Double CD. Includes "Spanish Train", "Don't Pay The Ferryman" and a re-recorded version of "Lady In Red". Chris de Burgh celebrates a remarkable and rare career milestone during 2024; half a century as a recording artist. Yet when he signed his first recording contract in 1974 and his debut album, 'Far beyond These Castle Walls', was released by A&M Records that same year, Chris did not look beyond the immediate future. "As I held a copy of that record in my hands, I had absolutely no idea that this would even go any further," he recalls. "I was incredibly naive about the music business but I was full of hope and dreams and, spectacularly, my dreams not only came true, they came truer than true. I had no concept that I was going to last as long as this. Fifty years? Wow!" Over the course of five decades, Chris has achieved worldwide album sales in excess of 45 million, performed approaching 4,000 concerts globally and, perhaps more remarkably than anything else, continued to make his music, his way for his loyal followers. "Without the love and support of my audience I would never have had such a long career," Chris acknowledges. To celebrate that relationship and his musical longevity, Chris will be releasing a new album, '50', in 2024 and embarking on a solo tour throughout Europe and beyond. "I will select my favourite songs for the new album from each one of my previous studio albums", he says, "and I will also write and record three new songs. That will be a great way of going out there and saying 'This is what I've done.' It's just a taste of what I've done, of course, because I've written some 330 songs and counting." "The tour will be about referring back to when I started out, as a single guy with a guitar and piano. So it will be me performing and talking about the music, talking about the origin of the songs and their background." It's evident from this latest successful twist in his career that Chris continues to be creative and enjoy new challenges.
