CHRIS THOMPSON was born in the United Kingdom, and raised in New Zealand. He became a professional musician in 1972, and moved back to England in 1974. He toured extensively and did numerous sessions before joining Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Since becoming a member of the band, Chris has sung on international hits such as "Blinded By The Light", which reached No. 1 in the U.S. and earned the band a gold record.

The Earth Band spent the early part of 1977 on a sell-out, coast to coast U.S. tour and then returned to Europe to play selected dates in England and other major European countries. In 1978 they released "Watch", which featured Chris Thompson. The song "Davy's on the Road Again" reached the top 5 in England and Germany. "Watch" has sold over 700,000 copies in Germany alone.

In 1978 he performed with a group called Filthy McNasty. In 1979 Chris left the Earth Band to form Night, a Los Angeles-based band, who enjoyed two top 20 hits, "Hot Summer Nights" and "If You Remember Me", title theme from the movie "The Champ". The group broke up in 1982 and Chris (who had been doing session work with the Earth Band still on a semi-regular basis) rejoined Manfred to finish the album "Somewhere in Afrika". After a successful European tour with the Earth Band to promote this album, Chris and drummer John Lingwood, produced a live album and video from Budapest, Hungary called "Live in Budapest".

In 1983 Chris released his first solo album, "Out of the Night." He also worked extensively with ex Doobie Brother Patrick Simmons - both writing and singing on his first solo album, "Arcade", which produced the top 20 hit "So Wrong". His second solo album, "Radio Voices", featured Brian May and was released in 1985. Later he worked with Manfred Mann on "Criminal Tango", and began working another solo album, "The High Cost of Living" was released in 1986.

In 1989, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships brought about another success for Chris when he wrote and performed the official championship song "The Challenge", which became a Number One hit in Germany.

Another solo album, "Beat of Love", was released in 1991. Also in 1991 he had a Top Ten hit in Germany with "The Joker", theme song from the television series "Jolly Joker".

In 1993 he made his debut with Alan Parsons on "Try Anything Once". In 1994 he sang the theme from the successful German TV series 'Florida Lady", this series also gave birth to a brand new recording of "Blinded By The Light". The 1995 Alan Parsons album "The Very Best Live", features Chris Thompson, and the U.S. release includes a studio version of Chris performing "You're the Voice". The group Pech also released a new recording of "Blinded By The Light" in 1995, featuring Chris on vocals, of course!

Chris recorded an album with the SAS Band in 1997 with yet another version of "You're the Voice". In 1998 he was on Steelhouse Lane's album, Metallic Blue.

In 1999 he relased an album called "Backtrack", which features some previously unreleased songs, and some that have never been put on CD. It includes his hit with Night, "If You Remember Me". He has recorded another solo album in 2000, to be released sometime this year.

His birthday is March 9th.

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