Biography
Born on October 13, 1946, in Wivenhoe, Essex, England, Keith Christmas built a reputation as a skilled guitarist and songwriter within folk and rock communities alike. Early on, his musical tastes formed around blues records from his brother’s collection alongside Buddy Holly albums belonging to his mother. Exposure to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Simon & Garfunkel steered him toward folk, prompting him to master acoustic guitar. Producer and manager Sandy Robertson discovered him in the late 1960s and secured a contract with RCA Records. His first album, Stimulus, appeared in 1969 and, echoing aspects of Al Stewart’s style, included contributions from Mighty Baby plus pedal steel guitarist Gordon Huntley of Matthews Southern Comfort.
During the same year Stimulus came out, Christmas performed multiple times at Beckenham Arts Lab, then run by an emerging singer, David Bowie, who admired his playing sufficiently to invite him onto the album Space Oddity. Two further albums, Fable of the Wings in 1970 and Pigmy in 1971, both on B & C Records, extended the direction set by his debut, while he supported major acts on tour such as the Who, Ten Years After, Argent, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, the Kinks, Captain Beefheart, and Roxy Music. He also played the inaugural Glastonbury Festival in 1970 before an audience of 1,500. A stint as vocalist with the Esperanto Rock Orchestra resulted in his appearance on their 1974 release, Danse Macabre. Returning to solo work that year, he issued Brighter Day on Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore label, presenting a harder edge than earlier efforts, whereas Stories from the Human Zoo, cut in Los Angeles in 1976, drew on American players including Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn.
Despite evident promise, Christmas never achieved widespread commercial success and closed the 1970s with modest London concerts and summer festival appearances. Frustrated by the industry, he stepped away in 1981 to operate his own Victorian-house renovation business in London. He resurfaced in the late 1980s with fresh energy, performing again on the folk circuit and cutting new tracks. In 1991 he assembled the blues group Weatherman, releasing an album with them the next year. Love Beyond Deals, an acoustic collection, followed on HTD Records in 1996. Throughout the late 1990s he appeared in a duo alongside his wife, Julia, while teaching ICT and Design Technology. Acoustica, an instrumental acoustic guitar album, emerged on Woronzow in 2003, with one track later featured in the BBC documentary Hidden Gardens. Light of the Dawn, a solo acoustic project that he wrote, performed, engineered, and produced, arrived in 2006. The five-song EP Fat Cat Big Fish appeared in 2011, and a March 2012 Village Pump Acoustic Club performance in Trowbridge was captured on his first live album, Live at the Pump. Fresh songs written in 2015 led to the 2016 release Crazy Dancing Days.
During the same year Stimulus came out, Christmas performed multiple times at Beckenham Arts Lab, then run by an emerging singer, David Bowie, who admired his playing sufficiently to invite him onto the album Space Oddity. Two further albums, Fable of the Wings in 1970 and Pigmy in 1971, both on B & C Records, extended the direction set by his debut, while he supported major acts on tour such as the Who, Ten Years After, Argent, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, the Kinks, Captain Beefheart, and Roxy Music. He also played the inaugural Glastonbury Festival in 1970 before an audience of 1,500. A stint as vocalist with the Esperanto Rock Orchestra resulted in his appearance on their 1974 release, Danse Macabre. Returning to solo work that year, he issued Brighter Day on Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore label, presenting a harder edge than earlier efforts, whereas Stories from the Human Zoo, cut in Los Angeles in 1976, drew on American players including Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn.
Despite evident promise, Christmas never achieved widespread commercial success and closed the 1970s with modest London concerts and summer festival appearances. Frustrated by the industry, he stepped away in 1981 to operate his own Victorian-house renovation business in London. He resurfaced in the late 1980s with fresh energy, performing again on the folk circuit and cutting new tracks. In 1991 he assembled the blues group Weatherman, releasing an album with them the next year. Love Beyond Deals, an acoustic collection, followed on HTD Records in 1996. Throughout the late 1990s he appeared in a duo alongside his wife, Julia, while teaching ICT and Design Technology. Acoustica, an instrumental acoustic guitar album, emerged on Woronzow in 2003, with one track later featured in the BBC documentary Hidden Gardens. Light of the Dawn, a solo acoustic project that he wrote, performed, engineered, and produced, arrived in 2006. The five-song EP Fat Cat Big Fish appeared in 2011, and a March 2012 Village Pump Acoustic Club performance in Trowbridge was captured on his first live album, Live at the Pump. Fresh songs written in 2015 led to the 2016 release Crazy Dancing Days.
Albums
Acoustic Dreamland
2019
Acoustic Rock And Blues
2018
Tomorrow Never Ends - The Anthology 1974 - 1976
2011
Timeless & Strange: Selected Tracks 1969-1971
2004
2coustica
2003
Stories From The Human Zoo
1976
Brighter Day
1974
Stimulus
1969
Singles
Live
