Chris Veness/Black – Rest in Peace

By Margaret Sheard….

On Tuesday 26^th January I was devastated to note a couple of postings on Facebook about the death of Chris Veness or Chris Fender Black as he is known in the rock ‘n’ roll world.  Since then there have been so many condolence messages on Facebook from the many friends Chris has made over the years.

Living in North Cyprus I never actually got to meet Chris although I felt I knew him as a distant friend through the many dealings we had regarding his national service days with the Suffolk Regiment in Cyprus and later their “old boys” reunions in the UK which he arranged together with Derek Chilvers who also served in Cyprus with Chris, so they go back a long way.

From what I have been able to learn, Chris had a heart attack on Thursday 21^st January and was rushed unconscious to hospital but sadly he didn’t make it and died on Tuesday 26^th January.

Chris was a “rocker” for all his adult life and I gather he was performing in Swindon the week before his heart attack.   A rocker to the very end, which I am sure is just what he would have wanted.

My recollections are of his army days in Cyprus and I have written about the days of the wonderful camaraderie they enjoyed and give some of the links below.  Chris set up a band while in Cyprus and cyprusscene was able to help him locate one of the group after some 55 years and they met up again on 13^th October 2014.  Chris was so happy that he had found his old pal after all those years and we are so pleased that we helped make it happen.

From time to time Chris would send me a few snippets of his Cyprus memories and later every now and again a joke, from what must have been an archive of jokes, in his normal happy go lucky fashion.

Chris performed with so many well-known celebrities a lot of us remember from the 1960’s and 1970’s and when Cynthia Lennon died last year, Chris sent me some notes for an article, and this can be seen by clicking here. There is also shown below a youtube recording of an appearance in a programme called The 1952 Show with Len Goodman.

The many friends Chris has made over the years will miss him, as will the rock ‘n’ roll scene of which he was very much an active part right up to the end.  I always thought of him as a bit ‘eccentric’ and he lived life to the full but reading between the lines I also realised that he was a very caring and thoughtful person.

Condolences to Chris’s family – Rest in Peace Chris

To see some of the Suffolk Regiment “Old Boys” events which Chris always attended, please click the links shown below

Suffolk Regiment Reunion 2015 – click here

Minden Day 2015 – click here

Suffolk Regiment ex-serviceman entertains his old Cyprus comrades – click here