Chris Bailey, lead singer of legendary Australian group The Saints, has died at the age of 65.
The news was announced in a post by ‘family and friends’ on the band’s Facebook page: “It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th, 2022. Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night.”
The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA also) posted: “Sad news that Chris Bailey, frontman of seminal Brisbane band The Saints, has passed away … Our thoughts are with Chris’ family, friends, and fans,” the post read.
Long-time Saints guitarist Ed Kuepper posted the following message on Twitter: “I couldn’t have hoped for a better singer. My deepest condolences to his wife Elisabet, his sisters Margaret, Carol and Maureen and the rest of his family and loved ones.”
Formed in 1973 in Brisbane, The Saints got immediate attention in the UK for their debut single ‘(I’m) Stranded’, released in September 1976, at the height of the punk movement. Sounds magazine’s reviewer, Jonh Ingham, declared it “Single of this and every week”. The single was also championed by influential BBC broadcaster John Peel. The album of the same title was released in May 1977 after which The Saints relocated to the UK.
The band evolved over the years and Bailey also recorded solo albums. The groups biggest hit in Australia was ‘Just Like Fire Would’, the lead single from the 1986 album All Fools Day.
Chris Bailey was born in Nanyuki, Kenya, to Irish parents and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland until the age of seven, when his family emigrated to Australia where they settled in Inala, in Brisbane. Bailey attended Inala State High School, Oxley State High School and Corinda State High School where he met future band mates Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay, who were also students, and formed The Saints in 1973.
The members of The Saints were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001.