Chris Newman (musician)


Christopher Lynn Newman is an American musician from Oregon and an inductee to the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.
Born in Longview, Washington, he spent most of his musical career in Portland, Oregon, leading bands such as Napalm Beach and Snow Bud and the Flower People. Newman has played frequently in and around Portland, and Seattle beginning in the 1970s, and is known for his intense blues- and psychedelic-influenced guitar leads and vocal stylings ranging from operatic to powerhouse bellows. Newman is also revered for his prolific songwriting talents. Much of his early music was distributed on homemade cassettes throughout the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s, and his 1960s-garage-influenced riff-heavy rock has been cited as an influence by many of the Pacific Northwest "grunge" bands that became popular in the 1990s.
In 2007, Newman was among the first group of honorees inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. Newman has recorded around thirty studio albums. Napalm Beach toured Europe in 1989 and played Berlin the day the wall first came down. They continued touring Europe until 1992, when Napalm Beach and their German label Satyricon records had a falling-out. Currently, Newman's primary musical project is a three-piece band called Boo Frog.
Newman celebrated his sixtieth birthday on July 11, 2013. This marked the final performance of Napalm Beach. Newman is busy writing his autobiography. The album Beachcomber, recorded by Jack Endino, was self-released in early 2013. Newman continues to write music and record in his 8-track studio. He has released CDs with his latest three-piece ensemble Chris Newman Deluxe Combo.