Chris Bailey of the Saints: the voice that tore across the world, and changed the face of Brisbane

‘The Saints lit a fire in Brisbane that burned long after they decamped.’
Photograph: GAB Archive/Getty Images

In 1976 – regardless of whether he or anyone else thought so at the time – 19-year-old Chris Bailey was the voice of Brisbane.

(I’m) Stranded, the first single he cut with his band the Saints, tore through like nothing else on the radio. Bailey’s singing recalled the young Van Morrison: impatient, howling, spitting out lyrics that radiated the indignities and frustrations of growing up in a city at the arse end of the world.