Chris performed in his first musical at age 12 as Louis in the King and I. He also started writing songs in the same year. Over the next few decades, Chris' career has developed as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor, writer, director and teacher.

As a songwriter, Chris is one of the most prolific and eclectic composers within the industry today. His catalog of over 600 songs (with many hundred more to enter) includes styles of folk, rock, country, R & B, jazz, reggae, and musical theater.

His strong, expressive voice, ranging from bass into tenor, has been praised by many as rich, soulful, and melodic throughout his career. He has performed in venues throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe.

As a Singer/Songwriter, Chris has independently produced seven albums and the score for two musicals. His initial major label release "The Friend Ship" was on Paramount Records with Walker Daniels (original lead in Hair) and Laura Branigan in the folk-rock group "Meadow".

In addition to performing his music in concerts throughout his travels, he has opened for Kansas, Poco, Eric Burdon, Leon Russell, and Buckwheat Zydeco. As a recording artist and songwriter, he has collaborated with many, including Suzi Quatro, Jim McCarty (Yardbirds), and Barry Mason (writer of hits for Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdink).

Chris has also collaborated with international organizations (such as Friends of the Earth and The First Earth Run) to write songs for specific occasions. He enjoys being commissioned to write songs for other musicals and events -- or for personal occasions such as weddings, births, etc -- and has been blessed with the ability to draw on his 'muse' whenever the need has arisen.

With his unique ability of capturing in song the various joys, trials and challenges of the human experience, his catalog contains an endless supply of material suitable for feature films, documentaries, seminars, places of worship, and personal gifts.

While residing in the United Kingdom for seven years, Chris also performed lead roles in the London West End theatre productions of Les Miserables, Chess, and Bernadette. At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, he sang and performed the role of Jesus in (Italian and Latin) in Stabat Mater.

Other roles he has enjoyed include Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, Hajj in Kismet, the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, Prospero in Return to Forbidden Planet, Lord Summerhays in Misalliance, and Stonewall Jackson in Stonewall Country. A more detailed list can be found on his resume.

Chris has an Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from the University of Virgina and is a member of both British and American Actors Equity Associations.

In film, Chris has worked with New Dominion Pictures in Norfolk, VA, and appeared in The Untold Stores of the Navy Seals, The FBI Files, The New Detective, Daring Capers, and Ghost Stories. In 1982 he composed and produced 17 songs for a rock gospel musical called The Davidson Affair which was performed at the Wells Theatre in Norfolk, VA. The readers theatre version of the show has been performed in the United Kingdon and Holland. In the last six months while completing his MFA degree at UVA in 2002, Chris created a one-man show called Troubadour Knight. He wrote the script, composed and recorded seven songs, filmed and edited, and performed in this multi-media musical as a project towards his degree. A chapter in Chris' thesis for this degree is "Synaesthesia in the Performing Arts". He is continuing this study, which is based on the crossing of two or more sensory modalities. His focus is on the relationship of colors of light combined with corresponding sound frequencies and the resulting effects on people individually and within an audience. Troubadour Knight was his first project to explore this principle. The summer of 2004 he was contracted for three months at the magical outdoor Theater at Lime Kiln in Lexington, VA for three productions. In one of these, he performed the role of Stonewall Jackson in Stonewall Country. This was its final season after a twenty year run which ended with a farewell Gala Performance with Robin & Linda Williams, the composers of the show. In March, 2005 Chris performed the role of Father (God) in the Steven Schwartz musical Children of Eden. During the last few years, Chris has performed in several shows at the Flat Rock Playhouse (North Carolina State Theater) and Mountain Playhouse in Pennsylvania; directed The King & I while also teaching and running a theater department and is currently writing the script and music for a new Christmas musical Presence. From February through April, 2010 Chris will be performing in Sweeney Todd at the Signature Theatre in Wahsington, DC. For Reviews & Validations For bookings or correspondence:: contact@vancleavemusic.com

Above photo by Robert Llewellyn www.robertllewellyn.com "You may be a son who might be a father; A sister or brother, a mother, or somebody's daughter; But we're all a child of the same Source of Being; So interrelated, it's easily missed by not seeing. Whoever you think that you might be; Whatever you dream that life could be; Just make up your mind What it is that you're wanting to find. For nobody else can play your part, As deep down you know yourself by heart, But it's up to you To believe in this life that you claim; And know who you are in this play At this stage of the game!" Copyright 2000 Chris Van Cleave from At This Stage of the Game