Chris Turner – A Rock n’ Roll Life

The Sixties

Chris Turner was a London born guitarist. He started playing guitar in 1961 around the London rock scene. His first band appeared on the same bill as Bowie, Frampton and The Small Faces with Steve Marriot. His band also did shows with John Mayall, Manfred Mann and Johnny Dankworth’s Orchestra to name just a few. He played the Mecca Ballroom Circuit with this band, The Consorts, until 1965. The late sixties saw the Chris Turner Group and 'The Wranglers' emerge in Auckland, New Zealand where he toured the North Island learning his trade not only as a guitarist but also as a band leader. He did a brief stint with hit band Summer Wine and played with The Soundelles, Auckland's only professional band at the infamous Oriental Ballroom.

The Seventies

In 1970 Chris moved to Sydney, Australia. He signed up with a package show called The Action and set off on a tour of The Philippines and Vietnam. After an exhaustive three month stint, three shows a day, seven days a week, he was jailed on drug charges. He escaped and had an epic life-threatening adventure. He eventually made it back to Sydney. On his return from overseas Chris once again formed his own Chris Turner Band and toured New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, one tour lasting over 18 months. In 1973 Chris formed an eight-piece band and called it Drain! (cos that’s where all his money, energy and time went!!), it featured two drummers and a horn section, it worked around the Sydney hard rock clubs, including the world famous Chequers night club, The Bondi Lifesaver, Whisky a Go Go and dozens of the other clubs and gigs. In 1975 Chris was asked to join heavy rock band Buffalo, recording and writing the title track on the fifth album, Average Rock n' Roller. Buffalo did numerous radio and television spots and toured Australia with Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. Throughout this time Pete Wells and Digger Royal (Rose Tattoo) were stable members of The Chris Turner Band which could be seen every Monday night at the infamous Chequers night club from late till dawn. The band continued to play all the hot night spots on the circuit as well as out of towners (OOT’s). Chris was touring with Rose Tattoo on and off from 77 thru to 81 as the band changed and settled on its line-up. Chris was ‘Mr. Fix It’ for Tattoo as the members came and went; in fact Turner, Wells and Royal did a national tour as ‘Little Tattoo’ when Angry Anderson left the band for a while.

The Chris Turner Band continued to work and tour throughout the late seventies with Chris taking time out to work with Rose Tattoo, F J Holden and the Easybeats' Stevie Wright. Literally hundreds of musicians passed through Turner's band as it relentlessly toured Australia. The Chris Turner Band backed and toured with Jeff St John on a double header package for a time. Chris was asked to record a track for The Australian Guitar Album and was also featured on the Concert Of The Decade with F J Holden.

The Eighties

In 1980, his solo album, My Guitar n' Me was released on RCA Victor, Elvis’s label. The title track on this album went to number one on the British Easy Listening Charts. 1982 Chris released his only ever single I'm Crazy while his band continued to tour, In 1983 Chris teamed up again with La De Da's veteran Ronnie Peel (Rockwell T James). They toured as 'The Aces' and the 'Rhythm Aces" and then went on to form the $cattered Aces. The Aces released a single Waltzing Matilda / C'mon Everybody followed by the EP $ix Pack, a rollicking good example of Aussie Pub rock. Eventually Rose Tattoos' Pete Wells augmented the line up along with Turner's ex manic drummer, Paul Demarco. (Fred Zepplin ). Six Pack reached number 16 in the national charts just before the Major O/S labels put local record companies into separate “Independent Charts”, a sneaky move designed to sideline them. Turner and Peel surfaced with Slightly Shady and The Chris Turner Band continued.

Chris did countless ad sessions for radio and TV and produced the Lucy De Soto Album Three Girls And A Sailor. Chris ganged up with Lucy De Soto and Pete Wells to tour in Darwin and his own band returned to Darwin and Mt Isa for a season at the Berkeley Hotel. Chris, together with Status Quo's Alan Lancaster, recorded Exile, a rock album featuring many of Chris and Alan's friends. Turner’s Aussie version of Guitar Man was a turntable hit and received massive airplay. Chris did some recording with the Party Boys and was featured on the hit album Hold Your Head Up. In the late eighties Chris recorded and produced the BB Strutt album Four Play and toured with the band promoting the product. Chris also worked his bands The Tom Cats, The Wasted Seamen and The Wolftones around NSW. Chris produced the Adam Carl Stephens album Skybrain Surfing and was featured on the Pete Wells album ‘Orphans’ as well as playing on albums by Rick Veneer and Tony Ryan.

The Nineties

In the early nineties Chris established The College Of Contemporary Guitar in Sydney. Unfortunately, during this time, he had five major hand operations and was forced to learn to play again after each operation.

Natural Born Trucker - Truckin' Bill n' Doc Guitar was Chris's next project, the album receiving national air play and the title track was included on a compilation album called Trucking Towards 2000 which included many overseas legends, including Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson.

Stacey Morris's CD The Sweetest Thing and Will Scarlet's Wanted It That Way were two more Turner projects. He also co-produced Shadows To The Max for Max Paton. Chris Turner's Guitar Stories Vol. 1 was released in the late nineties and was an instrumental only record and included many road stories in the twelve page booklet.

The Two Thousands

Chris produced Tribute To Roy Orbison with The Fabulous Tee Jays and Robin Lee Sinclair. This is album sold out immediately! Chris Turner & The Wolftones were asked to perform at the Gimme Ted concert at Fox Studios in March 2001. This was a benefit to raise money for fellow muso Ted Mulry who was suffering from cancer. Unfortunately, Ted died before the money could be used and Chris Turner's performance, as an independent artist, was mysteriously not included on the DVD!

Chris then released No Bollocks - Just Rock! with The Wolftones, produced by Rose Tattoo's Peter Wells. This album is Pub Rock at its finest and shows Chris at his rockin' best. This album contains the notorious track Have A Nice Day, an underground hit for Chris. The clip was banned from ABC-TV’s RAGE for using the "F" word. In 2004 Chris completed a blues album with Pete Wells & Rob Grosser titled Three Good Reasons For the Blues. The band, called Rocks Push, was featured at The Manly Jazz Festival. A DVD of this band and the making of this album are on hold for the future. Chris was a featured guest artist on Sydney Blues Live CD with Tim Gaze and Rob Grosser, his version of King Bee received a lot of airplay in the US. Chris Turner's Blues Pirates were asked to open the show for the Pete Wells benefit concert, Rock & Roll Outlaw, held at The Enmore Theatre in September 2005. The show featured a cast of thousands including Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Lucy De Soto and Dave Tice. The night was a huge success. Once again the footage of Turner’s performance went MIA!

Chris continued to work and record and is featured heavily on the double CD 25 Years of Big Rock This is a compilation of music going back 25 years, from Pub Rock and though to today's power blues. This was a good example of how much Australian talent that has been overlooked or rejected by the music industry at large. Chris Turner continued to play live with The Blues Pirates (featuring Cletis Carr) and The Wolf Tones. He also works as a freelance guitarist and did solo spots. 2007 brought a re release of the Buffalo albums and the classic Average Rock n' Roller, which featured Turner and Tice at their wicked best. these albums have been re mastered and given the new full package treatment. They are available on Aztec Music. 2009 - Turner linked up with long term friend and business partner Phill Shute, under the heading of Turner & Simmons. In 2009 Chris & his Cave Men performed at The Enmore Theatre for his long-time mate Mick Cocks. Many huge acts got together to raise money for Mick. Unfortunately, once again his performance didn't make it onto YouTube.

The Two Thousand and Tens

From 2010 Chris Turner continued to work and record with The Cave Men, The Blues Pirates and Turner & Simmons around Sydney. Chris also produced and released 30 years of Big Rock - a compilation of Big Rock Artists. This was a double CD / DVD of vintage tracks and videos covering and showcasing the past 30 years of Big Rock Records. 2011 Chris started recording with The Tom Cats, and The Blues Pirates Vol 2. Turner & Simmons Double Header was released. 2012 He completed an album with Rob Grosser, Tim Gaze and Al Britton called The Hot Shots, it was released on 12 November 2012. It was nominated for best new release and best new blues band in 2013. He continued to work live with The Cave Men, The Blues Pirates, The Convicts and Turner & Simmons. In 2015 Chris produced 35 Years of Big Rock, a collection of Big Rock Artists working together and collaborating on 18 songs. A host of rock luminaries helped with this massive project.

2018 - Big Rock Records released Chris Turner Band Live - 1979-1984, a collection of live desk recordings from that era. Turner had two more hand operations. 2018 saw him record two blues albums with legend Alex Smith from Moving Pictures as The Old Blue Dogs, Take One and Take Two - Both are available on Big Rock and were in the National Blues & Roots Charts for five months.

In 2019 Chris released his new album Rocks . This album spent over 12 months in the Blues charts.

The special deluxe CD, Rock n’ Roll Man was recorded live in the studio just for fun, in June 2019 – released early the next year.

The Roaring Twenties

2020 saw Chris, along with the rest of the world, sequestered away at home. Fortunately for him, Chris has a complete recording studio as part of his house, and it was there that uninterrupted creativity flowed like a stream.

During lockdown, Chris, along with Big Rock artists Cletis Carr, Phill Simmons and Jim Finn recorded The Delta Blues, a 4 track EP of songs that dealt with the pandemic. Back To My Future was released in 2021, followed by Way Down n’ Blues in 2022, then Chris Turner & the Noisy Bastards, out in 2024, and sadly, the last studio album he released before his passing the following year.