomas Hjort, on behalf of CROSS

[Rarebird]

Played Dream reality today. Nice album.

[progmatist]

I just loaded The Thrill of Nothingness and Wake Up Call to my MP3 player a couple of days ago. Now while driving to work, I'll be listening with a heavy heart.

[jlneudorf]

Damn. That is sad.

RIP Mr. Cross.

[aith01]

Sad to hear this.

I liked what I'd heard of his music. Didn't know he had been ill...

[rickawakeman]

RIP Hansi. I have one Cross release, "Secrets"from 2000, which I will spin in his honor this evening.

[bill g]

"Secrets" was probably my favorite Cross release, I'm not too fond of his voice, although his other project "Spektrum" (with Lizette on vocals) has a Cross penned track "Now" that is excellent. We used to communicate occasionally many years ago, he always seemed to be a really nice guy. I'm very sad and surprised to hear this news.