This guy came on like a hurricane in the spring of 1980. Christopher Geppert joined his first band, Flash in 1971. They opened for bands like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin garnering lots of attention but no record action. Chris quit the band in 1973 for a solo career and in 1978 secured a contract with Warner Brothers. Seldom does an unknown artist get the full out all star treatment he got from his label who enlisted Michael McDonald, Don Henley, JD Souther and Nicolette Larson to participate in the project.
However when the album was finished, WB held back the single release until they felt that there was nothing new being released, which ended up being January of 1980. The first single, "Ride Like The Wind" went to #2 for four weeks unable to disconnect Blondie's "Call Me" from the top spot, even with Michael McDonald on background vocals.
The second single, "Sailing" did just that, moving right up to the #1 spot and powering the eponymously titled LP to 5X platinum status and earned him a sweep of the 1981 Grammy Awards taking Best Album, Record, Song of The Year (Sailing) and Best New Artist. It was the first time in record history that an artist took the top four awards ever.
