It all started when Chris de Burgh signed to A&M Records in 1974, embarking on a tour with Supertramp, gradually building up his own fan base. His debut album “Far Beyond These Castle Walls”, his debut album, released in 1975, managed to grace the number one spot in Brazil. It was unfortunately quite a slow process following the release of this album for de Burgh’s music to his the charts internationally. It was the album “The Getaway”, released on December 19th 1982 and achieved platinum status in Germany. It peaked at number 30 in the UK. “Man on the Line” saw the band achieve copious amounts of success; gradually working it’s way up the chart, making it to number 11 in the UK album chart.
It was “Into the Light”, Chris de Burgh’s eighth studio album, released on June 1st 1986, that became a number one record, going 2x Platinum in the UK, Gold in the US and Platinum in Germany. It features the single “The Lady in Red”, released officially as a single in it’s own right on June 20th 1986, making it to the top 10 of 23 different charts. His following album “Flying Colors” had similar success, making it to number 1 in three different countries, whilst “Power of Ten” made it to number 1 in just Germany. Between “This Way Up” released on May 19th 1994, and the album “Home”, released on October 12th 2012, Chris de Burgh’s albums would at least make it into the charts of four different countries.
He released “The Hands of Man” on September 26th 2014 and he also released four live albums one of which, “High on Emotion: Live from Dublin”, was released on September 11th 1990, and went 2x Platinum in the UK.
Whatever you think of his music, you at least have to credit Chris De Burgh with having a genuinely fascinating background; born in Argentina, specifically in Santa Fe Province, he was the son of a British Colonel and Diplomat, but despite travelling the world as a youngster, living in countries as far-flung as Zaire for spells of his youth, he never had any intention of following in his father’s footsteps, instead eschewing any practical use of his Masters degree in French, English and History by signing a record deal - his first - in 1974, with A&M Records. He went on to struggle commercially for most of the seventies in the Western world, but built up an avid fanbase in Latin America; in 1986, though, he took the pop world by storm with his iconic ballad ‘The Lady in Red’, and the rest is very much history; he’s sold no fewer than forty million records since. He continues to tour and record to this day, and has a new solo album lined up for September of this year, The Hands of Man. In support of it, he and his band have routed a UK tour for May of 2015, so plenty of time to get your hands on tickets yet; expect a hit-packed, career-spanning set if you do attend.