News 2005

Chris Blair, the legendary mastering engineer from the world renowned Abbey Road Studios in London has sadly passed away. Chris died last week, aged 55, after suffering from a rare form of leukemia. An Abbey Road spokesperson said "Abbey Road Studios deeply regrets the sad loss of Chris Blair this week. He was greatly respected by his colleagues and all those who worked with him. We will all miss him deeply."

Chris joined Abbey Road Studios in 1969. Throughout his career he worked with some of the most respected bands and artists in the music industry, starting in the early days as a tape operator on The Beatles' Abbey Road album, before moving on to mastering singles, albums and CDs for the likes of Queen, Pink Floyd, The Manic Street Preachers, Oasis, Radiohead and Sting. In 1997 Chris mastered Delirious' 'd:Tour Live' album and has gone on to master every Delirious? CD since then, including most recently the band's latest album 'The Mission Bell' which Chris mastered just a few weeks before he died.

In 2002 Delirious? presented Chris with a framed plaque of all the Delirious? albums that he had worked on as a sign of their appreciation for his work (see above). Delirious? obviously made an impact on Chris because in 2003 when asked in an interview for the Abbey Road Studios in-house magazine 'Playback' who his favourite people to work with are, Chris replied: "The Radiohead guys are very nice, the Travis guys are very nice. There's a Christian group I do, Delirious. I always enjoy them coming. They do about an album a year. Very high quality." Martin Smith has been asked to sing at Chris' funereal this week. Chris will be greatly missed by the whole music industry.