Wednesday, Oct. 9 - Chris Walker & Regina Belle

Born and raised in Houston TX, Chris Walker began singing before he began speaking. He got his start in the church as a member of his family gospel group, The Walker Brothers.Chris plays the bass upside down like one of his early hero’s Jimi Hendrix. The Walker’s raised their children with a strong hand, and once Chris graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, he was all too happy to high-tail it to New York, with only forty dollars, in pursuit of his dreams of doing his own music. With aspirations of attending the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, he sold his bass amp and bought a one-way ticket to New York; despite being denied due to inability to pay the tuition. Fate, however, would intervene as Walker was walking the halls and happened to come upon a jam session in need of a bass player. When he took the stage the school dean just so happened to hear him and offered him a full scholarship on the spot and so begun another chapter in his musical journey.

In his tenor at the school, Chris was afforded the opportunity to play with such Jazz greats as Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, Bob James, Jimmy Heath, Cassandra Wilson and countless others. His musicianship garnered him a position as the musical director for R&B songstress Regina Belle as well as touring with Ornette Coleman. For the next two years, he juggled between the two tours until forced to have to choose between conflicting schedules; and with his own desire to sing and do music burgeoning, he chose to stay with Ms. Belle, which ultimately led to a successful solo debut project.

Chris Walker’s first release “First Time” produced two top five singles; “Giving You All My Love” and “Take Time,” which crossed over to become top 30 on the pop charts. His second release entitled “Sincerely Yours,” included the classic song, “How Do You Heal A Broken Heart,” written by Chris and Carole Bayer Sager, which has received over 66 million views on YouTube.As a student and lover of jazz music it was an opportunity that came via a former teacher, Gil Goldstein, that would bring to fruition a longtime dream of Walker to work, as Musical Director, with seven-time Grammy Award winner Al Jarreau. In the summer of 2019, Walker released his homage to Jarreau: We’re In This Love Together – Celebrating Al Jarreau, which continues to receive rave reviews from both critics and fans alike. Almost all the musicians on the record and performing in the live shows worked with Jarreau.

Chris was Co-Executive Producer for Bossa Nova Noites, which produced shows for the USOC, French, German and Japanese Houses during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, featuring Daniel Jobim and Alexandra Jackson.

In 2014 Chris co-founded and served as President of “DocFest” for 9 years, a non-profit organization that raises scholarship funds for High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA/Houston) students attending The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NY. He recently took the helm as lead singer with the group TMF (The Music Forever) and was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement and Volunteer Services Award.Chris is currently recording, producing, writing, and touring with TMF, his band and George Benson.

“I’m amazingly blessed. I will never ever say that I’ve lived the perfect life to be shown such favor with God or the people, but here I am,” declares the incomparable Regina Belle. The Academy Award-winning and Multi Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and actress, with a string of hits including “Make It Like It Was,” “If I Could,” “Baby Come To Me,” and “This Is Love,” Regina Belle has made a career following her heart and moving gracefully between the worlds of R&B, Gospel, and Jazz.

She is an entertainer of immeasurable musical talent. This New Jersey native has earned distinction as an international treasure. Her luminous vocals on the Peabo Bryson duet, “A Whole New World” (Grammy’s Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1994) solidified her place as music royalty.

Belle’s vocal abilities were demonstrated at a young age, with her first solo at the age of 8, at Friendship Baptist Church in New Jersey, pastored by her uncle, the late Dr. Fred M. Belle, Jr. The entertainer’s natural gifts were further polished at Dwight Morrow High School and the Manhattan School of Music for Preparatory College, where she studied classical voice training with Inga Wolfe. Although having received a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music, she opted to aim her sights on the elite Rutgers University to study both Africana Studies and Music.

In 1985, Belle left Rutgers University her senior year, just 15 credits shy of completing her degree, to go on the road with the Grammy Award, World Renown Group, THE MANHATTANS. She remained with them for two years before being springboarded into her own career.

Thirty years after leaving Rutgers and 10 albums later, Belle started taking online courses, which earned her a Bachelor’s Degree in Africana Studies and a Minor in Music. Belle walked the stage with her ‘new class’ from Rutgers in May of 2015. She states, “This achievement of finishing my degree which I started almost 30 years ago and finally being done was a bittersweet moment and rates as high as my Grammy Awards.”