About Kris

Kris Angelis has been living musically her whole life. “My mom says I’ve been singing since before I could talk. I would sing melodies when I didn’t actually know words.” Growing up on a farm in Florida, Angelis spent her childhood playing, running around the farm, and making up songs with her twin sister. They composed their first song at the age of three -- and it lives on now, interwoven into one of Kris’s more recent works. 

 

While her early musical influences were limited to her grandparents’ Rodgers and Hammerstein videos, her parents’ records, and the Lawrence Welk show -- one of the few that came in on their TV -- Kris did not feel deprived. “I would put on my parents vinyl records which included the Beatles, the Eagles, the Archies, and even Strauss waltzes, and dance around, pretending to be the singer. I loved it. It was a  great basis in melodies and harmonies.” Later she would sing in the church choir and, when her family moved to California, in her summer camp’s musical productions. Discovering the band Hanson, siblings who were very young themselves at the time, opened up the possibility of making music herself. She delved into learning harmonies with her twin sister, Alix, taking full advantage of the way siblings' voices work together.

It was with the help of a musician friend that Kris first began learning guitar. She continued learning on her own—and dived right into songwriting with inspirations including Brandi Carlile, Ray Lamontagne, Taylor Swift, Hanson, The Lumineers, Elton John, Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, and many more! “It’s how I create, how I express myself. But it’s also a huge part of how I get through life. Music is a universal language. It evokes emotion. It resonates in our souls, it actually vibrates in our bodies. There’s a Victor Hugo quote that expresses exactly how I feel about it: ‘Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.’ That’s how songwriting has been for me.” And she certainly hasn’t been silent. Kris put her musical talents to good use in her first full-length album, "The Left Atrium" produced by Jeff Zacharski, a fusion of genres and sounds that includes elements of everything from smoky jazz to bold rock. “The Left Atrium” is a great example of who Kris is as a musician—beautiful, eclectic, surprising, and yet somehow always herself.

The critics agreed. "The Left Atrium" was awarded Best Female Album of 2013 by the LA Music Critics Awards. The video for the song "Not Your Fault" was an exclusive premier on RyanSeacrest.com. She was chosen for a month long tour in Europe with Songs&Whispers in spring of 2014 and opened for Tyler Hilton on a US tour in August. Kris wants to connect with people through music and make a difference, so she partnered through Live Music Cares with Project AK-47, which rescues child soldiers, and joined the Extreme Tour in the US to bring music to underserved communities and youth. Kris played at the New Orleans House of Blues as a finalist in Belk Southern Musician competition. She's also played at several festivals, including Sundance, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, SXSW, NAMM, and MondoNYC.

In 2017, she collaborated with Morgan Taylor Reid, and Alexander Cardinale for the "Heartbreak is Contagious" EP. The EP landed in the Top 10 of the iTunes Singer-songwriter chart, was awarded Best Female EP in the 2016 LA Music Critics Awards. The single is featured on Relix Magazine's first ever "Women Who Rock" sampler CD in their September/October 2016 issue and can be heard thematically throughout Season 2 of AwesomenessTV's show Guidance. as well as in Regal, Cinemark, and AMC theaters across the US. Kris was awarded Best Female Artist in the 13th annual International Acoustic Music Awards and was a finalist in the 2017 International Songwriting Competition. The title track "Heartbreak is Contagious" debuted at #67 on the Mediabase Hot AC charts after being added to rotation on SiriusXM's The Pulse on Nov 8th 2018.

Kris has been releasing some exciting collaborations in 2018 including "Bright Side" with Adrianne Gonzalez (The Rescues), "Roll The Dice" with Rockwell Sands of the band WØLVES, and teamed up with producer Billy Lefler (Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Cary Brothers) for Pieces That Were Stolen EP which debuted at #3 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts and on The Billboard Heatseekers chart on August 3rd after her sold out release show at The Hotel Cafe on July 21st. Stained Glass won Best Female Single in the LA Music Critics Awards and was a finalist in the International Acoustic Music Awards.

The adventure continued in 2019 during which Kris completed a tour of all 50 of the United States while writing and recording her new album, became a top streamer on live-streaming app LiveAF, winning several competitions which landed her on billboards in Chicago and New York City, and was chosen for the Grammy NEXT program. "That Siren, Hope" debuted on Jan 24th, 2020 at #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart and as the highest ranking independent release at #79 on the Billboards Top Current Albums chart. It explores all the facets of hope, painting it as a mythical siren that draws you in only to leave you drowning, but also as a comfort and a force that keeps you going when you can’t see what’s ahead. The first track of the album, “I Hope I Never Fall In Love Again” was added to rotation on SiriusXM Velvet, "Ghost (I'm Alive & Breathing)" was featured 3 times on SiriusXM "The Pulse" Train Tracks with Pat Monahan, the video for the title track was premiered by American Songwriter Magazine,  and the album broke into the top 100 of the Americana Albums radio chart. 

Even though her tour was cut short in March, like so many others, the lock down hasn't slowed her down. Kris performed as part of the UnCancelled Music Festival online opening for Colbie Caillat and William Fitzsimmons as well as multiple other live-stream concerts. She put out a "Live from the Hotel Cafe" album and two new singles, and the video for her song "Photobooth" won 3 awards (Best Americana/Folk Video, Best Pop Video, and Fan Favorite in the Americana/Folk category) in the International Independent Music Video Awards, as well as being one of the 6 finalists for Video of the Year.

Kris enjoys playing nerdy board games and running charades when she's not working on music.