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Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Coverdale

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andrew fischer
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Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Coverdale

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi everyone here!

I've just come across this lettercut in Chris Rea "discussion" inlay page at Wikipedia.
I was much surprised as the leader of Magdalene himself wrote this.

"Dear Wikimedia, Just read an article on chris rea (middlesbrough,uk.)
the information that you give is wrong,Dave Coverdale was never a
member of magdalene before joining Deep purple he was in a local band
called Fabulosa brothers. Again chris rea was never a member of
magdalene. This false information is widely given out. It was myself
who was the lead singer. I new Dave and Chris when they lived in the
area and i am sure they would like this information deleted.
yours sincerely,
Steve Conway."

According to this, we all were taken in all these years by almost every sourse of Chris history info. :?
That's what makesme think over whether all other info 'bout Chris we all know about is surely true?

Just an idea to be discussed here...

May your shadow never grow less,
&ru
My VK fan page for Chris Rea in Russian: http://vk.com/chris_rea
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lilybee
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Coverdale

Post by lilybee »

andrew fischer wrote:According to this, we all were taken in all these years by almost every sourse of Chris history info. :? That's what makesme think over whether all other info 'bout Chris we all know about is surely true? &ru
Hi Andrew... :D

I know you posted this a while back, and although I didn't answer at the time, I did noticed Wikipedia removed the info about Magdalene back then.

On all the interviews I have seen and heard Chris Rea do, not once he has mentioned Magdalene himself.

I've only heard him mention he started with the Beautiful Losers.

I wouldn't rely on Wikipedia for accurate information anyway, it's information is gathered by people, for people, like you and me. And we all make mistakes. Wikipedia is certainly NOT accepted as an academic research choice here in the States. Only for casual reference.

So in terms of "whether all other info 'bout Chris we all know about is surely true?, as you said, I rely on the interviews Chris has done over the years in respectful magazines and radio shows, and TV. And even if he changed his mind about certain subjects later on, it came straight from him, and that's the only source I believe.

Just my two cents... :D

Lily
Last edited by lilybee on 11 Mar 2009, 21:37, edited 1 time in total.
andrew fischer
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by andrew fischer »

Thank you Lily. I never heard Chris ever mentioning Magdalene as well.
Last edited by andrew fischer on 16 Dec 2013, 10:09, edited 1 time in total.
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veherny
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by veherny »

before the band called beautiful loser called Magdalene
Coverdale played with drummer Ian hence the confusion I think
In the original Chris was not
Then he would add later
When Chris signs contract with record keeps members of beautiful loser as musicians but with the name of Chris Rea

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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi all,

some amazing pictures and information on the discussed issue can be found in this acticle:
http://www.stanlaundon.com/seventies.html

Image

"This is The Losers photographed in 1977 and from the collection of Ian Naisbitt. They are Tony Carrington on guitar, Dave Burton on vocals and guitar, songwriter Steve Conway on vocals, Ian Naisbitt - also known as Norman Nosebait - on drums and Mick Hutchinson on bass. This is the band that went on to win the Melody Maker Rock Contest but with Eddie Guy on guitar. They then became Chris Rea's backing band for 4 years."

Image

"Chris Rea & Ian Naisbitt in the Beautiful Losers - sometime in the mid 70's at an unknown venue. Thanks to John Taylor for this photograph."

Dave Burton, Eddy Guy, Mick Hutchinson & Norman Nosebait (Ian Naisbitt, he also wrote somee comments ot CR music at youtube), e.g.really played with Chris on his albums, while Steve Conway was the founder and leader of Magdalene. Strange the year is put as 1977, I thought Chris replaced Steve earlier, ca. 1974-75 but I have no concrete proof. As it is told that Beautiful Losers is the new name for Magdalene after Chris joined the band, it may be presumed it is in fact Magdalene in the picture.

However, there are some slight contradictions with what is put forward:

- in the interview at This Morning Show in March 2004 Chris says he was a backer, not a lead singer, of The Beautiful Losers, which were invited for the Melody Maker magazine music contest and won the possibility to sign a contract with EMI while Chris at the same time was offered a contract with Magnet

- in another interview the same year Chris says he was simultaneously playing guitar in 2 bands, not mentioning the names. And then one day it happened only he knew the words of a new band's song, that is how he became a singer not intending to be one.

- in 1987 interview for the Canadian radio Chris says he was playing 2 nights solo (???) and another 2 nights a week with Beautiful Losers, playing guitar here.

As it is nothing known about The Beautiful Losers after Chris started to record as a solo artist I can presume they failed to sign a cotract or to release an album with EMI and returned to join Chris as the members of his band. But somebody may know better.

Thanks ahead for your comments on this,

Andrey
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi everyone,

there is a better resolution now available of one of the photos put above:

Image

Original annotation to the photo on http://www.stanlaundon.com/seventies.html

"Chris Rea & Ian Naisbitt in the Beautiful Losers - sometime in the mid 70's at an unknown venue. Thanks to John Taylor for this photograph."

I assume it may as well be late 70s and even 1980, as Ian Naisbitt (aka Norman Nosebaitt, Chris's first drummer and best friend at that time, who regrettably passed away last year) was still playing with Chris until Tennis album.

BTW, it is one of the rare pictures of Chris with his very first guitar, brown Hofner V3 Solid.

best regards
Andrey
My VK fan page for Chris Rea in Russian: http://vk.com/chris_rea
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by veherny »

Thank you Andrey
Great guy Ian
I ll remember the rest of my life
Great friend of Chris
He play tennis with Chris when was your drummer
Chris has wrote Cenotaph letter from
Amsterdam thinking of him
Also he was great friend of David Coverdale
He play with Coverdale before Purple

Cheers friend
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Re: Chris was never a member of Magdalene, neither was Cover

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi Hernan,

thanks a lot for your comment, it is great you got this information from Ian, I had no idea he played with Coverdale too (maybe this is overspoken link between him and Chris) and that Letter from Amsterdam was dedicated to Ian.

best regards
Andrey
My VK fan page for Chris Rea in Russian: http://vk.com/chris_rea
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