The first time Chris Wild sees an electric guitar, it is as if he has found a long-lost friend. As soon as he touches the smooth surface of the guitar and his fingers wrap around its neck, his life changes forever. It is the mid-1950s in Australia when Chris realizes he possesses a musical gift and joins the teenage band, the Offenders — never realizing he has just embarked on a life-spanning career.

Forced to leave the Offenders behind when his family emigrates to Canada, Chris never hears that their first single has become an Australian chart-topping hit. In Canada, Chris receives no support for his musical talents and reluctantly studies to become an architectural technician. While assisting with the design of a recording studio, his innate musical gift is revealed during a solo midnight session overheard by the studio executives. Suddenly, Chris is launched back into the musical world and into a life of stardom. As he inspires thousands all over the world with his new album, Chris's old girlfriend from Australia resurfaces and he must determine how to reconcile his original muse, April, with his new lover, Sarah.

Fate can be capricious, especially when someone lives in two different worlds.

the singer and his songs

a novelBy deke rivers

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Deke Rivers
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-1794-1

Contents

1 The Beginning....................................................12 Life in Australia: The New Land..................................63 The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll.......................................124 April Stevens....................................................265 Chris Wild and the Concerts......................................436 The Move to Canada...............................................797 Life in Canada: College and Architecture.........................948 Music............................................................1049 Work in Toronto: The Recording Studio............................11210 Late-Night Performance..........................................12511 The Producer's Research.........................................13412 The Receptionist: Sarah.........................................14713 Jack and Stu Meet...............................................15214 Jack and Stu Meet Chris: Call to Australia......................15815 Stu's Trip to New York..........................................18016 The Midnight Sessions...........................................19317 Chris's Trip to New York........................................20618 A Record Contract...............................................21619 A Star Is Born..................................................22320 Chris Wild Hits the Charts......................................25021 A National Tour.................................................25822 The West Coast Scene............................................27323 Top of the Charts...............................................27924 The New Record Deal-Johnny Dark.................................29325 The World Tour..................................................30726 Australia and the "Welcome Home, Mate" Tour.....................31627 April and the Offenders.........................................34828 Sarah-the Homecoming............................................38429 Cabin in the Wilderness.........................................40430 The New Tour....................................................43131 The Threat......................................................43832 Tour Preparations-Buffalo Concert...............................44733 The "Wilderness" Tour...........................................45534 The Songs Have Ended............................................464About the author...................................................475

Chapter One

The Beginning

Chris Wild was a superstar. No, he was more than that-he was a megastar. Even at his young age he was already a living legend. He had reached the pinnacle of the music industry. He was in a class by himself, way above all the other entertainers in the world. He had conquered the world musically and now was acknowledged as the world's greatest singer, composer, guitarist, and entertainer.

Chris Wild's new North American "Wilderness" tour was running its course. The Atlanta concert at the Atlanta Braves stadium was sold out, as were all his concerts now. His records sold in the millions. His Wilderness album, a masterpiece, was destined to be his signature album. It was still selling at a record pace, already having broken all previous album sales records. Tomorrow night he would share the stage in Memphis with another legend, Elvis Presley, the original King of Rock and Roll. It promised to be a monumental concert and it was going to be telecast all over the world, including Australia. For Chris, sharing the stage with his own idol was a very special occasion, something to which he really looked forward. Elvis had been his initial inspiration, especially back in the early days in Australia.

At the usual after-concert party, Chris had made his appearance and mixed and mingled with the media as he always did. Chris was always very accommodating. But tonight for some strange reason his recurring headaches were bothering him more than usual.

With the party atmosphere in full swing, Chris managed to slip out of the crowded and noisy ballroom quietly and unnoticed. In the hotel's lobby (which fortunately was relatively empty at that time of the night), he managed without being recognized to slip into an elevator, which took him to the top-floor penthouse suite. Inside his expansive luxury suite, he headed straight for the bar, where he had left his prescription headache pills, and immediately popped two down with a glass of cold water. Then he mixed himself his usual Southern Comfort on the rocks and slowly meandered over to the plush leather couch that faced the six glass doors that opened out onto the outdoor landscaped patio. Beyond the doors he could see the brightly lit skyline of Atlanta in the darkened nighttime sky.

He kicked off his cowboy boots and slid onto the soft couch. He wore black leather slacks and his usual black T-shirt with a picture of Elvis Presley from Jailhouse Rock on the front. With his feet up on the coffee table, he sipped some of the Southern Comfort. The warmth of the liquor as it slid down his throat was so soothing. Chris felt very weary and tired, which was unusual for him since he always seemed to have plenty of energy to burn.

Tonight he closed his eyes, put his mind to rest, and allowed it to slowly drift back to where it all began so many years ago. His mind began to unwind and reflect on just how he had achieved so much in his relatively short yet phenomenal musical career and how he was where he was today.

It all began back in the spring of 1943 in the small town of Viljandi in the small northern European country of Estonia, one of the three Baltic states. Europe was in the middle of World War II, and Estonia at the time was occupied by the Germans. On the morning of April 19, 1943, Christopher Sepp was born to Mare and Peter Sepp. Christopher's brother, Eric, now four, had a younger brother.

By late 1944, the German position changed as the allied forces strengthened, especially when the United States entered the war. Finally, it was announced that the Germans were evacuating and heading back to the fatherland to defend the German border from the Allies. When the Germans left, the Soviets' undisciplined Red Army marched in.

At that point Peter and Mare decided to get out of Estonia as soon as possible. In the final days, the Germans were sending ships back to Germany every day, and they offered free passage back to any Estonian wanting to leave Estonia. But once in Germany, these displaced persons, or "DPs" as they became known, would be on their own to determine their own lives-where to go, where to move to, and how to survive again in Europe. Fate would now determine their lives.

So with their two small kids, Peter and Mare left Estonia. Their ship Moira slipped through the allied naval defenses and made Germany safely. It was 1945 when they arrived in Germany with just two suitcases containing all their worldly belongings, but they were grateful that they still had their lives. The Sepps were now without a country of their own, and they became vagabonds, moving around the remnants of postwar Europe trying to find somewhere to hold out, to live, to survive. When the war finally ended in Europe, the Allies set up housing apartment complexes for all the DPs, and the Sepps were finally able to find somewhere to live.

Once all the treaties were signed, the Allies withdrew all their troops from Europe, virtually abandoning all the small countries taken over by the Soviets, including all the Baltic states along with Estonia. Consequently there was no possibility for the Sepp Family to return to Estonia to reclaim their rightful land in Viljandi.

The Allies, including the British, Americans, French, and Russian Soviets, had divided Germany totally and insanely all to the benefit of the Soviets, and they had ignored the small countries taken over by the Soviets. Then in 1949, the future of Europe was still in question. It was totally vulnerable to a Stalin and the Soviet threat.

Chris's mother's uncle, living in the United States, had sent some money to the Sepps to help out in their time of need, but unfortunately Chris's egotistical father took the funds and headed off to Heidelberg to get his doctorate in law from the prestigious Heidelberg University. With the spare money he bought himself a new tennis racket, as tennis was his lifelong obsession. Meanwhile, his family was left alone, starving, but somehow survived.

With his doctorate, he was at least able to get a job and earn some money. Finally, they were able to settle in a few rooms of a private home in the foothills of the Alps, in the small town of Geislengen. Making ends meet was still tough, but they survived. Being so young, Chris did not understand what was going on in postwar Europe and the difficulties his parents had to deal with, having lost everything and having to start life again.

Then the inevitable happened. Suddenly without warning, Stalin closed the access road into Berlin, cutting off the food supplies and goods to West Berlin. The Allies' attempts at diplomacy failed with Stalin. The access road remained closed! No supplies were allowed to pass into West Berlin.

The only option the remaining Allies had at such short notice was to start flying goods and food into Berlin. It was a massive task and required unbelievable planning and scheduling. The whole of Europe now feared an invasion by Stalin. But the Allies persevered and organized a massive airlift program, which became known as the "Berlin Airlift." The United States and the British Air Forces still controlled the skies, and Stalin had no means to stop the Airlift. Chris's parents were scared and almost convinced that Stalin and the Soviets would invade Europe. They surmised that they had to get out of Europe.

At that time the governments of both the United States and Australia were in need of laborers, so they offered special deals to the DPs and their families whereby the governments would pay their passage to either America or Australia, provide food and lodging for the Family for three years, and in payment the husband would provide labor whenever the United States or Australian governments so deemed necessary. Ultimately they selected Australia as their destination and their new home, as far away from Europe as possible.

With virtually still no funds, the DPs who had decided to move to Australia were taken by train from Germany through the Alps to Naples, Italy, where they were loaded onto a transport boat and taken to Australia on the Fairsea, an ex-troop carrier.

The journey was certainly no pleasure cruise, far from it. The men were separated from their families and obliged to sleep in hammocks in the front of the boat, and the women and children slept in bunk beds, stacked six high at the rear of the boat. The Fairsea left Naples and proceeded eastward through the Mediterranean to Egypt, and then it went through the famous Suez Canal to the Red Sea. At the south end of the Red Sea, they eventually reached the Indian Ocean. Then it was the long nonstop journey, southeastward across the Indian Ocean, around the western end of Australia to the Port of Melbourne in the State of Victoria at the southeast corner of Australia.

Chapter Two

Life in Australia: The New Land

It was the summer of 1949 and after a harassing twenty-seven-day crossing of the Indian Ocean, the immigrants finally reached Melbourne, Australia. There was a giant sign of relief from all the passengers. Getting back onto terra firma was a blessing, but finally getting away from the inconsiderate and arrogant Italian crew was also a relief.

Now systematically the families were registered as New Australians, and they were assigned to various camps in Victoria and in New South Wales. After all the documents and health cards were approved and processed, the first place the Sepps were sent was to the ex-army camp at Bonegilla on the shores of Lake Hume, which was near the town of Albury on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.

After a long train ride, Chris recalled looking at the mountainous, desolate, and semi-barren Australian countryside filled with eucalyptus gum trees and watching hundreds of rabbits darting in different directions as the old steam train puffed by. This was all new! This was no longer Europe with its sophistication, order, classical architecture, magnificent parks, and gardens. No, this was the rough-and-ready, rustic Australia.

Bonegilla was an old army training camp that had been used by the Australian Army. Now it was now being used as a base to house the newly arrived European DPs. From Bonegilla, the Australian government agencies established where the male laborers were most required and to where they would be shipped. Then it was established whether there would be facilities available for the families at that destination. Often there were not, so unavoidably the wife and children would be sent to an alternate camp. At some stage the Family would be reunited, but it was unknown when.

After being shipped to various locations and enduring his Family living in other camps, finally the Sepp Family was reunited in the barren northern outskirts of Melbourne, in an old army camp called Broadmeadows. Here both Chris's father and mother were employed in the camp's administrative offices, each making a meager salary. But being together was the important thing.

Food was still provided in the dining hall, and the toilet and shower facilities were in separate buildings adjacent to the living quarters. Life in the DP camps was no picnic; in fact it was far from being easy, but at least government owned the entire camp.

Learning the English language was now an innovative concept, a necessity. As most adult Europeans had taken English as a second language in their respective European schools prior to the war, most were able to communicate to some degree. But the young kids, of course, could not speak English at all, so the Australian government established special courses at the nearby local schools where the kids were able to learn to speak the English language.

However, with perseverance the New Australian kids did finally learn to speak English-or, should one say, Australian English, with its strange slang expressions like "g'day," "fair dinkum," "garbo," "Mate," and going to the "pictures," instead of the movies and so on.

At his young age, Chris invariably was able to pick up the Australian accent with "No problems, Mate!" and he was soon speaking like a trueblue Aussie. Then to blend in more with the locals, the Sepps changed their name to Smith, a literal translation of their name. So Christopher Sepp became the new young Aussie, Chris Smith.

Through his journey as a young kid growing up in Australia, going from one school to another, each time his parents had to move (which was often), Chris recalled the few friends he had along the way.

One Christmas, the DP camp put on a special entertainment show for the young kids living at the camp. All that Chris could remember from the show was a young boy singing his heart out in front of the small gathering. The song was Gene Autry's classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." This turned out to be Chris's first experience in seeing somebody singing and entertaining a small crowd. He saw the excitement in the young boy's eyes as he strutted in front of the small audience. Chris looked around and saw the joy in the faces of the other kids in the audience. This was his first inspiration to entertain.

Then once his father had fulfilled his time obligation to the Australian government, it was time to move out of the DP camps and into the private sector. This was not easy, as the Smiths were still limited to funds, and economical housing was very limited, almost nonexistent. Chris's parents felt that they would have a better chance to get ahead in Sydney, Australia's largest city. So with their few belongings, they took the train to Sydney and found temporary accommodations in the inner-city suburb of Marrickville. Their stay there was very short.

His next recollection was their move to West Ryde, where they lived in a house on a hillside with another Estonia Family, all four of them living in the single room. There Chris attended Ermington Public School, about a mile and a half from the house where they now lived. In Australia, the public schools were coeducational, but the high schools were separated. The boys attended one high school, the girls another. There Chris got to know Peter Lister.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from the singer and his songsby deke rivers Copyright © 2010 by Deke Rivers. Excerpted by permission.
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