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Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his US Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the latter recorded by him for the film Arthur, which starred Dudley Moore. "Sailing" earned three Grammy Awards in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt BacharachCarole Bayer Sagerand Peter Allen).

Career[edit][]

Cross first played with a San Antonio-based cover band named Flash (not to be confused with the early 1970s English band of the same name) before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros.

Cross released his self-titled debut albumChristopher Cross, in 1979, which garnered him five Grammy Awards. He made Grammy history by winning all four General Field Grammy awards (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist) in the same year. To date, he is the only artist to have won those four awards in the same year. Hot 100 top 20 hits from this album included "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald), "Sailing", "Never Be the Same", and "Say You'll Be Mine" (featuring backing vocals by Nicolette Larson).

Cross' second album, Another Page (1983), included the hit songs "All Right", "No Time for Talk", and "Think of Laura". "All Right" was used by CBS Sports for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, while "Think of Laura" is used as a reference to characters on the soap opera General Hospital. Although Another Page sold respectably, it did not nearly live up to the high expectations set by his debut album.

Cross' next two albums, 1985's Every Turn of the World and 1988's Back of My Mind failed to produce any top 40 hits, and did not sell as well as his first two albums.

Cross made three more albums in the 1990s, and although some of his releases have gained critical response, he has failed to attract the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid-1980s, he has toured and opened for various acts since the 1990s and released his Very Best of... album in 2002.

Cross completed a Christmas album, A Christopher Cross Christmas, released in 2007. Cross finished recording a new acoustic album of his hits titled The Cafe Carlyle Sessions.

Cross released a new studio album, Dr. Faith, in 2011.

Personal life[edit][]

A self-described "Army brat," Cross's father was a U.S. Army pediatrician. He was stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s (when Cross was elementary school age), where he was physician for President Dwight Eisenhower's grandchildren.

Cross married his wife, Jan, in 1988. They divorced in 2007. They have two children; son, Christopher, and daughter, Madison.

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