Christopher DeWayne Strickland (born July 6th, 1978) is an American singer/songwriter. His parents are Larry and Kathy Strickland. He also has an elder sister, Kimberly Strickland, who lives somewhere in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, along with a niece and nephew, Anthony and Victoria Reyes.

Chris grew up on a variety of musical influences and was attracted to the guitar at an early age (one picture on an album with a guitar in his hand and strumming was dated to 1981). By the time he was 12 years old, he was a regular musician at Dollar Burger in Broken Bow, OK, and had 6 self-made albums selling to friends at school under the name SHOUT (a duo formed with Greg McCuin). Around this time, he went through a succession of short-lived acts with many different people including Chris Morgan, Courtney McClellen, and his cousin, Kevin "Tick" Harrison. These various acts performed around the Southeast Oklahoma area, winning many talent competitions and providing entertainment for parties that you wouldn't take your worst enemies to.

1990's

In the Mid-90's, Chris became distressed with life in general. Partly brought on by genetics, environment, and tumultuous relationships, he went through a psychological crisis and attempted to self-medicate with alcohol and marijuana. This resulted in his placement in a Chemical Dependency Treatment Center for Adolescents in Wetumka, OK, called SECOND CHANCE. Early release proved to be a bad mistake. A few weeks after his release, Kurt Cobain committed suicide, and Chris fell off the deep end again, only to find himself back in rehab.

Upon his release in August of '94, it wasn't long until he was back doing drugs and drinking up most of his time. In February of '95, he barely escaped death after flipping a small 4-Door Pontiac end-over-end and up into a tree on the Northeast edge of his hometown, but he didn't escape the law, resulting in a DWI at the age of 16. It was later dismissed after completion of a First Offender's Course.

In late '95, Chris moved near Hot Springs, Arkansas, and hooked up with his old friend Greg McCuin to create an act that evolved into one of the most powerful punk three-pieces to come out of the four-states area: HALF-IRISH. The band released a short E.P. and toured in both Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In the Spring of '96, after a falling out between members in HALF-IRISH, Chris moved back to Oklahoma and continued to drink heavily, experimenting with psychedelics and also becoming more and more involved in various Para-Psychological studies and investigating the motives behind behavior, especially his own. He dabbled in various religious movements including Thelema, Eckenkar, all things having to do with looking at the world through a different belief system.

During this time, he began to write and record his own material, layering all of the tracks and playing all of the instruments. It didn't take long before people were interested. Splinters, a home-made demo/album, was circulating widely around the area and making its way across to other areas and many states were now familiar with his name and sound.

A studio album, produced by Billy Don Brooks, was released in 1998 after a lengthy stay in a state mental hospital. Chris took his diagnoses and medications and wrote songs about them, and his present bleak condition. People loved it. The sudden attraction of new listeners fed the beast and he really focused on trying to form a career in the music business. During the height of the small-scale celebrity from this album, he met and later married Angela Denise Collins of Paris, Texas.

2000's

In early 2002, upon a new album's release, one of Chris's songs called MOON IN PISCES was getting a lot of airplay across the states thanks to help from being featured on a compilation with Conor Oberst of BRIGHT EYES and also from local radio interviews on KBUS 101.9 FM. Chris played various venues, either backed by whoever was handy, or just an ensemble of friends and musicians. He bumped elbows with Cheap Trick in Oklahoma City once, actually Rick Nielson followed him up to his room and brought him a beer when he was a mere 16 years old and attending an Alcoholics Anonymous Conference at the Merriot Hotel. He declined but they proceeded to play some blues, switching off on guitar. Although he's been seen in the company of some high-profile artists, he maintains that it's only a coincidence or talks about it in cryptic language as if he doesn't want to be defined to any one genre of music. He's jammed with many notable country artists as well as some Death Metal acts in the Arkansas area.

In February 2003, he had another psychological crisis brought on by Alcohol Poisoning and exhaustion. Chris gave up drinking again, as well as smoking a couple of weeks later. This also became the end of his pursuit of a musical career. In the Fall of 2003 he went back to College and graduated with an A.A. in Psychology.

After divorcing his wife in December of 2004, he made plans to pursue a career in Psychology, eventually attending Texas A & M University. It would seem that Alcohol, Drugs, and Psychological problems may have silenced this voice in modern music, as that is presently the case. Many people think he is actually still writing and producing under another name, or several names.

Discography

"HALF-IRISH" E.P. (1995)

"SPLINTERS"(1997)

"Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt" (1998)

"Makeshift-Medicine" (2001)

"Who? Chris Strickland? I'm not that hip."

Those are the words spoken by Jon Stewart when being interviewed on Larry King Live on March 22, 2002.

KING: They don't stop. With Jon Stewart, Valliant, Oklahoma. Hello. What a name for a city. Hello.

CALLER: Yes, I want to tell Larry, thanks for giving little people a voice on national television. And I want to ask Jon Stewart if he does get the late night spot, he'd have Chris Strickland be his first musical guest.

KING: Who?

STEWART: Who?

CALLER: Chris Strickland.

KING: Chris Strickland.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: We don't know him.

STEWART: I'm not that hip.

KING: But we're happy to have young, small people on the show. Was he referring to you?

STEWART: Did he mean small like me small? Oh, OK, I wasn't sure.

KING: St. Louis, hello.

STEWART: Geez, I thought I was sitting up.

External links

http://www.garageband.com/artist/chrisstrickland

http://www.myspace.com/chrisstrickland

http://www.geocities.com/dollar_experiment/donate