chris cofoni.

Chris Cofoni was born in Westerly, RI on June 27, 1976.  He moved roughly 8 times in the next 15 years.  Along the way Chris developed a passion for music as something to hold on to amid the chaos of moving.  First learning Trombone, then piano and eventually guitar as he also found his voice.  By the time Chris was 16 years old he was selling out large theatres as the lead in musicals like Sound of Music, Oklahoma and many others while also playing rock shows with his bandmates, the first one in a barn!  He was chosen as 1 of only 8 singers from the state of CT to attend Nationals & there he was awarded a solo with the National Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17.

Cofoni was awarded a full performance based scholarship to the Hartt School of Music for Vocal Performance with a double major in Music Business.  He went to Germany for a year and sang professional opera at Baden-Baden National Theatre while continuing his studies and learning German.  During this entire time he maintained a band with his High School friends in CT all of whom were and are skilled musicians.  Dean Sisk and Mike Sisk, both of whom appear on nearly all of Cofoni’s tracks, were part of his crew.  He wrote his first song at the age of 15 and performed it in front of a packed house at the High School talent show, the song was simply called “Her.”

That one song has now led to nearly 100+ written and over 40+ professionally recorded since 1997 many of which will be released on all major platforms for the first time in 2019 and also on www.cofoni.com .  After graduating from The Hartt School of Music Cofoni started working at EMI and within 2 years was in charge of all recording details for Angel, Blue Note and Manhattan Records. He worked on both of Norah Jones’ first 2 Grammy Winning (9 total) albums, Amos Lee’s first 2 albums, & many more artists during his 5 years with EMI.  He worked with Al Green and developed a relationship with the Mitchell family of Royal Studios in Memphis and members of Al’s band.

Cofoni tried managing artists Fuzz and Carrie of Rolla at the time and also Omar Wilson.  He went on to write and Co-Produce songs with Omar for roughly 4 years and got him to some the biggest stages in the World.  At 36 he picked up and moved with his wife Daniela and all 3 children to Holly Springs, NC.  He picked Holly Springs for the weather, the proximity to RDU but mostly the artistically conducive vibe of the Triangle.

At 40 he woke up and realized he had made everyone else’s musical dreams a reality but his own.  Having worked behind the scenes for years & performed in his free time he set forth on a mission to record his best ever record, Intraspection, an introduction of his music to the World.  Intraspection was recorded by Dick Hogin of Osceloa studios in Raleigh where the first 2 Hootie and the Blowfish records were produced, among many others, and also in Memphis with Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell at Royal Studios, most recently famous for his Grammy win on “Uptown Funk.”  The album is a mix of Rock, Soul and Americana.  The acoustic guitar driven songs leave room for strings, organ, rhodes and more.  The album tells the story of Cofoni’s own journey towards the realization only writing AND performing would truly set him free and that he must let go of every comfort and stop making excuses.

As the record concluded he quit his day job to focus solely on music as a career.  Whether he is singing a mass in church or performing at the farmers market or a dimly lit coffee house one thing is for sure he is in full artistic-mode & is enjoying the wild ride!