Chris Bailey, the leader of the seminal Australian punk band The Saints, has died. The news was revealed in a statement on the band’s Facebook page on Monday. “It is with great pain in our hearts that we have to inform you about the passing of Chris Bailey, singer and songwriter of The Saints, on April the 9th 2022,” the statement reads. “Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night.”
Bailey grew up in Belfast until his parents emigrated to Brisbane, Australia when he was seven. He formed a band with his schoolmates Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay in the early 1970s, changing their name to the Saints in 1974. They released their debut album, the pioneering (I’m) Stranded, in 1977, which was quickly followed by 1978’s Prehistoric Sounds and Eternally Yours.
Bailey was the Saints’ only consistent member throughout the band’s five-decade run. He released a total of 14 LPs as the Saints, with their most recent album, King of the Sun, landing in 2012. Bailey also issued a number of solo albums under his own name in the ’80s and ’90s. “On a musical level, I think the Saints are just a part of the greater evolution of something I care very deeply about, which is rock’n’roll music,” he said in a 2004 interview. “That’s gratification enough, really.”
