Chris Bailey, the lead singer of the legendary Australian group the Saints has passed away.
The band announced the death of their singer through Facebook Monday.
“It is with deep sorrow within our souls that we need to share with you the death of Chris Bailey, singer and writer who was a member of The Saints, on April 9th, 2022.” the statement reads.
“Chris lived a full life of music and poetry. He was lost on the night of a Saturday.”
Bailey was born in Nanyuki, Kenya, to Irish parents in the year 1957. He spent most of the time at Belfast prior to when his family immigrated to Australia.
They resided within Inala the city of Brisbane and he hung out with bandmates Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay at Corinda state high school. The band was initially named Kid Galahad and the Eternals but changed the band’s name to Saints in 1974.
On Monday Kuepper was the one who quit the group in 1978 due to disagreements on music with Bailey and expressed his sorrow in Bailey’s death, stating that the two shared “an extraordinarily strong relationship in the arts” and that he “couldn’t have imagined the best singer”.
The group scored their first success in the form of (I’m) Stranded back in the year 1976 and released their first album with the same title in 1977. They would later release thirteen more records. After they formed their own label Fatal Records in 1976, they were signed by the record label EMI to sign a three-album agreement.
Bailey is the sole member in the band for the entire time.
The Saints formed the basis in Australia’s Australian punk scene of the 1970s. Police visited the group’s Brisbane performances and detained fans and musicians and led to their bookings being cancelled.
(I’m)”Stranded” has been considered by many as the best punk tracks ever. In a promo video of the track’s UK Reissue, INXS singer, Michael Hutchence, credited the band with bringing about the sound that was the catalyst for the explosive rise of Sex Pistols.
The State Library of Queensland acquired an uncut 7″ vinyl version of the single in its John Oxley collection in the year 2016 in celebration of it being the 40th anniversary the release.
“The seven” vinyl single on display is an element of musical that has shaped generations of bands from around the globe,” the library said.
“Released in September of 1976 just a few months before Sex Pistols’ and The Clash’s debuts, the undiscovered group The Saints’ single (I’m) Stranded/No Time helped propel The Saints and their Brisbane boys to the forefront of the emerging underground punk movement.”
Bailey was remembered Tuesday on Monday as “a creator of the punk genre”.