Chris Heath

{{short description|British writer}}

Chris Heath is a British writer and journalist. He was born in Evesham in the West Midlands and attended Rugby School. He studied social and political science at Cambridge University.{{cite news |author=James Flint |date=20 February 2005 |title=A writer's life: Chris Heath |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3637441/A-writers-life-Chris-Heath.html |accessdate=22 January 2016 |newspaper=The Telegraph}} Heath was a regular contributor to the popular English music magazine Smash Hits in the 1980s and early 1990s and has subsequently reported on a wide variety of non-fiction topics for GQ, The Atlantic, Esquire, and Vanity Fair; as well as writing a number of books on popular culture. He won the 2013 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his article about the 2011 Zanesville, Ohio animal escape in GQ.{{Cite web |date=2013-06-12 |title=Longform Podcast #45: Chris Heath · Longform |url=https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-45-chris-heath |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Longform |language=en}}

In 1989, Heath travelled with Pet Shop Boys on their first world tour and the result was the book entitled Pet Shop Boys, Literally, released in 1990. In 1993, he published Pet Shop Boys versus America which was written as he accompanied them on a US tour.{{cite web |last=Savage|first=Mark|date=21 March 2020|title=How the Pet Shop Boys accidentally made the best tour diary in pop history|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51979902 |website=BBC|location=London|access-date=4 May 2025}} He wrote the liner notes to the reissues of the band's first eleven albums. Alongside Pet Shop Boys, he contributed to the commentary track on the 2003 PopArt DVD. He writes and edits the Pet Shop Boys' fan club magazine, also called Literally, and its follow-up, Annually, and conducts interviews for their tour programmes.

He is also the author of the best-selling biography of Robbie Williams, Feel (2004), and its follow-up, Reveal (2017).

He has been a Contributing Editor at Details, Rolling Stone,{{cite magazine |title=Chris Heath |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/chris-heath |magazine=Rolling Stone |accessdate=22 January 2016}} and American GQ.{{cite magazine |title=Chris Heath |url=https://www.gq.com/contributor/chris-heath |magazine=GQ |accessdate=22 January 2016}}

In 2019 he co-wrote the lyrics for the musical The Boy in the Dress, which was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company.{{Cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=2019-11-28 |title=The Boy in the Dress review – Robbie Williams has a ball with David Walliams |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/28/the-boy-in-the-dress-review |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

He published an investigation of the Ponary massacre in Lithuania during World War II and its aftermath, No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust, in September 2024.{{cite magazine|author=|date=15 July 2024|title=Reviews – History: No Road Leading Back

|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/chris-heath/no-road-leading-back/ |magazine=Kirkus Reviews|location=New York|access-date=4 May 2025}}

His articles include:

For GQ Magazine:

• 18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio, February 2012; for which he won the 2013 National Magazine Award for Reporting{{Cite web |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2012-02-06 |title=Terry Thompson and the Zanesville Ohio Zoo Massacre |url=https://www.gq.com/story/terry-thompson-ohio-zoo-massacre-chris-heath-gq-february-2012 |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=GQ |language=en-US}}
• Graduation Day, February 2012; about the Japanese tsunami{{Cite web |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2012-03-12 |title=Surviving the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami |url=https://www.gq.com/story/japan-tohoku-tsunami-earthquake-disaster |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=GQ |language=en-US}}
• The True Story of Gary Faulkner, the Man Who Hunted Osama bin Laden, September 2010{{Cite web |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2010-09-09 |title=The True Story of Gary Faulkner, the Man Who Hunted Osama bin Laden and Inspired Nic Cage's 'Army of One' |url=https://www.gq.com/story/gary-faulkner-hunts-osama-bin-laden |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=GQ |language=en-US}}

For The Atlantic:

• A Lost Trove of Civil War Gold, an FBI Investigation, and Some Very Angry Treasure Hunters, June 2022{{Cite news |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2022-06-17 |title=A Lost Trove of Civil War Gold, an FBI Excavation, and Some Very Angry Treasure Hunters |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/pennsylvania-civil-war-treasure-gold-hunt-fbi/638445/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}
• The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds, July 2021{{Cite web |last=Heath |first=Chris |date=2021-07-15 |title=The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/unsolicited-seeds-china-brushing/619417/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

For Esquire:

• The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn't, October 2022{{Cite web |date=2022-10-17 |title=The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t |url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a41592008/gretchen-whitmer-kitnap-militiamen/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Esquire |language=en-US}}