Chris Miller was born in Baltimore, MD. His parents whisked him around quite a bit at an early age, and within his first four years of life, he lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and finally California. One day his 12-year-old big brother started a band, but they couldn't find a drummer, so Chris at the tender age of 8 said "I CAN DO IT", his big brother said "NO WAY", then Chris said "I'LL SHOW YOU". So with fierce determination he asked his mother, "can I have a drum and drum lessons mommy?" His mother said, "Why of course you can you precious angel", and then she gave him a big hug.

         Chris' earliest influence was Peter Criss from the band KISS. "I dressed up like Peter Criss (the cat) for Halloween 3 years in a row", he says. Chris practiced and practiced. "I really liked sight reading", he says. "I wanted to be able to sight read any written music”, and by high school, he could. Chris played in his school bands, learning classical drum styles, including xylophone, tympani, and marching band rudimental styles. He lived in London, England for two of his teenage years (13-14), and there he had a great drum tutor named John Taylor. "John opened up so many new doors for me, he exposed me to jazz drummers, and the great Steve Gadd", he says. He then moved to New York City for a year, studying at the Drummer's Collective school, where he was exposed to Brazilian and Latin styles. There, he also learned how to play congas, timbale, and other percussion instruments.

         When Chris returned to San Jose, CA, where he has lived ever since, he was a well-schooled student, but it had finally become time to make music and to make a contribution. "I have always sought what I don't understand or would like to learn", he says. This seeking led him to start working with soul and blues bands. “They gave me a shot and I dove right in”, he says. After that, he started playing with reggae bands. "It was a new style that I wanted to understand", he says. Playing with reggae bands led him to meet a lot of African musicians. He remarks, "The reggae and African bands seemed to play in the same circles".

          When Chris was exposed to African styles and rhythms, he had an epiphany. As he tells it, "I finally felt I had stumbled onto stuff that few others in my peer group had, totally new ways to phrase and count. I finally started to think of my drumming and fills as melody, and I was learning amazing ways to do something I call ‘melodic displacement’”. This love of African styles led him to start writing a series of drum instruction books entitled "Contemporary African Drum Set Styles". For further information, visit Chris’ website at (http://www.cadss.com).      
   
         Chris' seeking has currently led him to study Algerian music, Gospel, and Country music. "I love Gospel music, it's just so powerful and has a great message, and the bands are killer, totally groovin', and they have some of the best drummers too", he says. He adds, "I love Country music also, it's a great study of depth, consolidation, phrasing, and making every single note count. County music has some of the best lyrics too, and the Nashville studio musicians are so good"!

          All the while, Chris has also been playing piano and songwriting. He says, "I’ve always loved songs and melody, but the harmony was the most interesting thing to me. I really wanted to understand chords and chord progressions, and how to use harmony to make music deeper, richer and more emotional".

          Chris has written and co-written songs that have been on CD's released by jazz trumpeter Forrest Buchtel (http://www.Forrestbuchtel.com), Canadian country singer Chrystal Steedsman, and hard rocker Dave Meniketti (http://www.Meniketti.com). He has also written songs for the following television shows: “Sex and the City”, “Jag”, MTV's "Making the Band", “Everybody Hates Chris”, “The Drew Carey Show”, “Homicide”, and also the movies "Scary Movie 2", "Trixie", and many others. As a drummer, Chris has played with Billy Preston, African star Pepe Kalle, Dave Meniketti (of Y&T), Glenn Frey, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Mitch Ryder, Al Wilson, The Drifters, The Coasters, Huey Lewis, Glen Campbell, Clay Walker, and Tracy Lyons (http://www.tracylyons.com). Chris has also produced a cartoon entitled "Bought The Farm", viewable at http://www.bought-the-farm.com.