Chris Hassett — SInger / Songwriter

So what do you do when, at age four, you already know that singing is the greatest joy in life. Keep singing, right? And over the past few decades, for the most part, I have. If I stick to my present plan, my singing (and songwriting and performing and recording) will soon move back to the center of my life. Just like when I was four. There’s a Joni Mitchell song about this, isn’t there? “And the seasons, they go round and round . . .”

OK, I guess I wasn’t technically writing songs at age four. But, the few songs that I did know, I sang with such conviction that I may have convinced myself that I did write them. I still sing with conviction. It’s one of my trademarks as an artist, I think. No, I didn’t write “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables or “Could I Leave You” from Follies -- I just sing ‘em like I own ‘em.

I grew up with AM radio and all the incredible magic it poured out from the dashboard or the clock radio. I still sing radio commercials I heard in the 50s and 60s in small town America. Now, that’s impact! But the real magic wasn’t the commercials – it was the music of Elvis and Buddy Holly and Bobby Rydell and Tommy Roe and Ray Charles and Guy Mitchell and Marty Robbins and – yeah some girls in there, too – Patsy Cline, Leslie Gore, Brenda Lee, Connie Francis. And all the groups: The Coasters, Drifters, Temptations, Ronettes, Chiffons, Chirelles, . . . I know, it’s all coming out in torrents. And all of that was pre-Beatles – a watershed moment in so many lives. And then Woodstock. And the California sound. And, and, and – a constant barrage of life-giving music that helped shape my young life.

There’s another major influence that I can now bring up (‘cause we’re friends, right?) – and that would be Show Tunes. What a cliché, right? Well, Dad was a bit of a frustrated actor / singer and he brought home all the cast albums of the Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, etc. musicals. Oklahoma, Carousel. My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Man of la Mancha . . ., so many great songs and filled with story and emotion and character. Everything wonderful that music can be in a young boy’s life. All of these influences (and a moderate dose of Classical albums Mom picked up at the grocery store) are now manifest in my current musical personality.

Fast forward to college and I’m playing and singing in stairwells with buddies and loving it all over again but now I’m making the music! Another epiphany: Music isn’t just FOR us, it’s BY us. As an adult, I’ve sung nearly continually (ask my friends), sung a million covers, written a few, done some concerts, brought some fun and tears to some audiences and now – it’s all I want to do. And, though I know I won’t get my way and will still have to hold down a job, you can look for more concert dates and more recordings and more CDs and more everything music coming out of my life. My promise to myself and to you.

You can help. Drop me a line, leave a comment, come to the gigs, let me know how I’m doing and share your love of music with me.