Biography
Chris St John has been on a roll this past year, especially these last few months. He
has had several international hit singles, including “I Called You
Rose”, “I’d Send You My Heart” and “A Box For Jewels” All songs
dominated the Euro and World Indie Music Charts, rising to No. 3 and 8
respectively. St John’s latest track, the extremely
infections “Hey Siri”, perfectly captures the current state of our
techno-crazy modern world. The song humorously yet
pointedly song addresses both our addiction to, and frustration with,
Siri, Alexa, Facebook, Amazon, texts, emails and cell phones, while
lamenting the loss of simpler times before the cell phone/social media
age.
Over a lighthearted, playfully rolling, whistle-infused
African/Carribean styled groove reminiscent of Paul Simon’s classic
Graceland vibe, the fast emerging multi-faceted Americana, folk, soft
rock and country influenced artist shares insightful lyrics we can all
relate to – and will be singing by the second chorus: “Siri’s
unavailable, Alexa won’t stop talking, texts and emails coming, our
children text for talking/I can’t remember my passwords/Days run like a
river/My phone is like an organ./You’ll kill me if you take it away.”
Produced by industry legend Stephen Wrench, who has worked with
everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tom Petty to Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt
and Ozzy Osbourne, the buoyant track was recorded at Omni Studios in
Nashville with some of Music City’s most renowned session musicians.
Wrench, also a powerhouse radio promoter whose company Musik Radio
Promotions caters to a network of over 250,000 stations in 180
countries, worked with St. John’s earlier singles – and was so impressed
by his latest batch of songs that he signed as his producer for the
current project.
“Hey Siri,” a compelling video for which is in
late production is the first lead single from St. John’s mostly finished
album in progress Fly Away, planned for release in early 2022. Fly Away
is the follow-up to the singer’s debut collection I’m Dreaming, which
dropped earlier in 2021 and was showered with more than 30 worldwide
rave reviews.
“Hey Siri’ is a song I wrote in less than a half an hour, early
one morning at my office,” says the Long Island based St. John. He
began writing songs at age seven but set his musical dreams aside for
years as he pursued a successful career (a prosecutor, judge and an
attorney and owner of a large law practice). “I heard an upbeat melody
in my head and added lyrics about the blessing and curse of modern
technology. I knew I wanted airy dancing guitar and that it wouldn’t be a
typical folk or rock song – and when I sent it to Stephen, he said
“don’t change a thing!”
“I thought back to my childhood and how much things have
changed,” he adds. “We are prisoners to our phones and devices. We are
much more productive, but at the cost of our peace, privacy, and
creativity. What gets lost is the enjoyment of personal
conversations and connections with our family and friends, and time
enjoying the beauty that surrounds us. We read less, we dream less, and
we are being killed by a death of a thousand cut of texts, emails, and
calls. When technology fails us in any way, even for a moment, we lose our patience. We are at the world’s beck and call, and that is stealing our happiness. People need to decide for themselves whether the progress we see is better or worse loss for the human condition.”
While there’s a certain thematic novelty aspect to “Hey Siri,”
the upcoming collection’s second lead single, the album’s title track
“Fly Away,” is a soulful, poignant ballad that all parents can relate
to, a song that reflects the true emotional depth of his ever-evolving
songwriting artistry. “Fly Away” is about how fast our children grow,”
St. John says. “I don’t want to give too much away, because I think
people will relate to this song, and I want to leave the listeners room
for interpretation. I put my heart way out there on this
one. I write about the things that I see and feel, and I let it all hang
out on the entire album.”
While most working musicians were sidelined from the road
during the first stage of the pandemic, there were silver linings galore
for budding artists like St. John, who took an opportunity to go on
authentic cattle round up, punching 650 head down Big Horn Mountain,
Wyoming.
Spending 12 hours a day in the saddle, St. John went through a
few horses before finding Reagan, a horse he instantly connected with,
and later purchased. He wrote a song about the experience titled “I Need
a Horse,” which became the first song he ever had produced in a studio
setting. Encouraged by the response he received from family and friends;
the singer dusted off a bunch of songs he had written over the years
for his lifelong dream long on the back burner. With time to spare, St.
John went on a creative tear after I’m Dreaming, writing 15 new songs
over the course of several months – many of which are being produced now
by Wrench and will appear on Fly Away. “Once I wrote “I Need a Horse”
about my life changing trip and my horse,” St. John says, “I knew it was
time to take a leap to a professional music career and to follow my
dreams.”
St. John brings his wealth of life experiences to his musical
palette that could never have existed had he gone the proverbial
starving artist route earlier on in his adult life. In addition to his
many years practicing law, he studied and taught Chinese in Beijing. He
worked in the State Department for then Secretary of State George
Schultz, participating in the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in 1986. He
was later a trade delegate to a trade mission to China in 2007, in
Xian, China. In addition, the singer is the co-founder of HALO Missions
(Health and Learning for Orphans), which provides hands-on medical care
and educational assistance to orphans in developing countries. He is
also a volunteer professional firefighter.
Despite the adventurous eclecticism of his resume, music has
always been St. John’s truest passion since day one, driven by a diverse
playlist of artists and albums that continuously inform his development
as a singer and songwriter. “I discovered the Beatles in 1970, at 5
years of age,” he says, “and got into the Grateful Dead in 1980, at 15.
My musical catalogue includes the Eagles, Jackson Browne, James Taylor,
Paul Simon, Elton John, Cat Stevens, Steely Dan, The Who, Pink Floyd,
Fleetwood Mac and other artists that were on the charts during my
formative years.
“I’ve also drawn from classic country artists like Patsy Cline,
Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams and others,” he adds. “And of
course, I really got into what my parents were listening to when I was
growing up, too – everything from big bands to Motown to standards from
the Great American Songbook. To go from listening to all this great
music as a young man, I was fascinated being in Nashville with all these
top musicians, hearing how enthusiastic they were about each track we
cut for the new album, was truly incredible. They told me it was a
magical night for them, and it was for me as well.”
