Chris Bailey (who is most commonly known as the bass player for The Angels) lost his battle with throat cancer, passing away in a Sydney hospice on Wednesday the 3rd of April. The above benefit concert is still going ahead, and will prove to be one hell of a benefit concert, as well as a night to pay respects to the great Aussie Rocker.
To purchase tickets to this event, click here
About Chris Bailey...
Note; the first thing to establish is I’m not Chris Bailey from “the Saints”.
Born Adelaide, South Australia, 1950………Gemini (and/or Tiger or whatever)
Inspired by Beatle Paul McCartney’s bass lines and Bob Dylan’s lyrics, I started playing bass with a few school friends at age 15, playing the odd school dance and blues cellar jams in my first band TATTERED SOUL.
I dropped out of Uni. (Dental faculty) in 1969 to play full time with the notorious RED ANGEL PANIC - The People’s Liberation Band.
‘The Panic’ was purely politically motivated by our opposition to the Vietnam War and we were once arrested for “inciting a public disturbance” when 10,000 protestors marched on Parliament House.
We didn’t get much work after that!
So, in 1970, I co-founded HEADBAND, moved to Sydney in 1971 and cut my first and only album as a lead singer/bassist. The album was the most expensive ever recorded in Australia at the time, involving a choir of 100 singers and members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The band was popular, we opened for the ROLLING STONES in Sydney and Brisbane but the album didn’t sell and money dried up so we disbanded and in 1974 I moved back to Adelaide.
In 1975 I got the job as researcher and presenter for the alternative Music and Arts TV show SOLID AIR on ABC TV Adelaide.
This show ran successfully for one season before being transferred to Melbourne to become ‘Countdown’.
Also during this year I was appointed music director for the S.A. Government’s cultural expo in Penang, Malaysia.
This required assembling the music and musicians for a 3 hour musical about South Australia’s cultural history, staged over 3 weeks in Georgetown, Penang.
In 1976, I moved back to Sydney and joined what were to become the Australian Hard Rock legends THE ANGELS.
Over the next 6 years I played on 5 albums (The Angels, Face to Face, No Exit, Darkroom, and Night Attack); did 3 tours of America; 2 tours of Europe and countless tours of Oz. We toured ALL the time - and I still consider this the most intense work/play period of my life!
I left the Angels in 1982, and after a six month stay in the U.S. working with various songwriters, I returned to Australia and spent the next two years playing everything from jazz to country to funk to easy listening, and with so many different people it’d take too much space to list them all.
At this time I also happily resumed the role of frontman/bassist for the eclectic party band THE INVISABLE MEN, with members of Split Ends and The Aliens, our mission was simply to party out at various summer resorts during southern winters.
In 1983 I spent 9 months as head of A&R for the proposed launch of Sussex Records. However the company was undercapitalised and folded before any product was released.
Later in 1983 I started working with Buzz Bidstrup and Mark Callaghan on some songs for the ABC TV show ‘SWEET & SOUR’ and thus became a founding member of GANGgajang in 1984.
I cut four albums and several singles with the GANG and during the hiatus periods worked with various artists such as Bon Scott, Nathan Cavelleri, Alannah Myles (Canada), Jimmy Barnes, James Blundell, Donny Hopkins, Geraldine Turner, Dave Steel, Alan Caswell, Anne Kirkpatrick, The Stetsons, and Jimmy Little - to name just a few.
In 1995 I took over the management of GANGgajang and oversaw three tours of Brazil, the release of the highly successful ‘Essential GANGgajang’ and “Oceans and Deserts’ CDs, more countless tours of Oz and the re-emergence of the band as a headline touring band.
In 1997 I toured Japan with THE RAGGED BAND, a Sydney based Celtic trio, and in 1998 worked on albums for Greg Page (of Wiggles fame) and country rock singer/songwriter Dave Debs.
Subsequent tours of Japan followed with THE RAGGED BAND and Marcus Holden’s FIDDLERS FEST.
From then to the present I am still working with GANGgajang, interspersed with a 4 year stint of touring with a 4 piece version of The Angels THE ORIGINAL ANGELS BAND from 2004 to 2008
Currently I am still managing and playing with GANGgajang and am also back touring with the The Angels.
At the ripe old age of 59, I still look forward to many and varied gigs as a bass player and vocalist.
I also still firmly believe in the power of music to enlighten and brighten our lives.
To purchase tickets to this event, click here
About Chris Bailey...
Note; the first thing to establish is I’m not Chris Bailey from “the Saints”.
Born Adelaide, South Australia, 1950………Gemini (and/or Tiger or whatever)
Inspired by Beatle Paul McCartney’s bass lines and Bob Dylan’s lyrics, I started playing bass with a few school friends at age 15, playing the odd school dance and blues cellar jams in my first band TATTERED SOUL.
I dropped out of Uni. (Dental faculty) in 1969 to play full time with the notorious RED ANGEL PANIC - The People’s Liberation Band.
‘The Panic’ was purely politically motivated by our opposition to the Vietnam War and we were once arrested for “inciting a public disturbance” when 10,000 protestors marched on Parliament House.
We didn’t get much work after that!
So, in 1970, I co-founded HEADBAND, moved to Sydney in 1971 and cut my first and only album as a lead singer/bassist. The album was the most expensive ever recorded in Australia at the time, involving a choir of 100 singers and members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The band was popular, we opened for the ROLLING STONES in Sydney and Brisbane but the album didn’t sell and money dried up so we disbanded and in 1974 I moved back to Adelaide.
In 1975 I got the job as researcher and presenter for the alternative Music and Arts TV show SOLID AIR on ABC TV Adelaide.
This show ran successfully for one season before being transferred to Melbourne to become ‘Countdown’.
Also during this year I was appointed music director for the S.A. Government’s cultural expo in Penang, Malaysia.
This required assembling the music and musicians for a 3 hour musical about South Australia’s cultural history, staged over 3 weeks in Georgetown, Penang.
In 1976, I moved back to Sydney and joined what were to become the Australian Hard Rock legends THE ANGELS.
Over the next 6 years I played on 5 albums (The Angels, Face to Face, No Exit, Darkroom, and Night Attack); did 3 tours of America; 2 tours of Europe and countless tours of Oz. We toured ALL the time - and I still consider this the most intense work/play period of my life!
I left the Angels in 1982, and after a six month stay in the U.S. working with various songwriters, I returned to Australia and spent the next two years playing everything from jazz to country to funk to easy listening, and with so many different people it’d take too much space to list them all.
At this time I also happily resumed the role of frontman/bassist for the eclectic party band THE INVISABLE MEN, with members of Split Ends and The Aliens, our mission was simply to party out at various summer resorts during southern winters.
In 1983 I spent 9 months as head of A&R for the proposed launch of Sussex Records. However the company was undercapitalised and folded before any product was released.
Later in 1983 I started working with Buzz Bidstrup and Mark Callaghan on some songs for the ABC TV show ‘SWEET & SOUR’ and thus became a founding member of GANGgajang in 1984.
I cut four albums and several singles with the GANG and during the hiatus periods worked with various artists such as Bon Scott, Nathan Cavelleri, Alannah Myles (Canada), Jimmy Barnes, James Blundell, Donny Hopkins, Geraldine Turner, Dave Steel, Alan Caswell, Anne Kirkpatrick, The Stetsons, and Jimmy Little - to name just a few.
In 1995 I took over the management of GANGgajang and oversaw three tours of Brazil, the release of the highly successful ‘Essential GANGgajang’ and “Oceans and Deserts’ CDs, more countless tours of Oz and the re-emergence of the band as a headline touring band.
In 1997 I toured Japan with THE RAGGED BAND, a Sydney based Celtic trio, and in 1998 worked on albums for Greg Page (of Wiggles fame) and country rock singer/songwriter Dave Debs.
Subsequent tours of Japan followed with THE RAGGED BAND and Marcus Holden’s FIDDLERS FEST.
From then to the present I am still working with GANGgajang, interspersed with a 4 year stint of touring with a 4 piece version of The Angels THE ORIGINAL ANGELS BAND from 2004 to 2008
Currently I am still managing and playing with GANGgajang and am also back touring with the The Angels.
At the ripe old age of 59, I still look forward to many and varied gigs as a bass player and vocalist.
I also still firmly believe in the power of music to enlighten and brighten our lives.
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