Лималь: Бұрынғы Kajagoogoo тобының әншісі және "The NeverEnding Story" хитінің орындаушысы

British pop singer

Christopher Hamill (born 19 December 1958), known professionally as Limahl (an anagram of Hamill), is a British pop singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Kajagoogoo beginning in 1982, before embarking on a solo career, garnering the 1984 hit "The NeverEnding Story", the theme song for the film The NeverEnding Story.

Christopher Hamill was born on 19 December 1958 at Pemberton, Lancashire, in North West England, to Eric and Cynthia Hamill. He has one sister and two brothers. Hamill attended Mesnes High School, Wigan, Greater Manchester before eventually enrolling at the Westcliff on Sea Palace Theatre Repertory Company.

With aspirations to be an actor, Chris Hamill toured with the company in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 1981, he also appeared as an extra in the promotional video for Adam and the Ants' number one UK single "Stand and Deliver". He had a keen interest in music, forming a short lived punk band called Vox Deus. Hamill attended the audition and subsequently joined the band which was then, after some deliberation, renamed Kajagoogoo. Soon after he had joined, Limahl met Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of the group Duran Duran, while Limahl was working as a waiter at the Embassy Club in London. Rhodes agreed to co produce the band's first single, "Too Shy". Limahl later said: "I met Nick Rhodes and it changed my life." Kajagoogoo signed a deal with EMI, due in part to Rhodes' involvement with the band, and the single "Too Shy" was released in January 1983. It went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart and made the top 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The group had further hits with "Ooh to Be Ah" (UK No. 7) and "Hang on Now" (UK No. 13), with their debut album White Feathers reaching UK No. 5. Their first major UK tour was attended by 60,000 people, and the final show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was recorded and released on home video/Laserdisc (the 16 track White Feathers Tour). In mid 1983, soon after the end of the White Feathers concert tour, the four other members of the band agreed that Limahl should be fired. As recounted years later by Nick Beggs and other Kajagoogoo members on the VH 1 program Bands Reunited, the actual firing of Limahl was done by their manager, and the band learned that it had been done over the telephone. Limahl was quoted in the press as saying: "I've been betrayed! ", and "I was sacked for making them a success". The band stated Limahl had become difficult to work with as they didn't share his vision for the band's future. Soon after Limahl's departure, bassist Nick Beggs commented: "It was a business decision and not one we took lightly. He wanted the band to go in a different direction to the rest of us. Eventually, we realised we were on a different planet to Limahl." Beggs also stated the band harboured no ill will towards Limahl, and blamed the press for sensationalising the matter. Guitarist Steve Askew commented: "At first we did everything possible to make Limahl feel like part of the furniture, but, you know, his lifestyle is so different from ours. We're very normal people whereas Limahl likes the bright lights." His debut album, 1984's Don't Suppose , was a commercial failure in the UK, peaking at No. 63. It was better received in continental Europe, where it topped the Norwegian album chart and reached the Top 10 in Austria, Sweden and Switzerland. Following this, Limahl released two more albums: Colour All My Days in 1986 and Love Is Blind in 1992, both of which failed to chart in the UK but found moderate success in Italy, Spain, and Germany. In 1988, he was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis in New York. Six songs were recorded at a cost of $250,000, but Davis dropped Limahl from the label soon afterward. Limahl, with the hairstyle he sported circa 1984, was illustrator Arthur Adams's inspiration for the look of the Marvel Comics X Men character Longshot.

In late 2003, Limahl briefly reunited with the other members of Kajagoogoo for the VH1 special Bands Reunited (which aired in 2004), but this did not lead to a permanent reunion. Also in 2004, Limahl took part in the musical reality show Comeback on German TV channel Pro7. A year later, in 2005, he appeared in a similar UK show, Hit Me Baby One More Time on ITV. The episode in which Limahl appeared also featured Howard Jones, who had enlisted the services of Kajagoogoo bass player Nick Beggs to support him during his own performance. Limahl eventually reunited with Kajagoogoo again in 2008. Now reformed in their original five piece line up, the band took part in various music festivals in Europe. In 2011, the band released a new track, "Death Defying Headlines", as a digital single. Limahl as a solo artist released a new single in 2012 called "1983", co written/produced with Norwegians Tommy Olsen, Rune Maurtvedt, and Stig Antonsen. The track was released worldwide by Dig Music (Norway) on 10 January 2012. In November 2012, Limahl appeared on ITV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! He came in as a late entrant contestant alongside Rosemary Shrager. Limahl continued to perform mostly 1980s retro based shows, often performing as part of multi act tours. In 2016, Limahl appeared as part of the Billboard Tour playing to audiences in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. He featured as part of the successful Totally 80s Tour of Australia in July 2016, playing to audiences in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. In July and August 2018, he played his first shows in America as part of the Retro Futura Tour. In July 2019, the song "The NeverEnding Story" recorded a sudden 2,063% increase in on demand streams from 88,000 in the week ending 4 July to 1.91 million in the week ending 11 July after actors Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo performed an a cappella duet of the track in the final episode of season three of Netflix series Stranger Things. In November 2019, Limahl and Kajagoogoo were featured in two episodes of season 9 of American Horror Story. On 5 June 2020, Limahl released the single "Still in Love," which was his first single released since 2012. This was followed by "One Wish for Christmas" in November. On 28 November 2020, he appeared as a guest on a late night Channel 5 entertainment show called Jane McDonald Sings the Movies.

Hamill is gay, but remains private as regards details concerning his personal life. He’s been with his civil partner, Steve Evans, since 1994.