Terry Christopher - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Terry Christopher is an openly

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

American singer/songwriter.

He started performing at a very young age and won the Reserved Champions Title for the dance division of his age group at the Nevada State Youth Fair held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1979 with his dance partner, Beth Newlin. Christopher continued his performing arts training studying dance at Simba Dance Studios in Las Vegas while under the guidance of Winston Dewitt Hemsley, Vicki Dale, Bernard Manners and Jamie Gallagher.

Christopher ventured out on his first of 7 European tours in 1987 with Extraordinary Students of America as a featured dancer. After his summer tour of Europe, he studied dance and musical theatre for 1 year at Emerson College before transferring to the Dance Conservatory at S.U.N.Y. Purchase of which he received his BFA in dance performance and dance composition. Mr. Christopher studied Ballet and Modern dance with Gayle Young

Gayle Young

Gayle Young is a Canadian composer and author.Young is an adherent of microtonality who has invented a number of musical instruments and notational systems. She began writing for Musicworks magazine in 1978, becoming its managing editor in 1987. She has also written a biography of Hugh Le...

of American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre

American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...

, Alfredo Corvino of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was a ballet company created by members of the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in 1938 after Léonide Massine and René Blum had a falling-out with the co-founder Wassily de Basil...

, Rosanna Seravalli of American Ballet Theatre, Bettijane Sills

Bettijane Sills

Bettijane Sills had a long career in theater and as a soloist in the New York City Ballet. During her career, she danced for both George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins....

of New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...

, Bert Terborgh of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Armgard von Bardeleben of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Kevin Wynn of the José Limón

José Limón

José Arcadio Limón was a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company...

Dance Company, Sarah Stackhouse of the José Limón Dance Company and Neil Greenberg of the Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham

Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...

Dance Company.

Music

Christopher's debut CD, Take Another Look is a collection of songs written while out on tour and produced back home in New York City. Take Another Look received the Favorite Male Artist Award 2003 as well as Favorite LGBT Album 2003 from Stonewall Society which is an LGBT Community Organization recognizing equality and visibility in the arts by LGBT artists. Take Another Look was a musical adventure that took Christopher out of the world of musical theatre as a featured cast member to the up front out in front solo artist position. Christopher's music from Take Another Look had him playing New York City hotspots such as CBGB's, The Elbow Room, The Bitter End

The Bitter End

The Bitter End is a nightclub in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened its doors in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to The Other End during the 1970s...

, Rockwood Music Hall, and The C-Note. Christopher also became a member of ASCAP and since debuting his songs with Take Another Look, Christopher has been the recipient of 7 ASCAPlus songwriting grant awards from ASCAP.

In 2006, Christopher released his 2nd CD, Journey of a Wordsmith. Journey of a Wordsmith debuted in the Top 20 on the Outvoice LGBT Monthly Music Chart at #15. Journey of a Wordsmith steadily climbed up the chart and by the Spring of 2007 had reached the top of the chart at #1 and held it for 2 months. Journey of a Wordsmith has maintained a Top 20 presence on Outvoice since its debut in 2006 for almost 2 full years. His pro-LGBT Community rock-anthem, Brothers In Arms & Sister Soldiers was awarded the coveted Favorite Pride Song of 2007 from the Stonewall Society Pride In The Arts.

Both organizations of the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Songwriters Hall of Fame

The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...

and The Grammy Organization have welcomed Christopher into their membership ranks. Singles from Journey of a Wordsmith made it to the first round of voting for the 50th Grammy Awards in 2007.

Take Another Look

Christopher's debut CD, Take Another Look announced his arrival and established his presence in the LGBT music scene having garnered national and internationial reviews amongst indie music insiders. As the positive reviews and awards rolled in, Christopher had already begun to journey on to his next musical effort.

Journey of a Wordsmith

Christopher's Sophomore musical work is titled Journey of a Wordsmith. Terry Christopher moved more towards his love of rock and brought out a gritty, powerful vocal production and more confrontational tone to his songwriting. Journey of a Wordsmith re-teamed him with Producer, Michael LaGennussa of MJL sound and the final product has not only received national & international radio and heavy web radio airplay, but landed Christopher on Outvoice's Monthly Top 40 LGBT Music Chart in the Top 20 for an impressive 23 consecutive months which is accomplishment held only by Christopher. He also returned to his dance roots having added 3 BONUS CLUB TRACKS re-mixes to his latest CD.

Journey of a Wordsmith landed the #1 spot on the Outvoice music chart list in spring and early summer of 2007 with it taking the #2 spot on the Outvoice Top 40 CD's Review. Though Terry Christopher's Journey of a Wordsmith was released in November 2006, the CD closed out 2008 – a two full years later – in the top 10 LGBT CD's coming in at #10 as noted on the Outvoice Annual Top 40 CD's review for 2008.

United For The Ride Vol. I

Terry Christopher is the Executive Producer as well as contributing artist on the 12 song compilation CD, United For The Ride Vol. I which assisted raising funds for the Riders of Breaking The Cycle 2009. The Co-Producers on the project are also contributing artists, Morry Campbell and Roger Kuhn. United For The Ride Vol. I received praise within the LGBT community for its initiative to help fight HIV/AIDS via the various programs offered through the LGBT Center of New York City. Other contributing artists on the CD are Randi Driscoll, Mike Rickard, Katie Sawicki, Jeffrey Wilgus, Robin Renee, Joshua Klipp, Norine Braun, Judith Avers and Dan Manjovi.

External links

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