Happy Independence Day!!!
Have you ever tried to imagine the world without music in it? Its almost impossible to do. Music touches everything we do, everything we think and everything we feel.
When I sing, Im not singing just for the sake of stringing notes together in order to present my audience with a pleasing melody. Im exposing everything about me. The music I choose to sing touches my own heart. It elevates me to heights and lowers me to depths that can be reached by no other medium but music. One single song can contain all of the elements we all strive to obtain and overcome as well as the things wed like to remember or even forget. A single song can portray the deepest heartache while at the same time giving us the will to see it through to happier times. Music has the power to motivate, to depress, to uplift and to glorify.
This is why I sing.
I was 4 years old and living in Chattanooga, TN when I first sang in front of an audience. I had recently seen a television program in which Pavarotti sang in front of a packed house of awed spectators with a full orchestra accompanying him and imagined myself doing the same. My first solo went off spectacularly, at least in the mind of a 4 year old, and Ive been an entertainer ever since.
At the age of 9 I had the honor of being a back-up singer on a Grammy nominated album by Candi Staton. During this period in my life, my career in Childrens Church musicals flourished, due of course to practice, hard work and in some small degree to my Mother being the director of the Childrens Choir:)
My Senior year in High School was a pivotal time in my singing career. I had made the Tennessee All-State Choir and had been accepted and was ready to begin music classes at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN when unforeseen circumstances arose which placed me at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. It was here that I met one of my mentors, Dr. Glenn Draper.
While singing with Dr. Draper and his choir for 2 years, I had the opportunity to travel all over the continental United States and even sing abroad on more than one occasion.
A desire to develop my talent in singing to a further degree, and at the advice of my mentors, I applied and was accepted at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM), one of the most prestigious music schools in the country. It was here that I began to hone my skills in the area of vocal performance with the help of some of the greatest vocal instructors I had ever known. My thanks to Gary Kendall and Barbara Honn.
While continuing my studies as CCM, I began performing at the Cincinnati Opera House and their Outreach Program.
I graduated from CCM in 1997 and was offered a position on the Voices of Liberty singing group to perform at the American exhibit in Disney Worlds Epcot Center. I had the pleasure of singing with this fantastic group of people for over a year and half, after which time I was offered a position in an a cappella quartet called Four Score which allowed me the opportunity to perform almost daily for a world-wide audience on a major international cruise line. This in turn led to bigger and better things and I soon found myself performing as a solo artist on major cruise lines as well as being a headliner for 2 months at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City.
I have released two albums that showcase my wide range of vocal and musical skill. A skill obtained through persistence, self-assurance, and a sincere desire to entertain, inspire and elate.
Music of the Night was released in 2003 and I just recently released my new album Sway in January of 2006.
My name is Chris Riggins. Let me sing you a song.
This site is maintained by Chris Riggins and Team.