Kerry Christensen (born October 6, 1954) is an American

yodeler Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from t ...

. He yodels in both western and Alpine styles. He also plays the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

, the

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

, and the

alphorn The alphorn (; ; ) is a traditional lip-reed wind instrument. It consists of a very long straight wooden natural horn, with a length of , a conical bore and a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the alphorn was made in one piece from ...

and is very good at imitating

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

s. Christensen was born in 1954 and was raised on a potato farm in

Grace, Idaho Grace is a city in Caribou County, Idaho, Caribou County, Idaho, United States. The population was 920 at the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census. History The area of Grace was once inhabited by the Shoshone Indians. The Oregon Trail passed ...

. A performer from the age of three, he has sung everything from western ballads to barbershop music. While living in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

from 1974 to 1976, he discovered the folk music that would be his life. Kerry's first yodeling performance was in 1977, at a

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

orientation assembly where he received a standing ovation from 15,000 students. In 1984,

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

hired him to work at the German Pavilion of the Epcot Center in 1984. He was the Disney World Yodeler from 1984 to 1990 and the leader of the night band for the last four of those years. In 1990, Christensen became a freelance yodeler and performs worldwide. He has recorded 12 albums, including ''U 2 Can Yodel'', a course for people wanting to learn yodeling techniques. In 2009, he was signed to yodel for the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

cartoon Living Evil, written and directed by

Dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

artists the Hive of Dukes. Yanni Osmond, co-founder of the Hive, is an avid music historian and professed "weird music fan", and when he saw Kerry yodeling on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, he found his phone number and hired Christensen on the spot. In 2012

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media ...

reported that he would ''"...use his mouth to perform music from a range of cultures: American Indian, German, Swiss, Cajun, and the 'cattle call' of the American West among them."''Lamberson, C., 2012, Sep 23. Spotlight: Master yodeler to play Bing. ''McClatchy - Tribune Business News.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Kerry 1954 births American yodelers American accordionists Zither players Living people People from Grace, Idaho Musicians from Idaho