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Born in a one room cabin in the woods of Bothell, Washington, Chris Riffle has lived in and around the Northwest most of his life. Chris spent a good portion of his childhood learning to live simply, with no electricity or running water in the mountains of Washington State. He even spent some summers in a teepee. This gave his dad ample time to write and sing his own folk songs around the fire at night, and planted the musician seed early in Chris. Throughout high school and into college, he was a founding member of Chrysler-Stewart and the Stewartesses-- a lounge pop ensemble influenced by Sergio Mendez and the Brasil 66, the B-52s, Jan & Dean, and Combustible Edison. Chris played guitar, bass, keyboards and sang for the group. In college, in Bellingham ("The city of subdued excitement"), he started branching out on his own, singing and recording his own songs. One of these singles "Wonderboy" (a catchy pop song from one boy to another) made its way to KUGS-FM and became a local favorite... "Evidently, I wasn’t the only one enamored of Chris. Through my incessant phone calls to KUGS to demand they play one or the other of the two songs they had in their rotation, I found out that his songs were among the most requested.” Carey Ross – What’s Up Magazine. . . . He quickly began opening for acts like Death Cab for Cutie, Mary Lou Lord and Dub Narcotic Sound System and made a substantial splash on the Bellingham, WA music scene. Lately Chris has been performing with renowned musicians such as Blake Fleming (Mars Volta) backing him on drums, Jimi Zhivago (Olabelle) on guitar, bass & organ, and Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnson’s) on cello. Chris now lives in the East Village in New York City and just released an album “Introducing...” with producer Jimi Zhivago. This album was mixed by three time Grammy winner Steve Rosenthal at The Magic Shop and recorded at The Maid's Room, the NY studio used for Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and many more. The CD release party for Introducing was well received by a packed house at The Living Room then went on to be featured on Sirius XM Satellite radio station The Loft. WGTB (reputable D.C. station) picked Chris for their Artist of the Week then went on to say, "Catch him before he's a big deal-- he's not even on YouTube yet. Seriously." |
