Chris Stamey (born December 6, 1954,
Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the oldest state-supported university in the U.S...
) is an American
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
, singer,
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
. After a stint playing with
Alex ChiltonAlex Chilton is an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer best known for his work with the pop-music bands the Box Tops and Big Star...
, and a brief partnering with
Mitch EasterMitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, and Velvet Crush.As a...
under the name Sneakers, he formed
The dB'sThe dB's were a jangle pop/power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
, whose stewardship he would share with
Peter HolsapplePeter Holsapple formed, along with Chris Stamey, the singing, songwriting, and guitar-playing core of the dB's, a 1980s jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure...
.
In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the independent record label, Car Records, which released
Chris BellChris Bell may refer to:*Chris Bell , a singer-songwriter and guitarist of the band Big Star*Chris Bell , former Congressman and 2006 candidate for Governor of Texas...
's single "I am the Cosmos" / "You and Your Sister" (1978).
Stamey recorded and released two critically acclaimed albums with
The dB'sThe dB's were a jangle pop/power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
,
Stands for deciBels (1981) and
Repercussion (1982), before quitting the band to begin a solo career.
In 1991, he and Holsapple reunited to record an album entitled
Mavericks.
Chris relocated from New York back to Chapel Hill, NC in 1996, and founded a recording studio, Modern Recording with former dB's producer
Scott LittScott Litt is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums.-Biography:Litt began in the late 1970s, engineering recordings by Ian Hunter and Carly Simon...
.
Chris Stamey (born December 6, 1954,
Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the oldest state-supported university in the U.S...
) is an American
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
, singer,
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
and
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
. After a stint playing with
Alex ChiltonAlex Chilton is an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer best known for his work with the pop-music bands the Box Tops and Big Star...
, and a brief partnering with
Mitch EasterMitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, and Velvet Crush.As a...
under the name Sneakers, he formed
The dB'sThe dB's were a jangle pop/power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
, whose stewardship he would share with
Peter HolsapplePeter Holsapple formed, along with Chris Stamey, the singing, songwriting, and guitar-playing core of the dB's, a 1980s jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure...
.
In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the independent record label, Car Records, which released
Chris BellChris Bell may refer to:*Chris Bell , a singer-songwriter and guitarist of the band Big Star*Chris Bell , former Congressman and 2006 candidate for Governor of Texas...
's single "I am the Cosmos" / "You and Your Sister" (1978).
Stamey recorded and released two critically acclaimed albums with
The dB'sThe dB's were a jangle pop/power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
,
Stands for deciBels (1981) and
Repercussion (1982), before quitting the band to begin a solo career.
In 1991, he and Holsapple reunited to record an album entitled
Mavericks.
Chris relocated from New York back to Chapel Hill, NC in 1996, and founded a recording studio, Modern Recording with former dB's producer
Scott LittScott Litt is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums.-Biography:Litt began in the late 1970s, engineering recordings by Ian Hunter and Carly Simon...
. He has worked as a producer and mixer for various artists and albums. One of his first projects at Modern Recording was recording and mixing
WhiskeytownWhiskeytown was an alternative country band formed in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1994. Fronted by Ryan Adams, other members included Caitlin Cary, Phil Wandscher, Eric "Skillet" Gilmore, and Mike Daly...
.
After a long hiatus from recording as an artist, he released two records in quick succession,
Travels in the South (2004) and
A Question of Temperature (2005). On the latter recording, he is backed by the band
Yo La TengoYo La Tengo is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew ....
.
In July 2009, Stamey and Holsapple released their second album as a duo entitled
Here and Now. They are currently touring in support of the album.