Christopher Cross burst onto the scene in 1980 as the year's biggest new star, practically inventing the sound of adult contemporary radio with a string of polished ballads led by the chart-topping smash "Sailing." His rise was meteoric—but his fall was just as steep. Though he never quite recaptured that early magic, Cross kept making music and touring for decades to follow.
Born Christopher Geppert in San Antonio, Texas in 1951, Cross cut his teeth playing covers in an Austin-based band before Warner Bros. signed him in late 1978. His 1980 self-titled debut was a phenomenon: "Ride Like the Wind" hit number two, while "Sailing" made him a superstar and earned him a record five Grammys in 1981, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year. He topped the charts again with "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," co-written with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen for the Dudley Moore film Arthur—a song that also won an Academy Award. His second album, Another Page, arrived in 1983 with the Top Ten hit "Think of Laura," but it failed to match his debut's success, and Cross never returned to the Top 40 again. He continued releasing albums throughout the '80s and '90s on various labels, and in 2010 returned with Dr. Faith, his first collection of new songs in a decade.
