Official Biography (courtesy of Chris Oledude)
Chris “Oledude” Owens is a Boomer and proud of it. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico — when Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of these United States — to a music-teaching mother and a librarian-turned-politician father.
Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, Chris Owens and his two brothers, Geoffrey and Millard, were raised with music, starting with the Classical composers, The Jackson 5 and The Beatles!
Chris learned piano, cello, congas (with Olatunji), soprano recorder and clarinet. After graduating from Harvard, Chris started writing songs and performing solo and as a duo with Geoffrey. Back then, the streets of New York City were full of musicians sharing their talents in the open air … and with an open guitar case to accept your coins and bills.
In 1984, Chris Owens released his album-length compilation of songs, ANYONE’S REVOLUTION, which featured cameo roles for his brothers.
Over the last 40 years, Chris has performed solo, with his own bands, and with other singer-songwriters and choruses. He formed OBB – THE OWENS BROTHERS BAND in 2014, following the deaths within three months of his father, Congressman Major Owens (D-Brooklyn, NY), South African President and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, and Pete Seeger. OBB made its debut during 2014’s first SEEGERFEST.
COVID-19 has now created a new world, for better or for worse. Having lost his wife of 28 years to cancer in 2019, Owens decided that COVID needed to create new lives, not just terrorize and take lives. Furthermore, now that the internet rules the arts, it became clear that there are too many personalities named “Chris Owens.”
Thus, CHRIS OLEDUDE was born. With the June, 2020 recording and release of “My Tower,” a catchy condemnation of COVID-19, Oledude started a new chapter in his life with an “old school” blend of blues, gospel, R&B, rock … and Broadway. “My Tower” was quickly followed by “George Floyd”, a piece whose grass-roots video was selected by some 350 film festivals around the world, winning numerous honors, including “Best Music Video”, “Best Short Film”, “Best Song” and others. Also released in 2020 was the song “Orange Blues.”
Chris Oledude’s music has always blended original melodies and rhythms with hot solos, harmonies and topical lyrics to create powerful and memorable songs. Oledude is currently recording songs for release later in 2024 and in early 2025.
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