Signature song: Why Lady in Red is still part of Chris de Burgh’s ‘upside down’ touring life
Chris de Burgh explains why his most enduring No.1 is the envy of the world’s songwriters.
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Chris de Burgh has been living a topsy turvy “upside down” touring life for decades.
It has been his life since the early 1970s, with the 76-year-old showing no sign of slowing down.
“The thing about touring is that it is very intensive,” he says. “You are going from one place to the other, packing a suitcase, The 24 hours that you’re driving on someplace else and people who join a tour, after about two or three days, are completely exhausted.
“In our business, we have to keep all our energy for the evening. That’s the way it works. Most people are relaxing in the evening having worked all day, and it’s a completely upside down world. So touring can be difficult, but I’m still at it after all these years. I still enjoy it.”
De Burgh spoke to Stellar from the Maldives, where he was playing a corporate gig. His family were there, too. “Six days in the Maldives with my family? I thought, ‘f..k it’, I’ll come down here and it will be a bit of fun’,” he says.
De Burgh has visited Australia two or three times previously and estimates his schedule is about 70 shows a year across Europe, Canada and the United States.
He brings his 50LO Tour 2025 to Australia in May, kicking off in Melbourne on May 1, plays the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on the third, The Star on the Gold Coast the following day and Sydney’s State Theatre on May 7. There’s also a sold out show at the Sydney Opera House on May 8 before Perth’s Riverside Theatre on the 11th. At his age, he could be forgiven for slowing down a little.
“I’m lucky to say that my voice is still in very good shape. I can hit the same notes as I could back in 1982,” he says. “And every concert last year, they were all sold out, and you kind of get the feeling that if you have this time on the planet, why not use it?
“Though people sometimes say to me, what about retiring? I couldn’t do that because I’m not like an athlete who has to stop at age 35 or 40.
“As long as your brain is still functioning, you can still do what you like doing. I’ve had this attitude since I’ve started 50-odd years ago. If you can do something, and it sounds a bit trite, but if you do something beneficial and make people happy, why not? The opposite is the worst thing you can do.
“Getting out there and seeing all of the smiling faces makes it worthwhile, and there are new generations coming to the concerts, too.”
De Burgh is, of course, best known for his global hit love song, The Lady In Red. It featured in countless movie soundtracks, among them Working Girl, Deadpool & Wolverine, and American Psycho. Others (Dotmusic in 2000) voted it one of the most annoying songs of all time. Rolling Stone readers voted the smash hit the third worst song of the 1980s.
“That’s pretty funny,” he says. “I don’t give a damn about that. There was a poll by the BBC on New Year’s – the top three songs were like Titanic, Lady In Red, and I think it was Everything I Do, Bryan Adams. And then a poll by Channel 4, the same three songs were the most hated. Do I care? No, I don’t care. It’s nothing. Listen, there’s loads of people who are very popular that I can’t stand, so it’s just one of those things.”
De Burgh has sold more than 45 million albums, scoring several top 40 hit singles. But does he ever get bored of singing his 1986 hit?
“Well, I regard Lady In Red as a pathway into the other stuff that I do and certainly, as somebody who admires other songwriters, particularly of my generation, there are very few who cover such a wide expanse of stuff and topics that I do.”
When The Lady In Red Was released, de Burgh’s gigs had audiences up to 120,000 people.
“You can’t do that singing a ballad, or I can’t,” he says. “We were and still are, a rock band. We can get to the energy point of things. But that one I wrote because I wanted to come up with a quiet song. It just came out and I had no idea it was going to go on to become iconic, that’s for sure.”
The song went No.1 in multiple countries, including the UK, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Norway and Belgium. In Australia, it was No.2, and in third spot on the American Billboard Hot 100.
“The Russians know who I am but the Americans probably haven’t a clue who I am, which is fine with me. At least I don’t have to go there too often, particularly nowadays,” he says. “Most songwriters would give their right arm for something like that, that becomes a signature song.”
Chris de Burgh brings his 50LO Tour to Sydney’s State Theatre on May 7 and the Sydney Opera House on May 8. frontiertouring.com/chrisdeburgh
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