Christopher Ward (songwriter)

Christopher William Ward (born 28 July 1949) is a Canadian songwriter and broadcaster, known as a former long-standing on-air personality at MuchMusic, Canada's music video network, where he and J.D. Roberts were among the first video jockeys in 1984. Ward was a judge on The Next Star which was a Canadian reality television show on YTV. As a recording artist, Ward charted several singles in Canada between 1976 and 1981. As a songwriter, he achieved notable success with Alannah Myles' recording of "Black Velvet", which reached number 1 on the US charts in 1990. He has also written songs recorded by Diana Ross, Backstreet Boys, Wynonna Judd, Amanda Marshall, Tina Arena, Peter Cetera, Anne Murray and Meredith Brooks, amongst others.