Lou Christie

Born in Glenwillard (Pennsylvania), on Feburary 19, 1943, Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco was more known under the pseudonym Lou Christie, an American pop and soft rock singer-songwriter. After being trained in music and singing, he befriended with Twyla Herbert, who became his regular songwriting partner and wrote hundred of songs with him over the next thirty years, until her death in 2009. Sacco performed with several vocal groups between 1959 and 1962, recording records on small Pittsburg labels and achieving a local hit with "The Jury" by Lugee & the Lions. He then traveled to New York City and worked as a session vocalist. Lou Christie's early recording career had an enforced two year hiatus following his draft into the US armed forces. Prior to his military service, Christie had begun to establish himself as a popular singer following a minor US hit with "The Gypsy Cried", written in 1962 and recorded in his garage on a basic two track recorder. After becoming a regional hit the track was taken up by Roulette and given a national release rising to number 24 in the charts. After re-locating to New York from his native Pennsylvania, Christie had a top ten hit with the self-penned "Two Faces Have I" but within weeks of it reaching number ten in the charts the singer received his call-up papers. Remarkably, the timing of the call did his career no apparent harm because as soon as he returned to civvy street in 1966 he had two more major hits, "Lightnin' Strikes" quickly followed by "Rhapsody in the Rain". A move from Columbia Records to Buddah rewarded Christie with his final top ten hit with the song "I'm Gonna Make You Mine". His career declined sharply from that point, curtailed due to ongoing problems with drug abuse. Christie left the music industry working in a diverse variety of occupations before making a recording comeback with the well-received 1997 album Pledging My Love featuring the artist's first new material for 25 years. In 2024, Christie released his first concert album, Greatest Hits Live from the Bottom Line. He remained a concert act on the oldies circuit, and released new songs since 2015. In 2022, he succeeded to the late Bobby Rydell as a member of the supergroup Dick Fox's Golden Boys, along with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. On June 18, 2025, Lou Christie died from cancer in Pittsburgh, at the age of 82