BIOGRAPHY / NEIL / CHRIS

Christopher Sean Lowe was born on 4th October 1959 in Blackpool. He is the eldest in a family of four children - brother Tim, sister Victoria and youngest brother Greg. The most traumatic incident of his childhood occurred when he was skating on Saturday morning - everyone was doing the conga when Chris fell and had an ice skate run over his wrist. Chris remembers it well:"I had ten stitches and ten little injections".

Chris was a piano player in a dance group with 6 others called One Under The Eight and performed classic songs like 'Hello Dolly' and 'My Way' at venues like the Conservative Club and the Masonic Hall in Blackpool.

Chris's childhood hobby gave him strong indications as to what he wanted to do as a career. " I used to enjoy designing houses for my family to live in. This grew into a desire to design houses as a job so I went to college to study architecture".

In 1978, Chris was a student at Liverpool University to study architecture. During 1981/1982 he spent a year gaining practical experience at Michael Auckett Architects in London, designing a staircase at an industrial site in Milton Keynes. "It's not a remarkable staircase, it's just a functional staircase" said Chris.

When Chris met Neil in the electronics shop on King's Road, London they decided to write music based around dance music. Some of Chris' vocal tracks include We All Feel Better In The Dark, Postscript and most recently, Lies.

When he's not busy doing all things PSB, Chris often goes clubbing in London, Sheffield and the US. Chris is an Arsenal fan and wrote former Gunner Ian Wright's song called "Do The Right Thing", which unfortunately was not as big in the UK as it was with the Japanese public. Chris' favourite moment as a Pet Shop Boy was when Arsenal won the European Cup, and the fans sung the theme from "Go West"…….. "one-nil to the Arsenal…."

Personal Profile:

Favourite Drink:
Depends on the time of day, unfortunately. After a hard days work, a gin and tonic. In the morning a glass of evian water. In a pub, a pint of lager. In a nightclub, a vodka and tonic. On an aeroplane, a glass of champagne before take off, followed by an expensive glass of red wine. My absolute favourite is maybe lager.

Favourite food:
Fish fingers.

Favourite colour:
Blue.

Favourite toy as a kid:
It was like a Scalectrix but smaller and made by Hornby, and I could combine it with my brothers Hornby train set; we'd race the car and the train to the crossroads.

Favourite word:
Please.

Favourite journey:
The favourite I've ever made was the first time I drove a car in America, driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles along the Pacific Coast Highway: its such a dramatic coastline and you pass all these famous hippie communities.

Favourite animal:
Dog.

Favourite smell:
Theres a smell of a plant in Ibiza that I really love but I don't know what its called.

Favourite book as a teenager:
Actually I didn't really read books then. I was too busy doing my homework.

Turn-ons:
Beauty - I get really excited by beauty, And I'm a bit of a hands man - hands are one of the first things I look at. And youthful exuberance.

Turn-offs:
Stupidity. Particularly combined with arrogance. Thieves. And the biggest turn off of the lot, smoking.

Best characteristics:
I haven't got any good characteristics. I used to have more bad ones but I've got rid of them because I've learned to be a better person as I've got older. I'm now less moody, more tolerant. I still pick my nose. Still whinge. And I spend too much time thinking about being unhappy. Because unfortunately, I didn't realise until a few weeks ago that happiness was an option.

First single bought:
I think it was Diana Ross and The Surpremes 'Baby Love'.

First album bought:
I didn't buy albums. I still don't buy albums. But it could have been a Wings album.

First concert:
Glen Campbell at the Blackpool Opera House. It was really good; all those Jimmy Webb songs.

First kiss:
I'm not a huge fan of kissing. Everything else, but not kissing. I think kissing's far too intimate.

Most impressive scar:
On my right wrist. I had ten stitches when an iceskate whet over it in Blackpool Ice Rink; we were doing the conga. You cant see for the hairy arms now.

Things which make you cry:
The bit in the sound of music when Christopher Plummer starts to sing the theme song. For some reason I always start to well-up during that. And sometimes I cry over self pity. I think that's the best kind of crying, actually. I put on my sad music tape that I've compiled - 'Climb Every Mountain', 'One day I'll fly away', 'That's all I want from you' by Nina Simone - and get in a bath with aromatic oils. I love to wallow. You feel really good afterwards.

Ambition as a child:
I had no ambition. I'm not an ambitious person.