1. Chris Bergson was born on May 24,1976 and is an American born guitarist, singer and songwriter.
29 Facts About Chris Bergson
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Chris Bergson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist in 2015.
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Chris Bergson began his professional career in Boston, Massachusetts playing in Boston area rock clubs at the age of 13.
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In 1995, Chris Bergson studied privately with jazz guitarist Jim Hall.
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From 1996 to 1999, Chris Bergson attended Manhattan School of Music where he studied guitar with Rodney Jones and Jack Wilkins before graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Music degree.
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In 1996, Chris Bergson recorded his debut album, Blues For Some Friends of Mine featuring bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Greg Bandy.
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In early 1999, Chris Bergson landed a steady gig at Vintage, a lounge in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, where he led a trio two nights a week backing up singers including Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Dena DeRose.
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In 2001, Chris Bergson recorded a collaborative album Reunion of Souls with guitarist Sheryl Bailey and drummer Sunny Jain.
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In 2002, Chris Bergson was appointed a Jazz Ambassador of the United States of America by the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the US State Department and toured 8 countries in West Africa giving concerts and workshops.
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In 2003, Chris Bergson performed at New York City's Blue Note Jazz Club and recorded the EP, Blues, live at Smoke Jazz Club with organist Brian Charette and drummer Matt Wilson.
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In 2004, the Chris Bergson Band was featured as Artists-in-Residence at New York City's Jazz Standard performing every Monday night in the Fall of 2004.
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In October 2006, the Chris Bergson Band recorded their first album, Fall Changes at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York.
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Chris Bergson is one of the artists included in photographer Paul LaRaia's book, The Levon Helm Midnight Ramble.
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In 2008, the Chris Bergson Band performed at the Kaslo Summer Music Festival in Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada where they backed John P Hammond.
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In 2009, Chris Bergson joined the guitar faculty of New York City's 92nd Street Y School of Music.
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In March 2009, Chris Bergson performed at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
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In May 2009, the Chris Bergson Band toured in Europe for the first time including performances at Holland's Moulin Blues Festival in Ospel, Netherlands and Rhythm and Blues Night in Groningen, Netherlands.
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In 2010, the Chris Bergson Band including keyboardist Bruce Katz toured Europe including performances at Norway's Blues in Hell Festival and Ireland's Harvest Time Blues Festival.
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In 2013, Chris Bergson began writing songs and performing with the soul singer Ellis Hooks.
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In June 2013, the Chris Bergson Band recorded a live album over two nights at New York City's Jazz Standard club featuring Ellis Hooks guesting on two songs, keyboardist Craig Dreyer and a three piece horn section arranged by Jay Collins including trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, tenor saxophonist David Luther and baritone saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith.
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In November 2013, Chris Bergson performed for the first time in France at the Nuit du Blues Festival in Chaumont with the French musicians bassist Philippe Dandrimont and drummer Pat Machenaud, who would go on to be part of his regular European touring band for the next six years.
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In March 2019, Chris Bergson performed with master drummer Bernard Purdie along with keyboardist Dave Keyes and they would begin performing as a co-led group with Ellis Hooks later that year.
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In May 2019, Chris Bergson performed for the first time in Russia at the Arkhangelsk Blues Festival.
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In June 2019, the Chris Bergson Band celebrated the release of Live at Normandy at New York City's City Winery augmented by a horn section featuring tenor saxophonist Michael Blake.
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In July 2019, the Chris Bergson Band featuring Ellis Hooks performed at France's oldest Blues festival, the Cahors Blues Festival.
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In September 2021, Chris Bergson was appointed an Associate Professor of Guitar at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA where he currently teaches guitar privately in addition to small group classes in slide guitar and songwriting.
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In February 2015, Chris Bergson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist.
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In perfect harmony with the splendid vocalist Ellis Hooks, guitarist-singer Chris Bergson is accompanied by a "French connection" of choice: Philippe Billoin, Philippe Dandrimont and Patrick Machenaud.
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The soulful voice of Hooks is reminiscent of the great soul men like Sam Cooke and Otis [Redding], and together with Chris Bergson he turns it into a true party.