The Christians (band)

The Christians
The Christians performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	Liverpool, England
Genres	Soul,sophisti-pop,a cappella (early)
Years active	1985–1995, 1999–present
Labels	Cherry Red
Website	The Christians' Official Website
Members	Garry Christian – lead vocals Joey Ankrah – vocals & lead guitar Neil Griffiths – acoustic guitar and vocals Lionel Duke – drums Clifford Watson – bass Mike Trigg – keyboards
Past members	Cosmo – guitar/ vocals Henry Priestman – keyboards/ vocals Russell Christian – saxophone/ vocals Paul Barlow – drums Mike Bulger – guitar/ vocals Roger Christian – keyboards/ vocals (deceased) Tony Jones – bass Stewart Boyle – electric guitar. Paul Campbell – Guitar

The Christians are a musical ensemble from Liverpool, England, who had several UK and international chart hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The name of the band refers to the surname of the three brothers that were originally in the line-up, and is also coincidentally guitarist Henry Priestman's middle name.

Garry Christian (born 27 February 1965, Liverpool) (lead vocals), Roger Christian (born 13 February 1950; died 8 March 1998 from brain tumour) (vocals, instrumentalist), Russell Christian (born 8 July 1956) (keyboards, saxophone, vocals), and Henry Priestman (born Henry Christian Priestman, 21 June 1955, in Kingston upon Hull, brought up in Liverpool) (keyboards, guitars, vocals) formed the band in 1985. Paul Barlow (drums), Mike Bulger (guitar/vocals) and Tony Jones on bass were also early members. Because of a reluctance to tour, Roger left in 1987.

In Rock: The Rough Guide, critic Charles Bottomley, described them as "The Temptations in ripped jeans, producing gritty-centred songs in a sugary vocal shell".

Their first five singles all made the Top 40 in Britain, and their debut album The Christians (1987) entered the UK Albums Chart at number 2. It eventually sold over a million copies. The highest-placed single from this album was "Ideal World", which reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1988, they released a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Harvest for the World", with all proceeds going to charity. The video for the track was an animation, created by four leading animation companies, including Aardman Animations. The video won several awards, and the single reached number 8 in the UK singles chart, their sixth consecutive British Top 40 hit.