The Cross

The Cross were a side project of Queen's Roger Taylor that existed from 1987 to 1993 and released three albums. Although the drummer in Queen, Taylor fronted The Cross as rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist. On its debut release, the classic rock band incorporated dance influences which they dropped on their remaining two albums. The band never enjoyed much commercial success.
==History==
Taylor formed The Cross while Queen were on hiatus after the Magic Tour in 1986. He recruited Queen's tour keyboardist, Spike Edney, but advertised for the remaining musicians. When the band was formed, guitarist Clayton Moss, bassist Peter Noone (not to be confused with the Herman's Hermits singer of the same name), and drummer Josh Macrae were unestablished in the field. Taylor himself never played the drums in The Cross.[1]
The band's albums and singles were not commercially successful, although they did manage to reach the British charts with several and they enjoyed moderate success in Germany. The first album, Shove It, was released on Virgin Records in 1988. Largely a solo project for Taylor, who had written the songs prior to forming the band, the album and the three singles it spawned did reach the charts in the UK, where it also received some positive press. The band toured in support of the album before Taylor took a short break for the 1989 Queen albumThe Miracle, for which there was no tour.
===First album: Shove It ===
After Queen's 1986 Magic Tour, the band members went their separate ways to do various solo work. Taylor decided to form a new band with whom he could tour. He had already written and recorded the album himself before finding a band to play the songs with. He eventually placed an ad for band members in a national newspaper, hinting he was a famous rock musician. The position of keyboard player was duly offered to Spike Edney after two successful Queen tours with him handling the keys. When the auditions were over, the line-up was completed by Peter Noone on Bass, Clayton Moss on Guitar, and Josh Macrae on Drums. Taylor himself would take the responsibility on lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
The first album, Shove It, was released in 1988. In Europe, Heaven for Everyone (later a Queen song) contained Freddie Mercury on lead vocals and Taylor on backing vocals. However, on the single version and the American album version the roles were reversed. The European CD contained an extra track (compared to cassette and LP) in The 2nd Shelf Mix, the US version having "Feel The Force" as its extra track. The band promoted hard in Germany especially, with many TV performances of singles including an appearance at the Montreux Golden Rose festival in 1988. The tour took in dates in the UK and Germany. Three singles were released from the album: "Cowboys and Indians", "Heaven for Everyone" and "Shove It". Another single, "Manipulator," was released in 1988, but it wasn't included on any album. It was also the only song from the time that had joint writing credits, Taylor sharing them with Spike Edney and Steve Strange.
The second single from Shove It, "Heaven for Everyone", whose album version featured lead vocals by Freddie Mercury, would be re-released as a Queen single from the 1995 albumMade in Heaven with Taylor's vocals edited out, and become a chart hit in many countries.
== Members ==
*Roger Taylor: Lead Sing, Drums, vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizers
*Spike Edney: Unknown
*Clayton Moss: Unknown
*Peter Noone: Unknown
*Josh Macrae: Unknown
Category:Queen
Category:Roger Taylor