24th February 2025 - Andy Hanton (49) from Stowmarket

Hi Chris. Firstly thank you for 50yrs of wonderful music, I hope you realise how much your music has helped people though the years & what it means to them, for me you literally shaped my life into the person I am today. So my question is with such a back catalogue which is your favourite of all the songs you’ve written, the one you think "Yes, I nailed it, that’s my best work"? Best wishes, Andy

Thank you, Andy. What wonderful things you’re saying here, it’s wonderful also to know that my music has helped people through, I guess thick and thin, good times and bad. And what a thing to say.. "literally shaped my life into the person I am today". Obviously I don’t set out with these intentions in mind, but it’s such a wonderful thing to hear this kind of feedback. Believe it or not, I don’t actually get these kind of comments very often. Back in the day when people were writing fan letters I used to get flooded with them but things are different these days which I suppose is not such a bad thing. I can’t actually say "Yes, I’ve nailed it." There are individual songs like The Grace of a Dancer, Spirit, The Simple Truth, where I got as close as I could to the perfection I was seeking. And as far as albums are concerned, I really like the Moonfleet album. That does a great deal for me not just in terms of the music but also the emotion that it brings out in me, because I read this book so many times. I read it as a boy and as an adult and I still think it’s a cracking story and I would say that would be, possibly of all the albums I've made, up there with my favourites.

24th February 2025 - Anna (36) from Slovensko

I want to greet Chris and wish him all the best, lots of success in work and personal life. I'm his fan from Slovakia and I really like his songs, which give me a lot. I want to ask if there will be a book about Chris's personal life, an autobiography, I would very much like to own it?

Anna, I think there’s been two books written about me actually but things are changing all the time. Life evolves, lives change, we move forward.. so maybe I’m due another book, I don’t know, but thank you very much. Great to hear from you from Slovakia. Thank you, Anna

24th February 2025 - J. Brian previously Zaharia (75) from St. Catharines, Ontario

Met you several times at Hamilton Place while I was performing in the Piano Nobile, via John Elder. I wrote a 3rd verse to Patricia and presented it to you at Castaways in St.Catharines during rehearsals for Eastern Wind. I still perform Patricia today. The song’s endurance in my set list takes on historical value for me. Thought you’d be interested in that wee bit of personal trivia going back 40 years. Slainte!

Hamilton Place.. I know it well. Thank you very much for this.. Patricia the Stripper is now 101 years old, would you believe that? She just turned 101.. 1924. We did a re-recording which is great fun and I’m planning to use some of this track on my upcoming tour in Ireland, UK and maybe Australia as well. It’s such a fun track and people are always asking for it, sometimes I’m not that keen to do it! On occasion, I think more in the English speaking countries where the subtleties are not lost, I will quite likely perform it again, also in Canada.

24th February 2025 - Andy Claridge from Leicestershire, UK

Any chance of getting the Live In Dublin VHS remastered in HD and released digitally? I would really like to watch it again but sadly there are only really poor quality clips on Youtube which do not do it justice, and of course nobody has a VHS player these days! Thanks Chris and well done on the 50 years!

The Live in Dublin VHS remastered.. Hmm, sorry, I don’t actually have any idea if the VHS has been remastered but certainly it’s something I will ask Andy. Really for me that is the essence of what was really happening in those 12 concerts in the Royal Dublin Society (the RDS). We were getting 7,000 to 8,000 a night, 12 nights, 8 consecutive then another 4 added on at the end, slightly later, but they were fantastic and I keep running across people who say "Oh, we were there". I met a guy last week "I was there when I was 12 and it blew my head off", that kind of thing, so it was good fun.

24th February 2025 - Joanne McGilvray (53) from Canada

"Sailing Away" and "Ship to Shore" seem to be full circle moments; one a yearning to explore and one a yearning for home. Did you write either with the intentions of closing that loop or was it merely a happy coincidence?

No, Sailing Away and Ship to Shore are not connected, but I’ve always had a great interest in the sea and writing about the sea, because we must remember that for centuries it was the only way we could get around from continent to continent. I never forget the way, in a song of mine like Discovery for example, where a sea captain back in the 15th century.. they genuinely believed that the horizon was where you fell off the edge of the world, so it took a lot of bravery to head off into the sunset, literally. Which is why I move it up to when Galileo suggested that men will leave the planet and look down on the Earth, and of course the bravery of our men who go into space and go to the moon is similar, greatly different technology of course, but similar to the bravery of those people back then.

24th February 2025 - Beatriz (58) from Argentina

Many or almost all of your songs tell stories in detail with literary precision. Do you think that regardless of your particular voice from the first songs and the excellent music that accompanies your lyrics, you could have been a writer or poet?

The stories.. I never set out to write a story, it's just that I find it a lot easier to visualise what I’m writing about. Spanish Train for example, Don't Pay The Ferryman, The Lady In Red.. there’s always a story attached in my mind and when I was writing these songs if I was having a struggle with the lyric, I would just go back and watch the film in my head again and that would make it much easier. I find it incredibly difficult to write songs about nothing in particular, you know about emotions, just emotions, without having a story of some kind behind it. There are very few of my songs which actually go into that area. Most of them have a concrete beginning, middle and ending, one way or the other. I don’t think I could’ve been a writer or a poet, it’s a different discipline. It’s like popstars wanting to be actors. It’s not that easy you know. It’s a completely different discipline and to be respected as such.

24th February 2025 - Thomas (56) from Hamburg, Germnay

Hallo Chris, "Remembrance Day" is still unreleased on CD, isn't it? I like the song, although it's very political and very sad. Is there a chance to release the song in the future (maybe as hidden track on a album or on a B-side of a single?). I wish you all the best. I am fan since 1982 and I will visit your show in Lübeck this November. Best wishes, Thomas

Hi Thomas.. well at the time it was an incredibly strong and emotional response to a shocking and obscene horrific act to blow up ordinary people just because they were commemorating Remembrance Sunday. I said at the time I would never release it and I don’t plan to. Thank you very much.. it is very sad and it’s just one of those things that came out almost immediately. I can’t really say much more about it except no, I haven’t any plans to release it.

24th February 2025 - Ruan Bruwer (39) from South Africa

Can you please give a bit of background about your song “Footsteps”? What inspired it or what is the song meaning?

Ruan, the reason I decided to do this album is because I’ve always been someone who looks up the mountain. What’s next? Where do I climb next? And occasionally it’s a good thing in all peoples lives to stop and look back at the view and look back down from where you’ve come, at what you’ve achieved and what you’ve yet to achieve and that’s what Footsteps is all about. They’re my footsteps, taking me to where I am today, well when I recorded that album. There’s also songs like Every Step Of The Way, people who are with all of us.. whether you’ve got supporters around you, family, people who help you every step of the way. Footsteps is about that, it’s about looking back and also looking forward.

24th February 2025 - Thorsten Hartmann (56) from Germany

Hi Chris, Why don't you have a Christmas CD or a DVD with all the music videos? What about Beautiful Dreams Part 2 or a CD with rare songs, e.g. The Ballad Of Thunder Gulch and Desparado?

Well, both of them are possible.. I’ve done a Christmas CD with the Swiss Gospel Singers. I think there has been discussion mooted about putting all my Christmas themed songs on one CD. Spaceman Came Travelling and stuff, but it’s a very very full market around the Christmas period. Beautiful Dreams Part 2, that’s a possibility or a CD with rare songs.. Yeah.. The Ballad of Thunder Gulch was written for a friend of mine whose business partner I think had a horse that won the Kentucky Derby called Thunder Gulch and that was pretty funny. You know what Thorsten, everything is possible.. particularly in view of the fact that my 50 album, Fünfzig, was a collection of single songs from 26 albums which left a lot of people wondering why I didn’t put many others on this particular album. They were personal choices, that's why.

24th February 2025 - Henry Boureshrockn (62) from San Jose CA

Hi Chris. The first time I heard "Carry On" (I think it was 1980) back in Tehran where I lived, I was hooked on your music. I never understood whether "Waiting For A Hurricane" was an actual life experience for you or you just thought about it by other experiences such as a movie or a book? I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the memories you created for my life alone through your music. I only met you once in Toronto but didn't get to talk to you.

Carry On, yeah, I have to go back in my memory for this one. If you look at the words at the very end it sounds like I’m speaking a foreign language but actually if you put them into a mirror, and they've also been broken up into phrases, you’ll see I’m actually saying words in English starting with "Set a course for the stars, destination unknown." So have a look at that, it was quite a fun thing to do. Waiting For The Hurricane.. I was thinking about a movie I’d seen with Humphrey Bogart called "Key Largo" and they were literally were waiting for a hurricane. That was the vision I had in my head, not that particular movie, but in my own film I could see what was happening and there was the honeymoon couple, the girl getting upset, and there’s nowhere to hide and you're listening to the radio and the guy from Miami says "Stay where you are there’s a hurricane on the way, or leave as soon as you can if you can." That’s what that song was about.

24th February 2025 - Nina (50) from Germany

I have a question, maybe it sounds a bit strange. It's clear to me that a voice changes a bit with age, but I recently listened to "Far Beyond These Castle Walls" again (the album is great, by the way). Here explicitly "Satin Green Shutters". That's a very big difference to other songs, including the ones that didn't come much later, "Getaway" etc. Did you just train your voice in between, or is it simply due to the changed technique? It is one of the earlier works. Thanks in advance.

I also found it fascinating to hear how my voice has changed. I think this is standard in all human beings. It’s an aging process.. as you get older your voice, well, my voice, became deeper but I can still hit the high notes. I learned not from any other way, but just by performance and concerts, how to breathe properly and breathing is absolutely critical to the way you sing. For example you should never, as a singer, lift your shoulders because it means you’re breathing from the wrong place. It’s also possible, not that this is easy to get down in writing, but if you talk from various places such as your stomach it sounds one way, but if you’re talking from your nose, everything changes. It’s amazing how the quality of your voice can change according to where you speak from, and the same thing with singing. I didn’t train my voice, no, I think it’s just getting older and taking care of my voice. I try to sing a little bit every day.

24th February 2025 - Gail James from Chorley Lancashire UK

I have often wondered if the album "At The End Of A Perfect Day" was based on Yours and Diane’s Wedding , especially "In A Country Churchyard". I would really like to know if I’m right or wrong after all these years, thanks Chris xx

Hello Gail.. no, At The End Of A Perfect Day wasn’t about our wedding. I’d gone, years before, to the west of England near Bath and I happened to be wandering about and I walked into a country churchyard and the idea went into my head then. Quite by accident many many years later I was in the same area doing some recording in Peter Gabriel’s studio, one of the two albums I did there, and I walked into the same churchyard and I went "This place looks incredibly familiar!" and I’d been there 30 years before when I had the idea for In A Country Churchyard.. the girl getting married coming down from the hill and the whole idea of the circular pattern of life and the birds and the choir singing the chorus and then the last headstone. It’s about life and death I guess, it's often been used in peoples weddings.

24th February 2025 - Norbert (52) from Netherlands

Hi Chris, when you wrote the album Moonfleet you used the music of your earlier song "Heart of Darkness" in it. It occured to me that the lyrics of this song are also very much alike. I was always wondering: when you wrote 'Heart of Darkness', almost 20 years earlier, do you already have the story of Moonfleet in your mind? Regards, Norbert

You’re quite right.. the song Heart of Darkness, I really liked it when I wrote it and I had in my mind already, because I was so familiar with the story of Moonfleet. I had the idea of the candle in the window and the sailors, the whole thing. It became a much more philosophical experience in that song, but then I decided to use it again, the melody with changed words and also the second part of the song developed. It was probably, yes, you’re probably right, probably in my mind, a future effort to make Moonfleet into an album.

24th February 2025 - David Dartnall (42) from Perth, Australia

How high note can you sing without going to falsetto? High D or F is it?

Oh well, on my Robin Hood album I hit a high C full voice but falsetto I can go up and up and up, very high. I think I can do about 3 octaves, maybe 3 and a half, depending.

24th February 2025 - Dustin Bjorkquist (50) from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Thank you for all of your music over the years. Who or what was your biggest push or motivation to make music your career path?

Do you know.. I knew nothing about the music business, I just knew that I liked playing the guitar and people listened to me when I sang. It was all the explosive times of the Beatles and Bob Dylan and it seems everybody had a band or a guitar and they wanted to sing and I was just one of them. I even stood on O’Connell Bridge in Dublin busking relatively unsuccessfully for a while, those kind of things. It’s what they said about climbing Everest.. Why would you do that? Well, because it was there.. I think it was the same thing with me. I just wanted to see "Could I do this?" and I suppose I’m still pushing that particular door.

24th February 2025 - Arnold de Vries (62) from Groningen, The Netherlands

I've been to your concerts in the Netherlands nine times. I hope that there will be a 10th time soon. You are one of my favorite composers beside Jim Steinman, Mark Knopfler, Neil Diamond and Jeff Lynne. If you have to pick one a favorite composer, which one will it be?

Thank you very much, that’s pretty stellar company, those four! Composer.. I would say it has to be two, Lennon-McCartney, because their melodies are so powerful, so strong and so enduring. I’ve always believed that what I’m trying to do is not write songs that are forgotten tomorrow but do endure and that people can enjoy years later.

24th February 2025 - Dale Love (42) from Northampton

Hi Chris. I've been a fan since the early 90s, my dad used to play 'Man On The Line', 'Into The Light' and 'Power Of Ten' in his old cortina. I have very fond memories of your music and growing up! I even named my eldest Rosanna. My question is who were you listening to when you were young? And did that influence you?

Dale, thank you very much, listening in the old cortina. I wonder did you use cassette or the 8-track, which as they switched half-way through a song there would be a clattering noise and then it would go to the next part of the song! When I was young, believe it or not, there was no music in my house. My mother was telling me recently that when she was young her governess was told "No music!" by her mother. I only came through to music I suppose when I went to school and heard music there, then I bought a turntable and vinyl records, that’s probably how I got into it. Then playing the guitar and of course at Bargy Castle, my family home, in the summer we used to have it as a hotel and I used to perform for the guests and that’s really what put me on the path to where I am today. Not much influence apart from the ones I’ve spoken about before like Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, the Beatles and so on.

24th February 2025 - Petra Steinmetz (57) from Marburg, Germany

Hi, Chris, I'm a fan of you since many many years. Your songs were introduced to me by my first English teacher who used to work with us on your song texts within our English lessons - very emotional memories for me! My question: I've been in many of your concerts and one of them was very special to me, it took place in a very small location, just you and your guitar. What do you prefer, the big event locations with the full setting, band, light effects etc. or the small events where you are near to your fans? Thanks a lot, congratulations for your 50 years of career and all the best to you! Petra

Petra, I’ve always enjoyed solo concerts and I’ve been doing them for years and years and years and then alternate with full band shows and then back to the solos. It just seems, judging from what’s been happening the last two years or so, that people really want to have the solo shows.. just me and a guitar and piano. Solo shows give me the opportunity to be flexible and to talk to the audience, tell jokes, tell stories behind the songs. You can’t really do this as much with a band because you’re then pretty well confined to a fairly rigid set list because everybody, a dozen people or more, need to know what you’re going to do, everybody in the crew, the lighting people and so on. But solo shows, they've all sold out.. all last year and the year before, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia where we’ve added a second show. I’ve played very big locations, 140,000 I think was the biggest, very exciting, but which do I prefer, that’s a good question. I like the excitement of the great big shows but also I enjoy the intimacy of 2,000 to 3,000 people where you can actually see them. There’s a lovely venue for example in Hanau, it’s covered but it’s outdoors, such great vibes in there and people are very close and I can see faces and I like that very much.

24th February 2025 - Oshi (44) from Switzerland

How do you as a musician decide before a tour what songs to include in the setlist? I understand that usually there are a few picks from the latest album and a few must-play songs like "Lady in Red", but what about the rest?

Putting together a set list is really tricky. It’s got a lot to do with dynamics, the key of various songs, the emotion of various songs, the stories behind them. It’s actually become for me quite an art form in itself getting it right, and when I start a tour it usually takes three or four concerts to discard some, add others, realise some are not working as well as you expect. It is difficult. Yes, there are some songs people want to hear. I’ve been to concerts where I’ve really looked forward to hearing particular songs and somebody was telling me the other day they went to Van Morrison and he didn’t perform one song that they recognised, it was all from a new album and they left before the end. You’ve got to give people what they expect to hear plus what you want for them to hear, so it’s a bit of both. There are people who come to my concerts multiple times, to the same show in different places, and occasionally I hear remarks like "Oh, we’re hearing the same songs". I do a set list and a performance not for people to come to see it multiple times but people who come to see it once. If you come to see it more than once it’s going to be the same thing for a theatrical production or a comedy show, you don’t just change things around because a few people are coming more than once. You’re gonna hear the same stories, maybe the same jokes, but that’s part of being an entertainer.

24th February 2025 - Bijan (42) from Iran

Firstly, my favourite album of yours is Spanish Train. I think it's an extremely underrated masterpiece, without exaggerating - the songwriting, performance and the "artistic spirit" it conveys are remarkable. Which of your albums do YOU like the most and why? Secondly, in many of your especially older albums, the devil was a recurrent theme. Why?

The Devil as far as I can remember only turns up twice.. once in Spanish Train when he cheats at cards and the second time is The Devil’s Eye, talking about the impact of television. This was a long time ago, mind you. The Devil‘s Eye is inherent everywhere now, in the Internet, TikTok, YouTube and social media. We have to be very careful and I personally think the greatest challenge mankind is facing, and our young children and youngsters, is what is true and what is lie. It’s so hard to know, it’s shifting sands and people can be conned all the time. This has been happening through history you know, falsehoods and false rumours.. but now it’s a tsunami of lies. Thank you anyway for your comments about Spanish Train, for some people it’s become an iconic album.

24th February 2025 - Munroe Morrison from England

Hi Chris, I recently watched your 'This is Your Life' moment on YouTube - it looked like an amazing experience, did the TV crew manage to take you totally by surprise? I have one other question loosely based on the program (if I may be so bold!) - did touring with Martyn Joseph improve your golf swing? :)

Well, I like the last question.. touring with Martyn Joseph. What a nice man this guy, some of you may have come across him as a performer and as a songwriter, and yes he supported me on quite a few shows and yes he tried to teach me a few tips about golf because he’s a very, very good golfer. I believe he’s probably scratch golfer now or maybe one or two handicap, an excellent golfer and a wonderful singer. Sometimes I think about his song Dolphins Make Me Cry and I watch the video and I’m in tears watching it. What a lovely thing to say and write about and every time I see dolphins, which has been about three times now, I think of Martyn Joseph, lovely man. "This Is Your Life", yeah, I was completely taken by surprise. In fact we’d been in Barbados and come back I think on a Saturday and this thing was supposed to be on Monday, a dinner in Trinity College, Dublin, where I went to university. I didn’t feel like it, I was jet-lagged and there was panic apparently, so a friend of mine got in touch and said "Look, there’s gonna be some fantastic wines.." so I reluctantly agreed and then I was really taken by surprise by Michael Aspel. Seeing all these people as I walked into this big hall, people standing around with glasses of champagne and yeah it was great. There were videos from Tom Jones, from Nigel Mansell the Formula One world champion, the golfer Ian Woosnam, I really enjoyed it.

24th February 2025 - Lynda Desjardins (66) from Montréal, Québec

Dear Chris, have you composed a song for your grandchildren?

Lynda, I’ve got such fond memories of Montréal. You know what, I sing a little song, there are these things called Yo-Yos which are actually made of fruit and very nice for children and not sweet and sugary. My daughter Rosanna has a Masters in Nutrition, she totally approves, the children love it and I’ve composed a little Yo-Yo song that we all sing together and shout at the end with our hands in the air, apart from that I haven’t done anything yet!

24th February 2025 - Sharon Szeglowski (54) from Ross-On-Wye , England and East Aurora, NY

I am so excited to ask this…. My husband and I have been married for 27 and a half years. We chose your song, "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" as our wedding song.. at our US wedding (my husband is from NY) and our Ross wedding (I am from England). We found our own deep meaning in your lyrics but we wonder what was your motivation in writing it? We have traveled to Ontario whenever possible to see you and it is so meaningful for us! We even had to run into town on our UK wedding day morning to get the CD to play the song because the DJ clearly had no taste and didn’t have it, so I skipped my hair appointment and did my own hair to get it!

Sharon, what a lovely story, going to get the CD to play the song. Where Peaceful Waters Flow.. do you know something, I can think of the moment of inspiration for so many of my songs but I can’t remember the exact moment that one came through.. "But if you don’t know by now, you never will, only love can find the door." I've spoken before about writing songs with a story. I took a walk past the old Saxon well, and I heard people singing the song. That for me is a nice story that incorporates the actual songs as well and the melodies and the choruses, but I don’t remember my motivation, forgive me, I’m sorry Sharon. But I love the fact that you skipped your hair appointment to get the CD.

24th February 2025 - Julia Barker (65) from Manchester

Hi Chris, I have been a fan since the beginning and I absolutely loved your early stuff, any chance some of these being brought back especially "Windy Night", say on an album called "Back to Basics". Keep on writing, your fan always x

Windy Night had such an atmosphere, I’m not sure I could regenerate that or reproduce it. It was of its time and apart from maybe performing it live, maybe with a string quartet, I can’t think of any other way of doing it again. I’m not even sure I’d want to do an album called "Back to Basics" because I’ve never really left that place as a single solo songwriter with a guitar and piano, that’s where I’ve always assumed I was. Basic in terms of starting with an idea and then expanding it enormously in a recording studio either with an orchestra or with a band. Thank you very much Julia.

24th February 2025 - Marc (50) from Belgium

Hi Chris, I wonder when you started to realise that you could entertain people with your voice and songs and that you could make a living out of it? And if that hadn't worked out, was there a plan B? Thank you for all your songs and music over the years - you accompany me a lot while driving in my car. Greetings, Marc

Marc, I think we go back to the days when I was growing up in Bargy Castle in Wexford, which my parents turned into a family hotel and in the evenings when I was aged 14 or 15 I would sing and perform for the guests and that’s when I realised that I had something that they enjoyed. I carried on many summers even when I was in university. I had to help in the hotel anyway but in the evening I enjoyed singing for the guests and I learned a huge amount. Before I ever stood on a professional concert stage I’d done hundreds of these living room concerts and as I’ve often said, it’s harder to perform for 10 people than it is to perform for 140,000 because they’re right there looking at you. I didn’t have a plan B, I didn’t even have a plan A. I just sort of drifted into this, I was very naive about the music industry, but I felt that I had something and I wanted to try to see if I could climb that mountain. And I haven’t done too badly.

24th February 2025 - Nicole Kurz (54) from Germany

Hi Chris, first of all thank you so much for your music, it's been helping me a lot, songs for each and every emotion. I also love Ireland, the Irish, the music.. and you being Irish have you ever thought of making an album of Irish songs or writing songs in "Irish style"?

Nicole, thank you so much. Well the answer is no, I’m not a huge fan of Irish folk music, particularly the kind of stuff you hear in pubs. I find it predictable and a bit repetitive but it can be a great deal of fun. I have brought elements of Irish music into some songs, not many, just the instruments and perhaps the rhythm. I do try to cover emotions but I always think much more internationally than just the country in which I’m living. I have no plans to write a song "Irish style" although in my musical Robin Hood and on my album "The Legend Of Robin Hood" there's one song that does have a bit of an Irish feel, which is "We’ve Got The Money" and I had that in mind when I wrote that.

24th February 2025 - Sabine Riley (62) from Warrington

I fell in love with your music when I listened to Hold On. I was 13. I am 62 now and you still write the songs. My favourite song is The Tower. Congrats on 50 years! You have been the soundtrack to my life. What song did you find hardest to write, and which one is your personal favourite? Blessings, Sabine

Sabine.. The Tower actually was based on reality where we were farmers and in the summer as the corn was growing, big birds like crows and pigeons would stamp down acres of the corn making it very hard to harvest. So the idea was that you went out and shot a couple and put them on poles to discourage the others. One day I shot too many and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like what I’d done, neither did my mother. So since that day when I was about 16, I’ve never deliberately killed another living creature, never, they have every right to stay alive as I do. That was The Tower. Thank you for saying I’ve been the soundtrack to your life. The hardest to write.. there's been so many but I’d say a very tricky one to write was Spanish Train because I had to get the cards right in terms of the poker, I had to get rhymes within rhymes.. "Joker is the name, poker is the game, we'll play right here on this bed, then we'll bet for the biggest steaks yet, the souls of the dead". There’s all sorts of internal rhyming going on and that was quite a tricky one, but it was fulfilling and satisfying once I got it right.

24th February 2025 - Carsten Kannenberg (39) from Germany

Hello Chris, you often said that you were a big fan of the compositions by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Did you ever met one of the Beatles and do you have a favorite song by them ? All the best !! Carsten

Yes, I did meet Paul McCartney and I met Ringo Starr and George Harrison. I never had the chance to meet John Lennon, but I have so many favourites. I really couldn’t start.. but of course when I was young listening to exciting tracks like "Help!" and "Please Please Me" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and then going with them throughout their entire career and recently I listened to "All You Need Is Love". Very clever song if you listen to how they keep jumping the beat. It’s very clever and a wonderful song but you know what, I think they made it look easy, but it’s not. I have great respect for their music and it’s still, 50 years later or more, the benchmark for great songwriting for a lot of people including young people.

24th February 2025 - Robert Hill (58) from Swanage, Dorset, UK

Hi Chris, my wife and I have been watching your shows since 1992, the first at the Brighton Centre and various others venues including all of your picnic style events. The majority of your shows we have seen are in Bournemouth. My question to you is, do you have a favourite venue here in the UK and why!!

The picnic style events were fantastic, I really enjoyed them with an orchestra in a bandshell and up to 10,000 people out there. So English you know, they bring picnic tables and chairs and there was even one occasion when a group of people turned up in tuxedos and the ladies in long dresses and they had a butler opening the champagne.. it was great! Do I have a favourite venue in the UK? Well, I have to say it’s the Royal Albert Hall where I think I've performed there 17 times, performing with band I think the first time was 1982, subsequently also with band, with orchestra and memorably solo.. walking out into the Albert Hall looking absolutely jammed up to the rafters for a solo performance. A lot of people would be intimidated but I was excited, I thought this is fantastic, so that would be my favourite place to perform.

24th February 2025 - Chris Raymond (73) from Twickenham

Hello Chris, You composed and recorded tracks which related to your children... "For Rosanna" was the most personal and specific track. Do you have any plans to record something for your three grandchildren? I'm sure that you must love being a grandparent. I do!

Well, actually I wrote songs for all three of my children. "For Rosanna" is the obvious one, for Hubie I wrote "Just A Word Away" and for Michael "The Son And The Father", but so far no, I haven’t written anything for the three grandchildren. There’s three of them so you can’t do them individually so there might be something that occurs to me that covers that beautiful innocence that I always adore with children, looking forward to a brave new world where I think the greatest challenge facing children and young people today is knowing what is true and what is false. I love being a grandparent, yep.

24th February 2025 - Catherine Smith (53) from Skye

So many of your songs are about lost love yet you have been happily married so why is this?

Catherine.. so many of my songs about lost love. I’m not sure I could actually agree with that. I’m trying to think, some of them, but it’s not about lost love, I’m always positive. I’m trying to think of which ones you’re referring to, maybe "The Head And The Heart" but even that one, I find for the heart. So I always have a positive end even if there is a difficult situation. Happily married.. I don’t think the two things are connected because I’m a songwriter and I very very rarely refer to my own private life. I don’t think it’s particularly interesting or important, or indeed relevant, but I put out songs that other people can put their lives onto if they wish. I think it works quite well that way.

24th February 2025 - Ruan Bruwer (39) from South Africa

What is the background of your song "Where We Will Be Going?"

Ooh, that’s a tough question. This is a song that emerged out of nowhere but it’s a song about positivity. It also references the killing of John Lennon and John F. Kennedy, it mentions John Lennon's song "Across The Universe". What did I have in mind? You’ve got me there.. interesting.. it’s positive in its attitude and positive in its feeling and emotion.

24th February 2025 - Gail James from Chorley, Lancashire, UK

Hi Chris, My question is a bit random, but how do you cope with jet lag when you go on tour, do you have any tips or do you just have to let it run its course xx

Hi Gail. Some of the most difficult parts of jetlag have happened when I’ve flown directly to somewhere like New Zealand, for example, where it was 13 hours time difference in front. I was just getting up and everybody else back home were getting ready for bed. That is a very weird thing, but dealing with it.. the old saying is one day at a time, one day for every hour.. but that’s two weeks you know, so you’ve just got to buckle down. The trouble is again that performers perform at night, so for example, quite often on the Canadian tour I’ve either flown to Vancouver, which is eight hours behind GMT, or Edmonton, arriving seven hours behind, then two days later and or even one day later, having to do a concert 8 o’clock at night which is like 5 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the morning back home, that is difficult so you just have to roll with it and take as many naps as you can and keep focused on why you’re there on your tour, just let it run its course.

24th February 2025 - Toos Zwanepol (51) from The Netherlands

First of all I would like to thank you for all your songs. Whatever mood I am in, you have made suitable music, which makes me listen to your music almost every day. I can imagine that you don't listen to your own music every day though. What do you like to listen to? I'm really looking forward to your concert in Bremen.

Toos, thank you very much, that’s very kind. Actually I don’t listen to a lot of music but if I do, I tend to choose music by the real musicians i.e. Handel, Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach. I love choral music, I like listening to the Bénédictine chanting of monks. It kind of takes my mind to a different place. I also have an interesting collection of music from all over the world.

24th February 2025 - Tee Gee from Germany

Dear Chris, back in the day you used to work with different producers for virtually each album, resulting in a wide variety of styles, sounds and moods. I understand you have had a fruitful long-term collaboration with Chris Porter for the past 25 years. At this stage, would you ever consider bringing in someone else, if only for the sake of variety and fresh perspectives?

Yeah, I did work with different producers. Two albums with Rupert Hine, two with Robin Jeffrey cable, one with Andrew Powell, "At The End Of A Perfect Day" with Paul Samwell-Smith. Paul Hardiman.. I had a very successful relationship with him. I also produce my own albums. I’m a co-producer on all of them, teamed up with Chris Porter, we have a working relationship that works extremely well so it’s not just the producer that brings the musical imagination. It’s also the players and by bringing in top class performers, musicians, you can actually bring different direction, different perspective. Because the kind of music I make is, I would say, in a classic style of songwriting, i.e. it’s not following any current fashion, what's modern today, that's not my interest. My interest is creating musical books or stories that can survive, that’s the idea, that's what I have in mind. At this stage I don’t have any plans to make lots more records. If I did I would certainly be happy to work with Chris Porter who helped produce the three new songs on the album 50.

24th February 2025 - Helen Waters (56) from Haarlem, the Netherlands

Hi Chris, thank you for all the good times we have during your concerts and listening to your music, almost every day. I have a question that has been in my mind for a while now: You write a lot about peace and hope, but it seems the world gets rougher and peace gets further away than ever, in many parts of the world. When I see all the people in the audience giving you a standing ovation after Borderline, you think there is hope for this world, but the newspapers tell us differently. How do you feel about this? Do you give up hope?

To answer Helen and Elizabeth.. you’ve got to leave the world a better place than when you found it, that’s my feeling. It’s really important to be positive. I’ve used that word a few times, it sounds a bit simple but you’ve got to spread love. The Beatles did it with "All You Need Is Love".. you have to remember that we’re not here for very long so what is the point in making people miserable and unhappy. And even worse, warfare and all that. You mention newspapers but they’re dying, newspapers are dying because young people do not buy newspapers. News is instant, what’s the point in buying a newspaper with yesterday's news on? The biggest challenge today is knowing what is true and knowing what is false. This is something Trump has brought into the world, "Fake News". Even if something is true he'll shout fake news so this is a challenge for everybody, working out what is true and what isn’t. A standing ovation after Borderline, that seems to happen just about every night, it’s so simple talking about the young soldiers.. "but these are only boys, and I will never know, how men can see the wisdom in a war". I had a long interview this morning with the Sunday Times and one of the things that came up was about that, about how in Borderline people do stand up and I asked the question how many people does it take to start a war? Usually about 3 or 4. It’s like the top of a pyramid, people with similar violent attitudes and tastes, they create this problem for everybody. Nobody wants war except for a small handful of people. It’s crazy. What are we as human beings?

24th February 2025 - Elizabeth Fitzgerald from Scotland

I think your music is both fabulous but also, hugely profound! Your line "I will never know how men can see the wisdom in a war" is immeasurably true. Just so sad that not enough people worldwide have learnt from this wisdom!

To answer Helen and Elizabeth.. you’ve got to leave the world a better place than when you found it, that’s my feeling. It’s really important to be positive. I’ve used that word a few times, it sounds a bit simple but you’ve got to spread love. The Beatles did it with "All You Need Is Love".. you have to remember that we’re not here for very long so what is the point in making people miserable and unhappy. And even worse, warfare and all that. You mention newspapers but they’re dying, newspapers are dying because young people do not buy newspapers. News is instant, what’s the point in buying a newspaper with yesterday's news on? The biggest challenge today is knowing what is true and knowing what is false. This is something Trump has brought into the world, "Fake News". Even if something is true he'll shout fake news so this is a challenge for everybody, working out what is true and what isn’t. A standing ovation after Borderline, that seems to happen just about every night, it’s so simple talking about the young soldiers.. "but these are only boys, and I will never know, how men can see the wisdom in a war". I had a long interview this morning with the Sunday Times and one of the things that came up was about that, about how in Borderline people do stand up and I asked the question how many people does it take to start a war? Usually about 3 or 4. It’s like the top of a pyramid, people with similar violent attitudes and tastes, they create this problem for everybody. Nobody wants war except for a small handful of people. It’s crazy. What are we as human beings?

24th February 2025 - Pedram (56) from Tehran, Iran

Hi, Chris! I've wanted for a long time to hear a duet by you and Lara Fabian. I believe it'd be magical! Who's out there you'd like to duet with the most?

Pedro, as you know, I’m a huge supporter and admirer of not only the history of Persia, of Iran, but also of the people and I really hope that one day I have a chance to return and perform for the people there. Laura Fabian, of course I know who she is, actually a very famous person in Quebec, not only there but also in Italy, France, all over the place.. a fantastic voice. Yes, a duet with her would be gorgeous, but my preference would actually be to find a complete unknown with a fabulous voice that I could actually help to put the first step on the ladder to that person, male or female, preferably probably a female because it would be better with my voice. That would be my preference, thanks for the question.

24th February 2025 - Lisa Owen (59) from Merseyside, UK

I have followed your music for many years, seen you in concert four times and played "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" at my husband's funeral as it was his favourite. One of my favourites is "The Girl With April In Her Eyes", to me it feels like a medieval song and I wondered if you choose the instruments on a song to give it a certain feel? Thanks

Lisa, I’m so sorry. I hope that provided some comfort for you and for your family at your husband's burial. "The Girl With April In Her Eyes".. yes, it is a Medieval song, that was the idea. Often to make a song feel as if it's part of the time, little touches here and there, it’s actually a bit like painting a picture, you put little flourishes on the song. For example, in "Lonely Sky" I put in an accordion when the singer is in this French café and on my most recent recordings like "It’s Never Too Late" we put in castanets around the word Spanish and various other little flourishes here and there. That’s what we do, yeah, we do choose the instruments to give it a certain feel because that can help people to understand the kind of times that you’re dealing with. Medieval you can also use harpsichord for example or a harp which adds a certain feel to it.

24th February 2025 - Vahideh Yavari from Iran

Hi Chris. I play the guitar and sing. Here’s my question: How have you trained your voice? One can clearly see the evolution of your voice to its soft and warm edition through the years. How have you done that?

Have I trained my voice? No, I haven’t. But I’ve been very fortunate.. my voice is still in good shape. I discovered early on that if you sing in a certain way you will lose your voice and it’s happened a couple of times many years ago and then I discovered the importance of I think they call it re-breathing. I was never told how to do this, but when you’re singing you can actually draw in air through your mouth, through your nose, and use your lungs as well as the muscles at the back of your lungs and your diaphragm at the front. Sometimes if I’m having a problem on stage breathing, I just exhale through my nose and it’s like when you’re swimming you can’t have a full breath unless you exhale, so obviously you’ve got to exhale to inhale, it sounds very obvious but a lot of people don’t do it correctly. One thing I don’t particularly like is a trained voice, so trained that it has just eliminated all the personality. I take care of my voice, that’s for sure.

24th February 2025 - Kevin Howland (67) from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England

Hi Chris. I’m now retired and would love to improve my novice level of piano playing (even more novice level guitar, and even more novice level ukulele), and I would love to be able to play some of your fabulous tunes, which I have followed and admired over almost half a century. Do you have any books with words and music (ideally beginners level) published anywhere, as I have been unable to find any? Kindest regards, and long may you continue with your musical journey. Kevin.

Well, I’m sure there are, I know we’ve put out a few books in the past and Kevin because I can’t read or write music there’s not much point, but I know chords and chordal structures and that’s what I use when I write my songs. Piano playing.. I’ve always said if you stick to the white keys you can’t go wrong, but it’s when you throw in the sharps on the black notes that the difficulties arise. There are books, I’ve actually seen some of them, you know, Chris de Burgh songs, so the best way to do it as always is to look online, ask Google and I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with some of them.

24th February 2025 - Mark Aron (52) from Herefordshire

You once mentioned a desire to make a film of the Spanish Train album, would that still be a possibility?

A film of the Spanish Train, well I think that would be lovely but people have approached me in the past to make musicals of the whole concept of Spanish Train, that didn’t happen. A video.. people have come up with their own ideas. It is a very strong story and it’s about the good and evil you can find in everybody, unfortunately this is something about the human being where we can see evil but don’t respond to it. We are capable of horrific acts against our fellow humans. We protect ourselves, protect our families, but it’s the endless struggle between good and evil which is a more philosophical idea and I think it would make the actual action.. it would be pretty interesting to film, but it hasn’t happened yet.

24th February 2025 - Lisbeth Rose’n (76) from Karlskrona, Sweden

Hey Chris! Have you written a song to Princess Diana?

I wrote a song called "There’s A New Star Up In Heaven Tonight" when she died and funnily enough I was sitting at my piano in my home in Dublin and the song just flowed out. It was shortly after she died in that horrible motor accident which was highly preventable but unfortunately the driver, knowing he'd had too much to drink, decided to drive that car anyway. Princess Diana.. I did know her in life. I know she was very fond of "The Lady In Red" as a song and we corresponded quite a bit, met her a few times. And "There’s A New Star Up In Heaven Tonight" I recorded and we just put out 100 CDs, many of them went to her family, to Charles Spencer and his family, and they really enjoyed it. Some people said it was a pity I didn’t have a chance to sing that at the funeral as well as Elton John’s perfectly wonderful "England’s Rose", and of course I was lucky enough to attend the funeral in Westminster Abbey.

24th February 2025 - Isaac Kwabena Boamah (41) from Ghana

Hi Chris, I would like to know your motivation for the song "When Winter Comes"?

Thank you Isaac, I had no particular motivation for this song, I just liked the chord and the melody, it sounded Celtic. I don’t know is the answer, I’m sorry, I wish I could help you with this one but I was just playing the piano one day and I have to stress I’m not particularly good on the piano. I never trained, I never had lessons about how to play the thing. I learned how to play the piano from playing the guitar, transposing the chords from the guitar onto the piano and the other way round. I write quite a lot of songs on the piano but generally the slower ones, the ballads, and the faster ones on the guitar for more rhythm. The song "When Winter Comes".. I was going to put a melody, at least a lyric to it, but it just worked so well and then there’s the Celtic style words on the last chorus that nobody can figure out what they are. It’s a secret. And "Think of me when winter comes..", that worked too.