Christopher P. Warren (May 27, 1967 – June 12, 2016) was an American musician who performed in numerous bands, the last being New York band Bro-Kin. He is best known for being the

lead singer The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

in The DX Band (sometimes referred to as The Chris Warren Band), a group who performed entrance themes for many stars and shows of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

over the years. They are mainly known for the songs "My Time" for

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

and "Break It Down" for

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

D-Generation X D-Generation X (DX), is an American professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Stable, stable, and later a tag team, who consisted of various members mostly Generation X wrestlers, most notably Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Ch ...

Career

World Wrestling Federation (1997–2000)

Warren is known to professional wrestling fans as the voice behind the DX entrance music, and after Jim Johnston (head of WWE music) became so impressed with Warren, that he offered him further vocal work. Over the course of the next four years, Warren recorded several songs for the WWF (now known as WWE). In 1998, Warren made his television debut at

WrestleMania XIV WrestleMania XIV, also promoted as WrestleMania dX raided, was a 1998 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It was the 14th annual WrestleMania and took place on March ...

, performing a screeching version of "

America The Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...

" and "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

", for which he was booed, as the fans and national media in attendance considered the performance disrespectful and of poor quality. The performance was never released on home video and was edited out of the recent

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

version of the show. Warren and the band also performed the DX ring entrance music later the same night as DX came to the ring, and again five months later at the 1998 SummerSlam, which received a much more positive ovation from the fans and media. Later that year Warren recorded the vocals for

's theme "My Time". This song was featured on the platinum album '' WWF The Music, Vol. 4''. He also recorded the '' Superstars'' theme from 1997. His last appearance was a cameo on the Run-D.M.C. "The Kings" music video, directed by David Sahadi. Warren, along with Bro-Kin, recorded an unreleased song for WWE's '' Tough Enough II'' which never made it onto the show.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2008)

In July 2007, Warren and Bro-Kin signed an agreement with

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

(TNA), which involved use of the band's music on TNA's TV shows (such as ''

TNA Impact! ''TNA Impact!'' (stylized as ''TNA iMPACT!'') is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) that debuted on June 4, 2004. It also features wrestlers from WWE's ...

''), PPVs and DVDs worldwide. Their song "Low" was used as the theme for No Surrender 2007, "Separate" for Genesis 2007 and "For the Vein" for Final Resolution January 2008. Further cuts of other songs appeared (and continue to do so) on various TNA video packages.

Bro-Kin (2009)

On March 5, 2009, Warren announced via Bro-Kin's website that the band had released their album ''La Violencia'' on iTunes,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and

Napster Napster was an American proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared ...

Return to WWE (2009)

Warren returned to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

headquarters in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

, in August 2009 to record vocals to a new DX theme, coinciding with the return of the

stable consisting of

and

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

, to active WWE competition. The recording session saw Warren re-united in the studio with WWE music composer Jim Johnston for the first time in over seven years.

Personal life and death

Warren was born in Huntington, Long Island, NY on May 27, 1967, to Christopher J. and Barbara Warren and lived in

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population is 338,329, making it the state' ...

. Warren was employed by Local 638 NYC as a steam fitter for many years. He died unexpectedly on June 12, 2016, at the age of 49.

Discography

* ''

WWF The Music, Vol. 3 ''WWF The Music, Volume 3'' is a soundtrack album by WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF). Released on December 29, 1998, by Koch Records, it features entrance theme music of various WWF superstars, all of which were composed ...

'' (December 29, 1998) * '' WWF The Music, Vol. 4'' (November 2, 1999) * '' WWF Aggression'' (March 21, 2000) * '' WWE Anthology'' (November 12, 2002) * '' RAW Greatest Hits: The Music'' (December 18, 2007) * ''Bro-Kin – La Violencia'' (March 6, 2009)

Interviews

Chris Warren Radio Interview (Part 1 of 4) courtesy of The Squared Circle radio show

Chris Warren Radio Interview (Part 2 of 4) courtesy of The Squared Circle radio show

Chris Warren Radio Interview (Part 3 of 4) courtesy of The Squared Circle radio show

Chris Warren Radio Interview (Part 4 of 4) courtesy of The Squared Circle radio show

References

External links

TNA Genesis 07 Highlights Package Feat. Bro-Kin

TNA No Surrender 07 Highlights Package Feat. Bro-Kin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Chris 1967 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers American heavy metal singers Rap metal musicians American rap rock musicians Singers from New York (state) People from Huntington, New York 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers