My great grandfather William Stallard was a sax player and my
grandfather Glyn Stallard was a professional pianist who worked with
many popular acts, such as Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and Brotherhood Of
Man. etc. Although I was christened Christopher Shaw, my parents, family and close friends insist on calling me Christie, as I was one of three Christophers living in Wellfield Avenue, Porthcawl South Wales. My first job was as a singer, when I was 11, at All Saints Church, Porthcawl and the photos of me in the choirboy outfit are still a great amusement to my friends.
With music in the family, I studied the contemporary saxophone & music production at the London Guildhall University, during a Music Technology degree, At the same time, I studied a BA in music on the Open University. I studied jazz and classical guitar on various courses and one particular time I was placed in a band with a very young Jamie Cullum. After graduating in 1997, I worked in Europe (Greece, Menorca, French Alps, Italy etc) as an Entertainer, Musician, Holiday Rep and Resort Manager. The companies I worked for were Thomson, Crystal, Mark Warner and Inghams Holidays
Returning to England, I taught music and music technology, in further
education, and completed a PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate Of
Education) at Portsmouth University. Conitinued....
I became a professional saxophonist back in May
2006. My previous clients and venues include the Royal
Navy, NATO, Debenhams, Zurich Insurance, Hilton, HMS Warrior,
Portsmouth Guildhall, Showaddywaddy, Herbie Armstrong (Van Morrison
Band) and many golf clubs and hotels. I was the resident sax player at the Queens Hotel, Southsea, Hampshire UK, for over three years. I am currently working as a resident sax player in Guernsey, the Channel Islands.
I specialise in relaxing, easy listening and smooth jazz and I double
on the acoustic guitar at gigs. I also perform with The Shawsax Quartet , which are my favorite act and I "dep" (stand in) with many other professional bands. I
have recorded with some of the industry’s top engineers and producers,
in a range of genres from dance music to rock n’ roll. I have a popular solo act as a vocalist and sax player, which I perform mainstream rock n roll, soul, ska, jazz, eighties and modern pop.
"A Flight Into The Abyss" (as artist name Shawsax) is currently published on itunes, Amazon, Napster and all download sites. The tracks have appeared on BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 6 (Tom Robinson show) and on Original 106FM. It is also played on radio & web stations across the world, including the USA, Korea, Germany Portugal etc.
