Chris Stewart Biography

Christopher Stewart (born 1951) was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis. He is now a farmer in Spain and the author of several popular autobiographical works.

Background and musical career

Stewart grew up in Horsham in Sussex. He was a classmate of Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel at Charterhouse School in Surrey, and joined them in a school band called the Garden Wall. This was joined by classmates Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips to form Anon, which was renamed Genesis in January 1967. Stewart appears on Genesis' first two singles, "The Silent Sun"/"That's Me" and "A Winter's Tale"/"One-Eyed Hound." Although several demos from Stewart's time with the band appear on the Genesis Archive 1967-75 box set, he is not credited with playing on any of them.

Farmer and author

At the recommendation of Jonathan King, Stewart was asked to leave the band in the summer of 1968 due to his poor technique, and was replaced by John Silver. After travelling and working throughout Europe, Stewart settled and bought a farm named El Valero in the Alpujarras region of Andalucia, where he lives and works with his wife Ana Exton and daughter Chlo. He came in last place for the position of local councillor in the 27 May 2007 local elections in rgiva representing the Green Party, where he received 201 votes (roughly 8%).

He is now known for his autobiographical books, Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia (1999, ISBN 0-9535227-0-9) and the sequels, A Parrot In The Pepper Tree (ISBN 0-9535227-5-X) and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society (2006, ISBN 0-9548995-0-4), about his life farming in Spain. All three are also available as audiobooks (Lemons ISBN 0-14-180143-3, Parrot ISBN 0-14-180402-5, and Almond ISBN 0-7528-8597-9), narrated by Stewart.

Stewart's publisher, Sort of Books, announced plans to release yet another Stewart memoir in 2009, this one focused on sailing, entitled Three Ways to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist Afloat. This was fulfilled as ISBN 978-0956003812.

In 2014 Sort Of Books published a further book of stories, Last Days of the Bus Club (4 June 2014, ISBN 978-1-908745-43-9), which focuses on his daughter's going to university, and his and Ana's subsequent life alone on the farm.

Stewart has also contributed to two books in the Rough Guides series: the Rough Guide to Andalucia and the Rough Guide to China.