Chris Bailey

John Willsteed talks to Ed Kuepper, Peter Milton Walsh and Kenny Gormley about the man who would change Brisbane music forever.

And that was Bailey, a gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet.“ It was like, ‘Well, they’re from Brisbane!’ So we started our first band, and at our first gig we covered (I’m) Stranded! We even took a photo of the abandoned house in Petrie Terrace with (I’m) Stranded painted on the wall. And we were trying to work out a way that we could get it off the wall intact, because we recognised it was a historical document. Chris Bailey isn’t the first of our creative children to leave this life behind and move on into memory. It was the lifeline to the centre of Brisbane – record stores, bookshops and other forms of life. There’s no doubt that Bailey and The Saints changed Brisbane forever. Soon they had songs, and in 1976 scraped the money together to record and release their first single on their own Fatal Records label. Bailey remained in Europe, releasing a cluster of solo albums and many Saints records over the next 40 years. And Bailey had the voice. [With the band] we were doing something that we thought was going to change something. The conservative government had no time for the young, and the police force did their best to make life difficult. Neither Kuepper nor Bailey learned to drive, so Hay became the driver in those wide suburbs where driving and cars were everything.

You Am I/The Saints guitarist Davey Lane also remembers his "funny, articulate, intelligent" bandmate.

"We made a last Saints record which hopefully will see the light of day sometime," he wrote. I’m a sucker for guitar-driven pop/rock songs with cool chord changes and this is one of those." Cave's close Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis also hailed Bailey as "one of the best singers. "Chris and I got to know each other well and went on to do a bunch of things together over the years," Cave writes. "So, it is with immense sadness that we learn of Chris Bailey’s death. It is impossible to exaggerate the resulting radical galvanising effect on the Melbourne scene – these legendary performances changed the lives of so many people, myself included.

'Chris lived a life of poetry and music,' band writes in a post announcing the singer and songwriter's death.

In a promotional video for the single’s UK re-release, the INXS frontman, Michael Hutchence, credited the Brisbane band for creating the sound that led to the rapid rise of the Sex Pistols. They lived in Inala in Brisbane and he met bandmates Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay at Corinda state high school. The Saints were the core of the Australian punk scene in the 1970s and (I’m) Stranded is regarded as one of the most influential punk songs of all time.

The band announced the news in a post on social media on Monday morning, where they described Bailey as having lived “a life of poetry and music”.

“The Belfast and Inala boy who done good,” Perrett tweeted. “When the Saints got together in 1973, we weren’t an obvious sort of band. It was a world of absolute innocence and naivety, too,” Kuepper said. Get it here. “Another legend down. The band announced the news in a post on social media on Monday morning, where they described Bailey as having lived “a life of poetry and music”.

Australian rock band The Saints announces the death of lead singer Chris Bailey, who "lived a life of poetry and stranded on a Saturday night".

Saints forever," McKagan wrote on Twitter. "It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th, 2022," the statement said. Chris Bailey, lead singer of The Saints and 'co-creator of punk', dies

Chris Bailey, lead singer of legendary Aussie punk-rock band The Saints, has died – and fans are remembering this “giant” in music history.

Broadcaster Zan Rowe called Bailey “a giant in punk music’s history, and present. Had the pleasure of staying at his amazing, rambling home at Queen St, Woollahra. He was incredibly generous, wickedly funny and just what a rock star should be. “RIP Chris Bailey. One of our greatest. Their contribution to Aussie music was recognised in 2001 when they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. From those beginnings the band have enjoyed a multi-decade career, releasing 14 studio albums, the most recent of which came out in 2012. Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place.

Bailey spent his childhood in Belfast until his family emigrated to Australia when he was seven. He formed a band with his Brisbane schoolmates Ed Kuepper and ...

Bailey was the Saints’ only consistent member throughout their five-decade existence. Bailey spent his childhood in Belfast until his family emigrated to Australia when he was seven. “Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night.”

Chris Bailey, lead singer of legendary punk band The Saints, has died. The news was made public this morning on the band's social media accounts.

On its release, New York's The Village Voice raved about (I'm) Stranded's "intermittent hooks, droning feedback (and) shouted vocals" and declared "this album from Australia achieves the great mean of punk style". "Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night." "It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th, 2022," the statement said.

Chris Bailey, co-founder and frontman for Australian punk rock legends The Saints, has died. The news was confirmed this morning.

The Saints were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2001. There’s a track called That Depends on Ed’s album Jean Lee And The Yellow Dog where Chris sings and you hear how great the combination ofpic.twitter.com/v1Qgy5O5Bd The Saints’ last album was 2012’s King of the Sun. “Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night,” it continued, a reference to the band’s 1976 debut single ‘(I’m) Stranded’. Last year, the State Library of Queensland named its 7″ vinyl copy of the single as one of the treasures in its John Oxley Library collection, writing that the song has “[influenced] generations of bands around the world.” Chris Bailey, co-founder and frontman for Australian punk rock legends The Saints, has died.

Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, has died. The musician's death...

The lead singer of Brisbane band The Saints, Chris Bailey, is being remembered as a music legend who was "incredibly generous [and] wickedly funny".

"But the main thing for now is that a lot of people in Brisbane, myself included, found our own voices thanks to Chris Bailey’s singing, particularly on those early records, full of phlegm and fire." "But the main thing for now is that a lot of people in Brisbane, myself included, found our own voices thanks to Chris Bailey’s singing, particularly on those early records, full of phlegm and fire." I'll post something longer down the track but for now," he said in a message on Twitter. Saints forever!," McKagan wrote. "I couldn't have hoped for a better singer. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1967, after spending time in Belfast. I'll post something longer down the track but for now," he said in a message on Twitter. Saints forever!," McKagan wrote. Legend." "I couldn't have hoped for a better singer. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1967, after spending time in Belfast. The cause of death has not yet been released.

Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, has died. The musician's death...

The Australian music industry is paying tribute to Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, following his death aged ...

"Released in September 1976, months ahead of the Sex Pistols' and The Clash's debuts, the unknown band The Saints' single (I'm) Stranded / No Time propelled the Brisbane boyhood friends to the forefront of a new underground punk music movement." They recorded the I'm Stranded LP in 1977 and achieved some chart success in the UK, their release preceding a wave of groundbreaking punk rock debut albums including the Sex Pistols and The Clash. But The Saints were less successful in Australia at the time. Saints forever!," McKagan wrote. The Saints formed their own label, Fatal Records in 1976, and independently released punk song I'm Stranded to radio stations in Australia and the UK in 1976 before it was picked up and released in the UK. They were then signed by record label EMI for a three-album contract. "It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th 2022," the band's Facebook post said on Monday. "Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night." The State Library of Queensland acquired a split 7" vinyl single of (I'm) Stranded / No Time into its treasured John Oxley collection in 2016, commemorating the 40th anniversary of its release. "The 7" vinyl single featured represents a piece of music history, influencing generations of bands around the world," the library said. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also shared a photo and tweeted commemorating Bailey's life, calling the single I'm Stranded a "debut hit". Australian Associated Press "As Bob Geldof said, 'Rock music in the seventies was changed by three bands -- the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Saints'." Bailey was born in 1957 in Kenya to Irish parents and migrated to Brisbane from Belfast when he was seven. "His band The Saints were punks before punk," Barnes wrote on Twitter. "He was a master of words and helped tell our story. He co-founded the band with his school friends Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay in Brisbane in 1973. The Australian music industry is paying tribute to Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, following his death aged 65.

Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, has died. The musician's death on Saturday was announced on social media by ...

Saints forever!," McKagan wrote. "Released in September 1976, months ahead of the Sex Pistols' and The Clash's debuts, the unknown band The Saints' single (I'm) Stranded / No Time propelled the Brisbane boyhood friends to the forefront of a new underground punk music movement." "The 7" vinyl single featured represents a piece of music history, influencing generations of bands around the world," the library said. "Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night." The Saints formed their own label, Fatal Records in 1976, and independently released punk song I'm Stranded to radio stations in Australia and the UK in 1976 before it was picked up and released in the UK. "It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th 2022," the band's Facebook post said on Monday.

The Australian music industry is paying tribute to Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock...

The frontman and co-founder of The Saints died on the weekend, aged 65.

Guitarist Davey Lane told me Bailey worked them hard, but the only pressure he felt was from the staff of the rehearsal studio, who remembered the original versions as sacrosanct. The last time I saw him perform was six years ago at The Gaso in Collingwood, fronting yet another line-up of what he continued to call the Saints, despite old punk purists muttering darkly. “We’ve never been the most popular group,” he told me one time with a notable lack of anxiety. By the time I met him in the early ’90s, Bailey was three albums deep into a parallel solo singer-songwriter career. Even though the punk thing was taking off they were utterly unique and hugely influential.” Ray Burgess, mega-dimpled host of after-school TV pop show Flashez, was clearly appalled by Chris Bailey – co-founder and frontman of the Saints, who died on April 9 at the age of 65 – and there in my polite suburban loungeroom, so was I.

The Australian music industry is paying tribute to Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock...

Chris Bailey, the lead singer of seminal Australian punk rock band The Saints, has died. The musician's death on Saturday was announced on social media by ...

Saints forever!," McKagan wrote. "Released in September 1976, months ahead of the Sex Pistols' and The Clash's debuts, the unknown band The Saints' single (I'm) Stranded / No Time propelled the Brisbane boyhood friends to the forefront of a new underground punk music movement." "The 7" vinyl single featured represents a piece of music history, influencing generations of bands around the world," the library said. "Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night." The Saints formed their own label, Fatal Records in 1976, and independently released punk song I'm Stranded to radio stations in Australia and the UK in 1976 before it was picked up and released in the UK. "It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th 2022," the band's Facebook post said on Monday.