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He is an Australian
singer-songwriter and bass player, also known as Criston Somerset, who
began his musical career with the group Train in 1968. He was with the Melbourne
based group Ash from 1969-1972 and with them saw his first success with his
song "Avignon" which made it to the Australian Top 10. Playing with various bands he
became a member of Island and
after relocating to Melbourne in 1975 he formed Freeway and later became a member of Sidewinder
with whom he produced "Heartaches", and "Hush". He joined the band Air Supply in 1979 and recorded and
wrote with them for their 1980 Lost In Love album. He left the band in 1980
after having been asked by the comedy team of the Dr. Who spoof
radio series, Dr. Poo, to write a mini-album for Dr. Poo and the
Psychic Koalas, which would be called The Universe Is Big. Going back to performing, he put
together the group Apollo Bay who toured with acts that included Joan Armtrading
and Elton John and then wanting to concentrate more on the recording side
of things he designed and built his own studio called Powerplant which
would be used by Michael Hutchence and the Divinyls among others. Here he recorded the original
version of "All Fired Up" which would later be a hit for Pat Benatar, and
went on to complete solo albums such as his 7th Heaven. Becoming seriously ill in 1997
and receiving a liver transplant in 1998 he went wanted to promote organ
donor awareness and wrote the fundraising album When Angels Call,
which also features the keyboardist Gary Quick who is a lung transplant
recipient.
Air Supply Recordings
Old Habits Die Hard (Criston Barker, David Moyse)
Sources:
- http://www.cristonbarker.com.au/bio.htm
- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=261300067
- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=239616105
- www.milesago.com
- www.btinternet.com/~fenderstrat/Titans.htm
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