Chris de Burgh

Chris de Burgh celebrates a remarkable and rare career milestone: over half a century as a recording artist.

He signed his first recording contract in 1974 and his debut album, ‘Far Beyond These Castle Walls’, was released by A&M Records that same year.

“As I held a copy of that record in my hands, I had absolutely no idea that this would even go any further,” he recalls.  “I was incredibly naive about the music business but I was full of hope and dreams and, spectacularly, my dreams not only came true, they came truer than true.  I had no concept that I was going to last as long as this.  Fifty years?  Wow!”

A song, ‘Flying’, from that first album spent 17 straight weeks at No.1 in Brazil.  “I thought ‘Right, I’m off!  A world star, overnight!’,” Chris remembers.  “Not a chance.  From then on, it was a real, real slog and a hard, hard time, but the grounding that I’d had in my parents’ hotel, Bargy Castle, performing for the guests there made me believe that I did have something that I could give to people.”

Gradually, market after market  – Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Norway, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lebanon, to name a few – tuned into his music with the release of each new album and a solid foundation for a lasting and meaningful international career was built.

Over the course of five decades, Chris has achieved worldwide album sales in excess of 45 million, performed approaching 4,000 concerts globally and, perhaps more remarkably than anything else, continued to make his music, his way for his loyal followers.  “Without the love and support of my audience I would never have had such a long career,” Chris acknowledges.