's contributions to the formative days of British rock. His groups included, at various times,
. As a singer and recording artist, though, he was distinctly lacking, with a rather wimpy and tentative voice, in spite of the occasional power of his backing tracks on the numerous singles he cut between 1962 and 1968. He tried his hand at teen idol tunes, Merseybeat-ish numbers, British R&B, and bloated MOR pop, but could not overcome his fundamental lack of strong material.
His earliest numbers (some produced by the legendary
Joe Meek) do have a slight charm, particularly the 1963 B-side "Get a Load of This," one of the best unknown Merseybeat-style recordings, and one that features some quite good session guitar work by the still-teenaged
Jimmy Page. Also good (and also with
Page on guitar) was the uncommonly tough R&B-rock of "I Like It," though this too was buried, on a 1966 French EP. Ultimately he belonged to that peculiar British Invasion subgenre of male solo singers who had a stronger visual image than vocal chops, like
P.J. Proby and
Dave Berry.
Christian, however, wasn't nearly as successful as either
Proby or
Berry, landing just one U.K. hit, the vaudevillian "That's Nice," which made number 14 in 1966.
Born
Christopher Tidmarsh,
Neil Christian started fronting his backing group
the Crusaders in the early '60s.
Jimmy Page was the guitarist at the outset, but left in mid-1962 due to illness, although he would later record with
Christian in the studio.
Page's replacement was
Albert Lee (though he too only lasted a short time), and other fine musicians would continue to pass through
the Crusaders on their way to bigger and better things.
Christian started recording relatively quickly, making his debut on the 1962
Meek-produced single "The Road to Love"/"The Big Beat Drum," but none of his 1962-1965 Columbia releases (one, the 1965 single "Give the Game Away," was credited to
Guy Hamilton) made a mark.
Christian's fortunes went on the upswing after he hooked up with songwriter and producer
Miki Dallon and began recording for the U.K. indie Strike Records, for whom
Dallon often worked. Virtually all of his 1966-1967 singles were written by
Dallon, including "That's Nice" and "I Like It."
Christian couldn't follow up "That's Nice," however, and Strike went out of business in late 1967.
Christian released his final British 45 for Pye in 1967, though he did better in Germany, where he released some additional tracks in the late '60s. Everything
Christian released in 1962-1968 has been reissued on the CD compilation
That's Nice, which also adds several unreleased recordings from the same era.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi