Born in New Orleans and raised in the small town of Folsom, LA, country singer Chris Gray began singing at the age of six, entertaining friends and family. His burgeoning interest in performing was stoked when his mother gave him a beat-up guitar a year later and he began to teach himself to play by listening to records by Hank Williams Sr. and Nat "King" Cole. Gray eventually added piano, trumpet, bass, and drums to his repertoire and continued to play while growing up. He joined the Navy in 1989 and began to play out more often while stationed in Great Lakes, IL, for training school. During the Desert Storm conflict, Gray performed with his band Steel Beach while serving on the USS Missouri as a weapons electronics technician. Upon completing his stint with the Navy in 1994, he relocated to California and formed GrayWolf, an act that earned numerous regional accolades on the country music circuit in the region. Returning to Louisiana, Gray entered a major country music talent competition and, in 1998, was chosen as one of six finalists out of more than 100,000 entrants. His performance in the competition led to a management deal and financing to complete his first album, Honestly, in 2001, as Gray and his latest incarnation of GrayWolf became an increasingly popular live draw in the Southeast. ~ Tom Demalon