Chris Barron

About the co-founder of GOProud see Christopher R. Barron

Chris Barron (born Christopher Gross; born February 5, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer Spin Doctors.

Biography

Christopher Gross born February 5, 1968, in Honolulu, while his father, a Vietnam veteran, was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the divisive war. Barron spent his childhood in the Bronx and Rye, New York, and later moving to Australia for over three years when he went to elementary school in Sydney.

When his family returned to the United States, Barron attended the same high school in Princeton, New Jersey, where he met John Popper who became close friend of Chris. Barron and Popper would jam together after school.

He attended Bennington College in Vermont for one year. There, he was a member of two local bands: Dead Alcoholics With Boners and the Funbunnies. After leaving Bennington, Barron returned to Princeton, got a job at a restaurant, and immersed himself in music. During this time that he wrote "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" and "Two Princes".

One night, Blues Traveler was in town and, after hanging out for night and hearing his songs, invited Barron to move in with them in New York City, and he moved to New York City in 1988, at the age of 20, With $100 and an acoustic guitar. He joined band called Trucking Company with Canadian guitarist Eric Schenkman and John Popper. Popper left this side project to focus on his main gig with Blues Traveler full-time. With a name change to Spin Doctors, as well as the addition of Aaron Comess and Mark White, the classic lineup was in place by the spring of 1989

May 17, 1999, just two weeks before the release of the band's album Here Comes the Bride, he woke up unable to talk. Barron lost his voice due to a rare acute form of vocal cord paralysis that severely affected his ability to talk, let alone sing. He was told he had a 50-50 chance of ever talking or singing normally again. Band keyboardist Ivan Neville took over vocal duties for a few dates, but the band eventually cancelled the remainder of its tour.

Barron's voice came back in early 2000 (first comeback [solo] shows in March 2000), at which point he began performing with his band and the Give Daddy Five. Barron undertook what he calls "a journeyman songwriting experience," composing tunes with Blues Traveler's John Popper and with former BMI executive Jeff Cohen. A solo album called Shag was released in 2001. The mature album includes diverse influences, including rock, jazz, country, and funk.

The Spin Doctors remained inactive as a band until September 2001, when news about the closing of legendary NYC venue Wetlands sparked the original four members to reunite. On September 7, 2001, the original line-up took the stage for the first time since 1994 to play at Wetlands. It was the final closing week of the club. The landmark show was a great success for the fans and the band.

Barron met Laura Benanti in the early 2000s. They married on July 25, 2005 but by the end of the year were going through what Benanti has called a "terrible divorce." They were divorced in 2006.. He then married actress Lindsey Nicole Chambers, the lead in the Broadway tour of Kinky Boots.

In 2009, he put out a solo album called Pancho and the Kid, and a year later he released an EP called Songs from the Summer of Sangria.