Chris Sievey

Chris circa 2010

Christopher Mark Sievey (25 August 1955 – 21 June 2010) was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band The Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards.

## Biography

Sievey was born in Ashton-on-Mersey, Sale, Cheshire. At the age of 14 he began recording music, and by 15 started playing in local bands. At age 16 he and Martin Sievey hitch hiked to Apple Corps, where they demanded to see someone to sign them. They recorded a demo at Apple Studios, and were told to come back with a band. After being rejected from various labels, Sievey formed Razz Records, an independent record label on which Sievey would release his own material. In 1977 he released his first album, *All Sleeps Secrets*.

Following this Chris formed *The Freshies.* He and the band gained brief chart success in 1981 with their single, *I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk.* However, it was banned from the BBC as it contained reference to the record label '*Virgin*'. They released a follow up censored version of the song, which failed to chart. In October of 1982, The Freshies broke up, and became more or less a solo pseudonym for Sievey.

In 1984, Chris released a video gamed titled '*The Biz*'. The Biz introduced the character of Frank Sidebottom. The voice of Frank later appeared in the untitled Freshies / Chris Sievey EP created to support The Biz. The following year he released three EPs as Frank, and received a little chart success from these. These EPs allowed Sievey to extensively tour as Frank, and make several television and radio appearances. As the 1990s reached their end, Sievey retired from public life, and began working on two new albums, *Life in 74 Minutes,* and '*Scilly Automatic'.* Neither of these were finished or released. For much of the early 2000s Sievey worked in the stop motion animation business, particularly on Bob The Builder and Pingu.

The Frank character returned to live appearances in December 2005, and in 2006 was given his own television sow, *Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show.* He had developed a five year plan, a way to revive Frank, regain his fame, but not let it spiral out of control.

Sadly, Sievey died on June 21st 2010 at age 54.

## Solo Discography

*See Discography for extended discography.*

***Albums***

* Chris Sievey - All Sleeps Secrets (1977)
* Chris Sievey - Denigration Now (1982) [MiniAlbum]

* Chris Sievey & The Freshies - The Johnny Radar Story (1985)
* Chris Sievey - Big Record (1986)

***Compilations***

* Chris Sievey & The Freshies - Early Razz (1985)
* Frank Sidebottom & Chris Sievey - Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (2019)

***EPs***

* The Freshies / Chris Sievey - Washed Up / Baiser (1978)
* Chris Sievey - Red Indian Music (1980)
* Chris Sievey - Camouflage (1983)
* The Freshies / Chris Sievey - Untitled (1984)
* Chris Sievey - Five Songs (1985)

***Singles***

* Chris Sievey - Baiser / Last (1979)
* The Freshies / Chris Sievey ‎- We're Like You / Hey (1980)
* Chris Sievey - Last / Skip The Flight Jim (1980)
* Chris Sievey And The Freshies - If You Really Love Me, Buy Me A Shirt (1981)