6 pm
Chris Bell
& 100% Blues
myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/chrisbellblues
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Chris was born in
Washington, DC, and raised in Massachusetts on down-home cooking
as well as on blues, jazz, rhythm & blues, and gospel music by his
New York City dad and North Carolina mom. Before starting to
play guitar at fourteen years old, he studied in Germany, where
his dad was a visiting professor of American and African American
Cultural Studies. Later, as an art and music major at the
University of Massachusetts, Chris participated in jazz workshops
with Archie Shepp and in a summer session at Berklee. He
also studied guitar with Tony MacAlpine. His major
influences range from B.B. King and Albert Collins to Jimi
Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Songwriter, lead guitarist, and
vocalist, Chris Bell, Silver Bridge Recording blues artist from
North Hollywood, California, is now on tour featuring his latest
CD release
“Real Bluesman” with his band, 100% Blues.
They have also just recently released their
live concert DVD
"Stage on
Fire", filmed locally in Tujunga, CA.
Chris and his band "100% Blues" features Chuck Maithonis on
bass and backing vocals, Stephen "DJ Sticks" Marshall on drums, and Dan Pulos on Hammond Organ.
They have been successfully touring the Western US, and regularly head out to
the East Coast every summer. They have received rave reviews of their latest
album
"Real Bluesman"
in such magazines as Blues Revue, Living Blues, Southland Blues,
Big City Rhythm & Blues, and more. Jim Santos of Southland Blues
Magazine wrote - "Bell comes up with a winner that will
undoubtedly wind up among this year's top ten blues albums."
Of his
previous album - “ ‘Hell Is Too Hot For Me’ is
easily the best original blues guitar album to inhabit my CD
player this year,” writes the reviewer for the
Centre Daily Times,
“maybe the best blues album period.”
Chris Bell’s earlier two CDs,
“Blues 2001” and “CHRIS BELL & 100% Blues: LIVE” and his live
performances of mostly original songs have received rave reviews.
“Mixing up the mood with catchy lyrics and some dark lowdown
blues,” says the reviewer for
Southwest Blues, “Bell shows a flair for blues styles
past and present.” “Bell played guitar dirtier than dirt,” the
Southland Blues
reviewer writes about Bell’s performance at the Irvine Lake Blues
Festival. “His biggest and coolest trait is his grit and grimy
voice that is so distinctive it’s in a class alone.” His single
“Elevator to Heaven” was been among the top downloaded songs on
MP3 in 1999.
Chris is also currently the producer and host of "100% Blues," a cable
access TV show in the Los Angeles area. See his website
www.chrisbellblues.com for
pictures and sound bites from CDs and live performances.
visit his
myspace page : http://www.myspace.com/chrisbellblues