Chris Rainbow (born Christopher James Harley; 18 November 1946 -
25 February 2015), also known as Christopher Rainbow, was a Scottish
rock singer and musician who had two hit songs, "Give Me What I Cry For"
and "Solid State Brain" in the 1970s.
Apart from his solo career, he made frequent vocal contributions to
The Alan Parsons Project,
starting on their 1979 Eve album through to their 1987 album Gaudi, and
Eric Woolfson's Freudiana (1990) (an APP album in all but name).
Before he sang lead for the Alan Parsons Project, Chris Rainbow had
embarked on a solo career in 1974. For six years, he recorded in the
U.K. for EMI Records and Polydor Records, and he also acted as producer
and wrote his own material. His first experience in a band occurred just
two years before he went solo, in his hometown of Glasgow in a group
known as Hope Street. He and his bandmates had been given a contract to
record and publish with a London company; but in 1973, Polydor's Nicky
Graham heard a demo of a trio of Rainbow's self-penned numbers and he
secured his own four-year contract thanks to Norman Jones, a friend of
the singer's who submitted the tape. In addition to his recording deal
with Polydor, Rainbow signed a deal to publish with Warner Bros. U.K.
Jones, who changed his name to Van Den Berg, took on the task of
managing his friend's career, and Rainbow -- a pseudonym the artist
adopted in 1974 -- went on to put out two albums with Polydor, Looking
Over My Shoulder and Home of the Brave. Five singles followed: "Living
in the World Today," "All Night," "Mr. Man," "Give Me What I Cry For,"
and "Solid State Brain." When Jones relocated to California in 1977,
Rainbow hired David Knights, formerly of Procol Harum. Knights remained
Rainbow's manager through 1986. During this time, Rainbow also wrote
advertising jingles for BBC Radio One and Capitol Radio.
