Chrissy Steele

Chrissy Steele
Birth name Christina Southern
Genres rock
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1990s
Labels Chrysalis Records
Associated acts Headpins

Chrissy Steele was the stage name of Christina Southern,[1] a Canadian rock singer active in the early 1990s.[2] She is most noted for garnering a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards of 1992.[3]

Steele started in the music business playing clubs in the Vancouver area with the band Reform School.[4] In 1989 Brian MacLeod invited her to join his band Headpins, which had been looking for a new singer since Darby Mills left the band in 1986.[5] However, with the rest of the original Headpins having moved on to other projects, MacLeod was unable to convince them to reunite, and instead decided to record the planned reunion album, which he had cowritten with Tim Feehan, as a Steele solo album.[5]

The album, Magnet to Steele, was released in 1991,[6] and spawned the hit singles "Love You 'Til It Hurts" and "Love Don't Last Forever". Soon after the album's release, however, MacLeod was diagnosed with cancer.[5]

With a touring band consisting of Joe Wowk on guitars, Tim Webster on keyboards, Tony Vogt on bass and Rick Fedyk on drums, Steele supported the album with a cross-Canada tour as an opening act for Bryan Adams,[7] and several dates in the United States as an opener for Jethro Tull.[1] In addition to her Juno nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist, Magnet to Steele was a nominee for Rock Album of the Year.[3]

After the album had run its course commercially, her record label flew her to Los Angeles to record demos for her followup album, but Steele felt the material was subpar.[1] She was no longer comfortable with the "sexpot biker-chick" image she was being marketed under, but instead wanted to adopt a more introspective and adult style.[1] Accordingly, Steele left her contract and quit the music business.[1] She performed a few isolated concert dates with a new all-female backing band in Montreal in 1994 and sang guest vocals on Feehan's 1996 album Pray for Rain, but by 1997 she was working as a graphic designer in Victoria.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Southern returns to normal state of mind". Victoria Times-Colonist, August 23, 1997.
  2. ↑ "Woman of Steele". Calgary Herald, August 30, 1991.
  3. 1 2 "Adams leads Juno pack with seven nominations". Montreal Gazette, February 13, 1992.
  4. ↑ "Despite sexy album cover, B.C. sunger Chrissy Steele rejects sex-symbol image". Ottawa Citizen, January 16, 1992.
  5. 1 2 3 "Brian 'Too Loud' MacLeod refuses to let cancer come between him and his passion...rock'n'roll". The Province, October 6, 1991.
  6. ↑ "Hard rock belter prefers coffee to sex". Edmonton Journal, August 3, 1991.
  7. ↑ "Adams wakes up the Metro Centre". Halifax Daily News, January 15, 1992.
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