Christopher Allen Thomas Cummings (born August 11, 1975) is a Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist. In his career, he has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one extended play. Several of his singles have charted on the Canadian country charts, including the Number One hits " Sure Enough" and " The Kind of Heart That Breaks".

Biography

Chris Cummings began performing in 1980, at the age of five years. In 1990, Chris released an independent CD, which found its way to

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

president Jim Ed Norman, who signed him on in 1992. At age 17, he was the youngest artist they had ever signed. His first single, "I Waited," was released in Canada in the fall of 1995, and shot into the top 5. Produced by Jim Ed Norman and Rick Scott, Chris released his debut CD, '' Somewhere Inside'', on June 18, 1996. The second single, " Sure Enough," went straight to No. 1. Follow-up songs "Somewhere Inside" and "Almost Always" also reached the top 5 in Canada reaching No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, and the album was certified gold. Chris' second CD, '' Chris Cummings'', was released in both the United States and Canada on February 24, 1998. Since 7 of the songs were already on Chris' Canadian debut, Reprise released an EP in Canada (''The Kind Of Heart That Breaks'') in 1997 containing the 3 new songs, along with "Lonesomeville" and an acoustic version of "Somewhere Inside." The first single released from the project was " The Kind of Heart That Breaks." While the song went to No. 1 in Canada, it stalled at No. 50 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

in the U.S. The American follow-up single, "I Waited," failed to chart. Meanwhile, Chris returned to the Canadian top 10 with "A Minute And A Half." Chris was transferred to WEA Canada for the release of his third CD, '' Lonesomeville''. The disc was released on February 15, 2000. The first two singles, "That'll Teach Her" reached No. 4 on the charts with the second single "No One Hurts Me More Than Me," reached No. 7 in Canada. The final single, "A Little At A Time" entered the top 20 charts landing at No. 19. Chris released his fourth CD, ''Ooh, That Could Cost Him the Gold, Bob!'' on March 26, 2002. He continued his string of hits in Canada with songs like "Cowboy Hats," "Betty," and "Benefit Of Doubt." Chris' ''Greatest Hits'' package was released on April 27, 2004. Singles released from the album included "Lucy Got Lucky" and "Not Again." Chris left Warner at the end of 2004 for more control over his career. Chris signed with

Koch Entertainment Koch Entertainment was an American record label and a distributor of film, television, and music. It was purchased by Canadian entertainment company ROW Entertainment in 2005. History First years The company began in 1975 as part of Koch Inte ...

in 2006. Chris' first album for Koch, ''Who Says You Can't?'', was released on October 17. Chris had a hand in producing the album, which brought him back to the Canadian top 30 with the songs "Dixie Beauxderaunt," "For The Music," "Love Is Fine," "In The Nicest Way," and the last single, "Hey What You Know" released in July 2008. Returning to his home Province of New Brunswick in mid-2007 after being gone since the age of 17 living in California, Tennessee, Ontario and Alberta, he took on a special project. Chris partnered with a local organization to record the

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

hit " Welcome Back", a song that Cummings saw as a perfect "anthem" for the city and entire Province of New Brunswick. In addition, he decided to shoot the video for it in the city of Saint John the communities that surround it. In the summer of 2008 he was named an "Ambassador for the Province of New Brunswick" by Premier,

Shawn Graham Shawn Michael Graham (born February 22, 1968) is a Canadian politician, who served as the 31st premier of New Brunswick from 2006 to 2010. He was elected leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party in 2002 and became premier after his party captu ...

. Chris signed with Royalty Records in April 2010 for his newest CD entitled ''Give Me Tonight'' The first single "Heart Like A Stone" was released online and to Canadian country radio on May 17, 2010, and the CD was released on September 21, 2010. Released at the same time as the new CD, the follow-up single "Leavings Not An Option" had special meaning for Chris as he co-wrote it with one of his long-time songwriting mentors Don Schlitz (one of three Schlitz co-writes on the new CD), the single was well received at radio returning Chris to the forefront of the Canadian country music scene.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Notes

References

CMT.comAmerican Federation of Musicians

External links

Chris Cummings Official
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Chris Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian country singer-songwriters People from Kings County, New Brunswick 1975 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male singers Reprise Records artists Singers from New Brunswick 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters