Afrikaans Contemporary

Innovative, prolific and endlessly creative, Chris Chameleon is currently being hailed as a phenomenon on the South African Music front. He has a style all his own and a reputation for mesmerizing audiences with his four octave voice range and irresistible stage personality. His versatile and exceptional talent has won him rave reviews and a total of twelve impressive awards over the past year, including a SAMA and a Medal of Honour from the South African Academy of Science and Arts.

Chris Chameleon can take anyone on a musical journey that fuels their aural fantasies, simply with a guitar and his magical and unusual voice-work. If this last year is anything to go by, Chris Chameleon seems set to become one of the most important musicians of our time, and a truly international homeboy.

Background in brief

In 1997, Chris Chameleon became the bassist and front man of one of South Africa’s proudest musical exports, Boo! In 7 years Boo! acquired an enormous cult following worldwide by performing 800 gigs in 17 countries, including 14 states in the USA as well as countries such as Hungary and Croatia. Boo! performed at many European and American festivals with the likes of the White Stripes, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Franz Ferdinand, Cypress Hill, Coldplay and many more. The band also received a South African Music Award (SAMA) in 2002 for ‘Best Pop Album.’

Boo! disbanded in 2004 giving Chameleon the opportunity to go solo and explore his South African roots by releasing the critically acclaimed ‘Ek Herhaal Jou’ (“I repeat you”) a composition of iconic 60's poet Ingrid Jonker's poetry. ‘Ek Herhaal Jou’ was nominated for a 2006 South African Music Award in the Best Adult Contemporary Afrikaans Album category and reached gold status in South Africa in July 2006.

2006 saw the simultaneous release of his first English solo rock album, ‘Shine’, an album that is loaded with power, passion and beautiful melodies, and a second Afrikaans album, ‘7 de Hemel’ which consists of songs performed by the versatile Chameleon as the popular character Liam in the nation`s favourite SABC 2 soap opera ‘7 de Laan’. ‘7de Hemel’ reached platinum status within its first 2 months of release. ‘Shine’ produced various chart topping singles on national commercial radio stations and was nominated for a SAMA 2007 Award for Best Alternative Album.

The single “Anywhere” from album ‘Shine’ was entered for the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) and reached the semi-finals in February 2007.

In July 2007, Chris Chameleon released his third Afrikaans album ‘Ek Vir Jou’ which achieved gold status in less than two months after its release. ‘Ek Vir Jou’ tells the story of the development of a romantic relationship: from love at first sight to the eventual unravelling of the romance. Chris Chameleon’s extraordinary song writing ability is apparent in the fact that each of the eleven tracks constitutes strong individual singles, while at the same time they all form part of a chronological whole.

Chris Chameleon`s popularity and world-class talent has also been evident from various awards that he has won over the past year. These are:

* SAMA Award for Best Afrikaans Contemporary Album – “7de Hemel.” 2007
* Medal of Honour: Awarded to Chris by the SA Academy of Science and Art
for his contribution to Afrikaans Music. 2007
* FAK Award for Exceptional Cultural Achievement. 2007
* KANNA Award for Best Music Theatre Production at KKNK. 2007
* People`s Choice Award for KLASSIEKE CHAMELEON at Aardklop 2007
* Huisgenoot Tempo Award for Favourite Contemporary Artist. 2006
* Vonk Award for Best Male Artist. 2006
* Vonk Award for “Best Male Album“Ek Herhaal Jou.” 2006
* MK89 Award for Best Solo Video “Die Onverkrygbare.” 2006
* MK89 Award for Sexiest Video “Die Onverkrygbare.” 2006
* AMT Award for Best Male Album: “7de Hemel.” 2006
* AMT Award for Best Male video: “Groet.” 2006

(Further SAMA 2007 nominations included “Droomland” for Song of the Year and ‘Shine’ for Best Alternative Album.)

In August 2007, Chris Chameleon signed a record deal with a premier independent label in the Netherlands. ‘Ek vir jou’ will be distributed in the Benelux countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.)

Chris returns to the Netherlands from 19 October to 29 November for a theatre- tour together with one of the most popular groups in the Benelux, “Spinvis.”

Chris Chameleon is set to be a pioneering force for South African music in the Benelux countries.

Fans will also be more than delighted to hear that Chris released a live DVD recording titled ‘Flight of an Extraordinary Alien’ in October 2007. A new English album ‘Wishbones and Shooting Stars’ will be released early in 2008.

This presskit contains:

• 6 Songs
• 9 Photos
• 6 Videos
• 1 Reviews