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"Her voice is vibrant and pure and her songwriting skills are sharply impressive!"
"Music about love is simply ageless and so is Chris Bennett! Sexy and confident she captivated the entire room." Hamburg Journal, Review from A-Trane Jazz Club
"I Can't Think About It, by Chris Bennett, is one of the 20 best original songs of 2010. An instant classic!"
Chris Bennett is, today, a name synonymous with the international success and commercial appeal of the contemporary jazz music scene. With the release of SAIL AWAY: The TAHITI SESSIONS, her 11th studio CD release, she has secured a revered place as one of an intimate handful of successors to Peggy Lee, June Christy, Shirley Horn, Anita O'Day and the classic American female jazz vocalists. At
times a stylist and, more often, the singer of self-composed music
and lyrics, she is always a genuine artist in performance A lifetime
of entertaining combined with a disciplined regimen of daily practice
and consistent training is evident in masterful live performances
and perfect studio recordings.
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By her mid-twenties, Bennett was already a well-traveled woman and, certainly, a vocalist of the world. While on tour in Germany, she was scouted and hand- picked by multi-Grammy and multi-Academy Award winning composer/producer Giorgio Moroder to join the popular disco group Munich Machine. He chose Bennett to be the lead vocalist for their sophomore album which would contain a dance version of the Procol Harum rock classic A Whiter Shade of Pale. Bennett not only recorded the entire album, she also posed for the groundbreaking cover art; entirely naked. Bennett's runway model's body and movie star looks caused an international sensation and made for one of the highest charting and highest grossing disco albums of 1978. A full fledged dance music diva under the guidance of Moroder, Bennett was signed to Casablanca Records as a songwriter and recording artist. She recorded as one half of Giorgio & Chris for the only duet album of Moroder’s entire career, Love’s In You, Love’s In Me. Her distinctly clear voice and high range also backed up some of Donna Summer’s biggest hits, most notably the certified Gold single Heaven Knows and the number one certified Platinum Live & More album. Bennett again made international headlines when the song she co-wrote and sang the theme from Midnight Express was nominated for a Grammy. By the 1980s, Chris Bennett had established herself as a successful singer, songwriter and producer, occasionally singing back-up for Rita Coolidge and Johnny Mathis. Her songs were being recorded by the likes of Tina Turner and The Manhattan Transfer. She co-wrote and co-produced for The Three Degrees, the final Munich Machine album Body Shine and the Suzi Lane album Ooh La La. She also played a key role in producing and writing with up-and-coming Grammy-award winning Blues artist Keb Mo. In the 1990s, Bennett reflected on her career as an accomplished singer, noteworthy producer and popular songwriter. Having performed for others behind the scenes primarily throughout the 1980s, she made a promise to return to the recording studio and the concert stage, this time, for herself. It would also be a return to her first musical love: jazz.
From disco diva to jazz chanteuse, the musical journey of Chris Bennett
has been the evolution of an artist come full circle. An accomplished
vocalist, pianist, composer and producer, she recently added Broadway
musical composer to her repertoire. |