CHRIS CONSTANTINOU Songwriter, singer, bass player
Chris Constantinou started his musical career as bass player for Diz Watson, the quintessential exponent of New Orleans/Professor Longhair-style piano and barrel house blues. In 1977, he formed rock band Drill. Acting as co-writer and bassist, they first signed to Ebony Records before moving to RCA Records for a string of singles, several of which were produced by Chas Chandler (The Animals, Jimi Hendrix).
In 1982 Chris joined Adam Ant as bass guitarist and backing vocalist from his UK top 5 single Puss In Boots onwards. Under the pseudonym Chris De Niro, he became an integral part of the mid-80s Ants line up, vinyl highlights including the top 20 single Apollo 9 and the Vive Le Rock album, both of which were produced by Tony Visconti. Chris was part of every Adam Ant TV appearance, video and tour until 1986, which included Top Of The Pops, Saturday Night Live, American Bandstand and, on stage, Radio City Music Hall and 1985’s Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium.
Parting with Adam Ant in 1985, Chris spent time with SF Go, a Miles Copeland-managed band he had formed with Danny Kustow (TRB, Glen Matlock). He then joined forces with another Malcolm McLaren discovery, Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin. Together they formed a band, fronted by Annabella with Chris as co-writer, bassist and backing vocalist. They built a substantial following hit singles like Do What You Do (Sony, 1994), a dancefloor hit thanks to remixes from Farley & Heller and Junior Vasquez. The project was produced by Steve Lironi (Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Happy Mondays) and lead to Chris beginning a song writing partnership with multi-Ivor Novello winner Guy Chambers.
Chris took centre stage to form post-punk outfit Jackie Onassid in 1996. As lead singer, songwriter and bassist, Jackie Onassid toured Europe three times, released two albums (2001’s 4Play and 2002’s Zip Me Up) and supported Iggy Pop. The videos for these singles were directed by award-winning British film maker Paul Hills. He later featured the band’s Meditation Man single in his 2003 movie The Poet (Dougray Scott/Laura Elena Harring).
In 2004 Chris began work on his current project, The Wolfmen for which he handles lead vocals, co-writing, bass and various other instruments. It sees him reunite with another former Ant, songwriter/guitarist Marco Pirroni, to blend a sound described by Mojo magazine as “exuberant filth… Chris and Marco do growing old disgracefully with style.” A separate biography on The Wolfmen is available, which covers their two critically acclaimed and sold out singles, soundtracks for TV, movies and commercials, special commissions for the Museum of the Moving Image (New York) and Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), a feature film cameo, a reality TV special and projects in the pipeline for 2007 and 2008…
