Christopher John Davison (born 15 October 1948), known professionally as Chris de Burgh, is a British-Irish singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. He started out as an art rock performer but subsequently started writing more pop-oriented material. He has had several top 40 hits in the UK and two in the US, but he is more popular in other countries, particularly Norway and Brazil.[1] His 1986 love song “The Lady in Red” reached number one in several countries. De Burgh has sold over 45 million albums worldwide.[5]
De Burgh was born in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, to Colonel Charles John Davison, MBE,[6] a British diplomat, and Maeve Emily (née de Burgh), an Irish secretary.[citation needed] His maternal grandfather was Sir Eric de Burgh, a British Army officer who had been Chief of the General Staff in India during the Second World War.[7] He took his mother’s maiden name, “de Burgh”, as a stage name when he began performing, while his legal surname remains “Davison”.[8] His father had substantial farming interests, and Chris spent much of his early years in Malta, Nigeria and Zaire, as he, his mother and brother accompanied Colonel Davison on his diplomatic and engineering work.
The Davisons finally settled in Bargy Castle, County Wexford, Ireland, which was somewhat dilapidated at the time. It was a twelfth-century castle which Eric de Burgh bought in the 1960s. He converted it into a hotel, and young Chris sang for the guests there.[7]
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