Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Virginia, Chris Merritt started playing the piano at the age of 7. Since then, he has written and recorded over 1,000 original songs and performed across the U.S., Canada and Japan.

Even as an independent artist, his jazz-influenced, quirky style have gained him a steadily-growing following across the world. Merritt “plays the piano like a guitar” and combines keyboards with eight-bit Nintendo sounds, catchy melodies with layered vocal harmonies, and obscure subject matter with personal lyrics. As a child, Merritt was obsessed with jazz and blues.

By age 12, Merritt was recording next to jazz legend Marcus Roberts and playing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue” on a float in the Rose Bowl Parade.

He spent two years in Los Angeles as the lead singer of his band Paperface, signed to Takeover Records, and another year performing independently under his own name.

In 2007, Merritt moved to Salt Lake City under the encouragement of his childhood friend Tim Fellow, who assumed drumming and managing duties. Merritt and his new trio were soon drawing local crowds of over a thousand. They played together for the next two busy years, which included performing over 100 U.S. shows, being chosen for the “Top Six” in Billboard Magazine’s Indie World Series, opening for rock legend Ben Folds, doing a 10-stop tour of Japan, lending songs to two independent films, and recording the double-album Pixie and The Bear.

Recently, Merritt has moved to New York City and is playing shows to growing crowds along the East Coast.

Others performing that night are Cruise Elroy, WestMain and Jon Deluca.

Tommy Rothman of the group WestMain reportedly attended NOVA Manassas in 2004 and 2005.

Jon Deluca took classes at the Manassas and Loudoun campuses over various years and as recently as 2011.

By: Contributing Author

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