Chris was born in Dallas, Texas and began taking piano lessons at age 5. He was progressing very nicely on the ivorys for such a youngster, playing his first recital at age 6. But along came his God-Father, Joe Cardinale, a renowned session drummer in Dallas, and leader of one of the top High School marching bands in town, who let Chris sit and bang away at a drumset for as long as he wished. Chris immediately started taking some rudimentary lessons from Joe and then it happened... his family up and moved to Los Angeles. At age 7 he was faced with one of the hardest questions his mother had ever posed to him; "Do you want to take piano or drum lessons?" Sitting in his mom's car at the corner of Mindanao Way and Glencoe Ave. in Marina Del Rey, he immediately answered, "Drums!"
From then he took private lessons with locally renowned teacher Kay Carlson until age 15. He was the youngest member of a mostly High School-aged band called The Westchester Del Rey Marching Rebel Youth Band at age 10, playing all percussion, and marching in major parades such as the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Chris quickly became adept at the drumset and played in bands throughout highschool at Brentwood and Palisades High. At Brentwood School, Chris was the first drummer Evan Brau, lead singer and guitarist of Munkafust, ever jammed with and they formed a rock band in town called One Way that later became Munkafust when Evan went to UCSB. After High School Chris went to the top contemporary music school in California at Dick Grove's School of Music and took the percussion and vocals programs. Two years later Evan called Chris and asked him to rejoin the band, now Munkafust. Chris brought Jens Funke on bass with him from a local band they were in called American Sun, and made the new three-piece Munkafust. They toured extensively on the west coast for the next three+ years and released the album Welcome to Playtime which had success on many radio stations in California with the single "California". Chris left the band in '97 and since has written and recorded many songs, and has played live and in the studio with many groups and musicians in L.A.. More notably, Chris played drums for Tony Newton, famed Motown bassist and pioneer in fusion as the bassist and writer with the legendary drummer Tony Williams. Chris also has played with Jim Belushi's blues band on a few occasions. Today, Chris finds himself very comfortable in the progressive style of 8 minute morning, as well as other cutting edge projects, and thrives when faced with creating the challenging, original grooves which have always set him apart.