Christopher 'Chris' Stainton (born 22 March 1944, in Woodseats, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England) is a keyboard player and songwriter, who first gained fame with Joe Cocker in the late 1960s.

Career

Stainton's lifelong career in music commenced in 1959, when started to play bass guitar with a local Sheffield band, Johnny Tempest and the Mariners. The Mariners became The Cadillacs, before Stainton joined Joe Cocker in The Grease Band in 1966. Stainton co-wrote "Marjorine", Cocker's first minor hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1968. His time as a Cocker backing musician came to a zenith on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, in the United States and Canada in 1970. Throughout that decade Stainton appeared in various guises in outfits such as Spooky Tooth (1970), The Chris Stainton Band (1972-6), Tundra (1976), Bryn Haworth Band (1976-77), Boxer (1977), Maddy Prior Band (1978) and Rocks (1978).Elkie Brooks band (1978)

By 1979 he teamed up with Eric Clapton for the first time, to start an intermittent working relationship that has lasted to the present time, which included playing along with Clapton on Roger Waters 1984 solo tour of "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking". He also backed Joe Cocker again, touring with him in 1989. Clapton, who lives near Stainton and plays cricket with him, rates Stainton as one of the greatest keyboard players alive.

In November 2002, Stainton appeared as one of the musicians performing at the Concert for George, and has more recently appeared as one of Bill Wyman's "Rhythm Kings".

Chris is currently touring on Eric Clapton's 2008 North American and European tour.

Recording work

Stainton's work has appeared on a number of albums. The following is an incomplete list:

• Bryn Haworth
• Sunny Side of the Street (1974, Island)
• Keep the Ball Rolling (1979, A&M)
• Leon Russell
• Leon Russell (1970, Shelter)
• Leon Russell And The Shelter People (1971, Shelter)
• Jim Capaldi
• Whale Meat Again (1974, Island)
• The Grease Band
• Amazing Grease (1975, Goodear)
• Maddy Prior
• Changing Winds (1978, Chrysalis)
• Momento: the Best of Maddy Prior (1995)
• Gary Brooker
• Lead Me to the Water (1982, Mercury)
• Spooky Tooth
• The Last Puff (1970, Island)
• The Best of Spooky Tooth (1970, Island) (compilation album)
• Don Nix
• Living By the Days (1971, Elektra)
• The Who
• Quadrophenia (1973, Track) (2-LP)
• Tommy (1975)
• Ian Hunter
• All-American Alien Boy (1976, CBS)
• Once Bitten Twice Shy (2000)
• Stephen Bishop
• Red Cab to Manhattan (1980, Warner)
• Eric Clapton
• Just One Night (1980)
• Another Ticket
• Money and Cigarettes
• Behind the Sun
• From The Cradle
• Pilgrim
• Back Home
• Alvin Lee Band
• RX5 (1981, Avatar)
• Marianne Faithfull
• Dangerous Acquaintances (1981, Island)
• A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology (1998)
• The Alarm
• Best of the Alarm & Mike Peters (1998)
• Eye of the Hurricane (expanded) (2002)
• Pete Townshend
• All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1984, Atlantic)
• Simon Townshend
• Sweet Sound (1984, Polydor)
• Joe Cocker
• One Night of Sin (1989)
• Night Calls (1991, Capitol)
• Have a Little Faith (1994, Capitol)
• Long Voyage Home (1995)
• Across from Midnight (1997, Capitol)
• Organic (1996)
• Ringo Starr
• Old Wave (1983)
• Starr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2 (1989)
• Bryan Ferry
• Taxi (1993)
• B. B. King
• Deuces Wild (1997, MCA)
• Here and There: the Uncollected B. B. King (2001)
• Eros Ramazzotti
• Eros Live (1998)
• Jimmy Smith
• Dot Com Blues (2001)
• David Gilmour
• On an Island (2006)

See also

• List of keyboardists

External links

• Stainton Fan Site
• Another fan site
• Spooky Tooth biography at Allmusic website
• Stainton songwriting credits at Allmusic
• "Marjorine" lyrics