About Chris Helme
Christopher Alan Helme is an English singer-songwriter, formerly the frontman of John Squire's post-Stone Roses band The Seahorses.
Helme began singing and performing at the age of 19, and began playing in pubs and folk clubs in his native York with his first band Daisy Space/Genuine Moon Material before forming folk-jazz band Chutzpah in 1993. The band regularly gigged at the White Swan Pub and Fibbers, where Helme worked behind the bar. In 1995 the band busked across rural France before splitting up .
A friend of John Squire's long-time guitar technician Martin Herbet discovered Helme busking outside Woolworths department store in York's Coney Street. Impressed by Helme's version of The Rolling Stones song, "No Expectations", he requested a demo tape and passed it on to Squire. Squire went to see Helme perform at Fibbers on 26 May and 16 June 1996. Another gig was then arranged at the Roadhouse venue in Manchester, where Squire invited Helme to join his new band, for which he had already recruited bassist Stuart Fletcher.
Geffen Records, to whom Squire was still under contract following his departure from The Stone Roses, signed the band. The Seahorses released their debut album Do It Yourself in 1997. The album was produced by Tony Visconti and spawned three hit singles. "Love is the Law" reached no. 2 in the UK Singles Chart; "Blinded by the Sun" got to no. 7 and "Love Me and Leave Me" at no. 15. The stand-alone single "You Can Talk to Me", co-written by Squire and Helme peaked at no. 15.
In January 1999, after two years of intensive touring, including support slots to The Rolling Stones, U2 and Oasis, a press release sent to the NME announced the split of the Seahorses "due to John Squire's and lead singer Chris Helme's irreconcilable differences over the musical direction the band should take".
Both Helme and Squire later gave conflicting reasons for the split. Helme claimed that "there was a personality clash during rehearsals. When he came up with new stuff I didn't like his lyrics or tunes. I could have gone with it and made quite a lot of money, but I wasn't interested." Squire later commented on his reasons for ending the band that "I thought, 'This sounds shit, we don't deserve to be in this place.' The band sounded complacent. I don't suppose it was anyone's fault. Maybe it got far too much attention for very little effort in the early stages, because of what I'd done in the past."
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