Chris Rainbow

Chris Rainbow launched his solo endeavors in 1974, prior to assuming lead vocals with the Alan Parsons Project. During the next six years he cut tracks for EMI Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom while also serving as producer and authoring his own material. His earliest group experience dated to 1972, when he performed with Hope Street in his native Glasgow. Although that band obtained a recording and publishing agreement with a London firm, a 1973 demo containing three self-written songs reached Polydor’s Nicky Graham, who arranged a four-year contract for Rainbow after Norman Jones, a friend, submitted the tape.

Rainbow simultaneously secured a publishing arrangement with Warner Bros. U.K. Jones, who later adopted the name Van Den Berg, managed the artist’s affairs, and Rainbow—an alias adopted in 1974—issued two Polydor albums, Looking Over My Shoulder and Home of the Brave. Five singles appeared as well: “Living in the World Today,” “All Night,” “Mr. Man,” “Give Me What I Cry For,” and “Solid State Brain.” When Jones moved to California in 1977, Rainbow engaged David Knights, formerly of Procol Harum, who continued as manager until 1986. Throughout this period Rainbow also composed advertising jingles for BBC Radio 1 and Capitol Radio.

His Polydor contract concluded in 1978, after which he signed with EMI within a week. The label released the album White Trails along with the singles “Body Music” and “Ring Ring,” yet Rainbow soon found himself among numerous artists dropped during a cost-cutting review. He joined the Alan Parsons Project in 1980 and remained for roughly a decade; he likewise spent two years with New Life alongside Jon Anderson, formerly of Yes, and a comparable span with Camel and Andy Latimer.

Between 1986 and 1998 Rainbow produced recordings in Scotland and contributed session work for Parsons, Elaine Paige, Culture Club, Eric Woolfson, Lenny Zakatek, and Tomoyasu Hotei. He supplied lead vocals on five tracks from Ton Scherpenzeel’s CNR Records album Heart of the Universe, issued in 1984, and served nearly twenty years as producer for the Scottish-Gaelic rock band Runrig. The Scottish group the River Detectives likewise collaborated closely with him; his Vital Spark Music label released their album Elvis Has Left the Building in 1993. Born Chris Harley, Rainbow resumed solo recording in 2000, intending to issue In a Perfect World in summer 2001, though the project remained unreleased. He died in February 2015 at age 68 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.