Chip Richter Creating and Performing "Music for Kids & Families" for 30 Years.
Artist Bio
Veteran, award winning, children's singer-songwriter Chip Richter serves up stories, songs, and smiles “Family Style”. Chip’s Family Concerts feature something on the menu for everyone. It’s a recipe for “more fun than a kid should be allowed to have” as Chip delivers healthy portions of love and laughter for all ages to enjoy!
Touring nationally as a solo artist or with his band “The Munks”, Chip’s delightful performances are filled with his gentle spirit, pleasant and winsome style, and an unmistakable connection with family audiences. He brings a clear message of love and laughter through concerts, seminars and workshops; encouraging families to be all they were intended to be. His mission is to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; encouraging love and communication expressed through healthy family life and family relationships.
Chip Richter has been traveling and performing full time for more than two decades as a singer-songwriter, family entertainer, conference and workshop speaker. Over the years he has held positions as a Youth Pastor, Children’s Camp Director, Worship Arts Ministries Director, Football Coach, Recording Engineer, Studio Owner, Producer and Businessman. Chip's songs and performances have become almost an "institution" at Lakeside Chautauqua a popular Midwest summer vacation spot on the shores of Lake Erie in Lakeside/Marblehead, Ohio. During the summers literally thousands of children, and parents alike, have been touched by Chip's songs, stories, funny faces and weekly performances.
Chip's songs range from rollicking, fun, bash around tunes, to songs that are very spiritual, but not at all preachy. He was named Best Family Musician by Lake Erie Living Magazine in 2017 and is a 2x Ohio Music Award winner for Best Children's Song. His CD The Dream Tree received a Parents Choice Award and his music has found a place on both Christian and secular kids radio programs around the country. Chip Richter's music offers a tranquil, folk appeal that is soothing to the soul and finds a welcoming audience among parents as much as children. His songs seem to touch the heart of the "child" in all of us, capturing snapshots of “family life” that people of all ages will recognize.
Touring nationally as a solo artist or with his band “The Munks”, Chip’s delightful performances are filled with his gentle spirit, pleasant and winsome style, and an unmistakable connection with family audiences. He brings a clear message of love and laughter through concerts, seminars and workshops; encouraging families to be all they were intended to be. His mission is to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; encouraging love and communication expressed through healthy family life and family relationships.
Chip Richter has been traveling and performing full time for more than two decades as a singer-songwriter, family entertainer, conference and workshop speaker. Over the years he has held positions as a Youth Pastor, Children’s Camp Director, Worship Arts Ministries Director, Football Coach, Recording Engineer, Studio Owner, Producer and Businessman. Chip's songs and performances have become almost an "institution" at Lakeside Chautauqua a popular Midwest summer vacation spot on the shores of Lake Erie in Lakeside/Marblehead, Ohio. During the summers literally thousands of children, and parents alike, have been touched by Chip's songs, stories, funny faces and weekly performances.
Chip's songs range from rollicking, fun, bash around tunes, to songs that are very spiritual, but not at all preachy. He was named Best Family Musician by Lake Erie Living Magazine in 2017 and is a 2x Ohio Music Award winner for Best Children's Song. His CD The Dream Tree received a Parents Choice Award and his music has found a place on both Christian and secular kids radio programs around the country. Chip Richter's music offers a tranquil, folk appeal that is soothing to the soul and finds a welcoming audience among parents as much as children. His songs seem to touch the heart of the "child" in all of us, capturing snapshots of “family life” that people of all ages will recognize.
My Story: "How the Path of "Music for Kids and Families" Chose Me."
I never really set out to be songwriter or performer for kids and families. There was never a moment where I "decided" to choose that path. Instead the path chose me. Here's how it all happened.
My musical experience has come primarily from the church. Playing and then eventually writing songs all in the context of worship and the worship service. After High School I went to a school of theology in Anaheim, California and there began to pursue music more seriously. After college I started leading worship in small groups and then larger worship services. I became the worship leader and coordinated the worship ministry at our home church for eight years. I began writing and performing songs that were still faith based but not necessarily worship oriented in coffee house and college campus settings. During this time my church got behind the music I had been writing and performing and made it possible for me to produce my first studio recording. "People of Destiny" produced by Rich Stevens and recorded at Rich Sound Studio in Warren, Ohio released in 1994 and came out on cassette. About this same time a business I had been working at was sold and I found myself at a crossroads. I decided then to make a go at pursuing a music career full time. I began booking dates in churches and also received invitations to participate in some worship conferences. My focus then was exclusively music for adults and music in the Christian market. My "People of Destiny" cassettes were getting out there bit by bit at my shows and also through some Christian retail stores. It was a grassroots kind of effort distributing the music by word of mouth, friend to friend and family to family. I got some good feedback from folks but the most interesting and surprising feedback came from parents of young children who said their kids would listen to my music at night as they were falling asleep. I didn't know it then but looking back now I can see that was a hint of what was to come.
I was scrambling a bit trying to book shows and generate enough work to pay the bills and my father in-law was helping by sending press kits and cassettes out to folks he would meet. One of those contacts ending up being a man named Herb Goetz, the Director of Religion and Education at Lakeside, the Chautauqua on Lake Erie. Herb contacted me and asked if we could have a meeting that he wanted to talk to me about the possibility of booking a concert and about a couple other ideas he had. I agreed to the meeting and went to Lakeside on Labor Day weekend where I met him in his office. He proceeded to tell me how much he liked my music and how he would love to book me for a concert at Lakeside next summer. But then he began to tell me about a new kids program called God Squad launched that summer at Lakeside. He said they were looking for someone to head-up the program and asked me if I would be interested in the job. He said it would be ten weeks in the summer in which I would do several shows a week as an artist in residence performing for children. I was taken completely by surprise and I just said, "but I don't do music for kids" to which he replied, "I know but I think you'll be great at it!" I didn't know what to say and I think he knew he caught me off guard because he said, "Listen don't give me an answer right now why don't you think about it, talk to your wife and let me know tomorrow."
I left his office thinking this is crazy how would I even begin to do something like this? I told my wife about the meeting and about the offer to do music for kids and she said, "But you don't do music for kids" and I said, "I know that's what I told him but he said he thought I would be great at it." So we went for a long walk by the lake and talked and prayed and talked some more. By the time we got back to the lake house where we were staying we both felt like we were having what I have since come to describe as a "Burning Bush Experience". You know, the way Moses must have felt when he saw the burning bush in the wilderness and said, "I have got to take a closer look at this!" Then as he came closer God spoke to Moses from the bush telling him what He had in mind for his life and the journey he was about to make and that from here on out nothing would ever be the same. We felt like we had just encountered a "Burning Bush", an extraordinary opportunity, completely out of the blue, a pathway opening up before us that we just had to take a closer look at and at least follow awhile to see where it would lead. The next day I met with Herb and accepted the offer to do God Squad and the following summer it all began and, just like Moses, my life would never be the same.
More than twenty summers have come and gone since that first summer at Lakeside and I can say without a doubt my life and my musical path has indeed been forever changed by that "Burning Bush" experience. I truly love what I'm doing and consider it an incredible honor to encourage parents and be part of a child's growing up years. However it didn't happen overnight for me. In fact in the beginning, I must confess, I resisted the whole idea of being a singer-songwriter for kids because I wanted to be a "serious" artist and in my mind that couldn't happen in the world of kids music. Before that first summer at Lakeside I began preparing over the winter by listening to some of the music that was out there for kids and I knew I didn't want to go there. I could barely stand listening to some of those songs even one time through and the thought of having to do stuff like that for ten weeks made me noxious. So I began writing my own songs with kids in mind but never departing from the sensibilities both lyrically and musically I had used in writing songs for grownups. I remembered that feedback I had gotten from parents who told me how much their children liked my songs on the People of Destiny cassette and realized I didn't have to dumb down these songs for kids to like them. I've never deviated from that practice over the years and it's still working. I hear from parents all the time who tell me they listen to my music even when the kids aren't around. As a result my music and my shows have become something that appeals not just to kids but to everyone in the family. I know, I know you've heard it before, "music for all ages", it's a phrase that's been used and abused but honestly it's true and frankly I was as surprised as anyone when I saw it happening. I've thought about this and I think there are three reasons why my music works this way.
All the Best-
My musical experience has come primarily from the church. Playing and then eventually writing songs all in the context of worship and the worship service. After High School I went to a school of theology in Anaheim, California and there began to pursue music more seriously. After college I started leading worship in small groups and then larger worship services. I became the worship leader and coordinated the worship ministry at our home church for eight years. I began writing and performing songs that were still faith based but not necessarily worship oriented in coffee house and college campus settings. During this time my church got behind the music I had been writing and performing and made it possible for me to produce my first studio recording. "People of Destiny" produced by Rich Stevens and recorded at Rich Sound Studio in Warren, Ohio released in 1994 and came out on cassette. About this same time a business I had been working at was sold and I found myself at a crossroads. I decided then to make a go at pursuing a music career full time. I began booking dates in churches and also received invitations to participate in some worship conferences. My focus then was exclusively music for adults and music in the Christian market. My "People of Destiny" cassettes were getting out there bit by bit at my shows and also through some Christian retail stores. It was a grassroots kind of effort distributing the music by word of mouth, friend to friend and family to family. I got some good feedback from folks but the most interesting and surprising feedback came from parents of young children who said their kids would listen to my music at night as they were falling asleep. I didn't know it then but looking back now I can see that was a hint of what was to come.
I was scrambling a bit trying to book shows and generate enough work to pay the bills and my father in-law was helping by sending press kits and cassettes out to folks he would meet. One of those contacts ending up being a man named Herb Goetz, the Director of Religion and Education at Lakeside, the Chautauqua on Lake Erie. Herb contacted me and asked if we could have a meeting that he wanted to talk to me about the possibility of booking a concert and about a couple other ideas he had. I agreed to the meeting and went to Lakeside on Labor Day weekend where I met him in his office. He proceeded to tell me how much he liked my music and how he would love to book me for a concert at Lakeside next summer. But then he began to tell me about a new kids program called God Squad launched that summer at Lakeside. He said they were looking for someone to head-up the program and asked me if I would be interested in the job. He said it would be ten weeks in the summer in which I would do several shows a week as an artist in residence performing for children. I was taken completely by surprise and I just said, "but I don't do music for kids" to which he replied, "I know but I think you'll be great at it!" I didn't know what to say and I think he knew he caught me off guard because he said, "Listen don't give me an answer right now why don't you think about it, talk to your wife and let me know tomorrow."
I left his office thinking this is crazy how would I even begin to do something like this? I told my wife about the meeting and about the offer to do music for kids and she said, "But you don't do music for kids" and I said, "I know that's what I told him but he said he thought I would be great at it." So we went for a long walk by the lake and talked and prayed and talked some more. By the time we got back to the lake house where we were staying we both felt like we were having what I have since come to describe as a "Burning Bush Experience". You know, the way Moses must have felt when he saw the burning bush in the wilderness and said, "I have got to take a closer look at this!" Then as he came closer God spoke to Moses from the bush telling him what He had in mind for his life and the journey he was about to make and that from here on out nothing would ever be the same. We felt like we had just encountered a "Burning Bush", an extraordinary opportunity, completely out of the blue, a pathway opening up before us that we just had to take a closer look at and at least follow awhile to see where it would lead. The next day I met with Herb and accepted the offer to do God Squad and the following summer it all began and, just like Moses, my life would never be the same.
More than twenty summers have come and gone since that first summer at Lakeside and I can say without a doubt my life and my musical path has indeed been forever changed by that "Burning Bush" experience. I truly love what I'm doing and consider it an incredible honor to encourage parents and be part of a child's growing up years. However it didn't happen overnight for me. In fact in the beginning, I must confess, I resisted the whole idea of being a singer-songwriter for kids because I wanted to be a "serious" artist and in my mind that couldn't happen in the world of kids music. Before that first summer at Lakeside I began preparing over the winter by listening to some of the music that was out there for kids and I knew I didn't want to go there. I could barely stand listening to some of those songs even one time through and the thought of having to do stuff like that for ten weeks made me noxious. So I began writing my own songs with kids in mind but never departing from the sensibilities both lyrically and musically I had used in writing songs for grownups. I remembered that feedback I had gotten from parents who told me how much their children liked my songs on the People of Destiny cassette and realized I didn't have to dumb down these songs for kids to like them. I've never deviated from that practice over the years and it's still working. I hear from parents all the time who tell me they listen to my music even when the kids aren't around. As a result my music and my shows have become something that appeals not just to kids but to everyone in the family. I know, I know you've heard it before, "music for all ages", it's a phrase that's been used and abused but honestly it's true and frankly I was as surprised as anyone when I saw it happening. I've thought about this and I think there are three reasons why my music works this way.
- First: I made a conscious decision not to dumb down the music. I'm keeping the quality and production standards high and working to craft the best songs possible. I am serious about my craft and the art of songwriting.
- Second: Children are more intuitive and sophisticated than most adults give them credit for. The more genuine and the more personal, the more the music will connect with kids. I never ever sing down to children and they respond to that.
- Third: There's a child's heart inside of everyone. I read something that Fred Rogers said once that expresses this idea perfectly. He said, "There's a child in me still and sometimes not so still." I'm making music and singing my songs and reaching out to that "child" in every single person I meet and it seems to be working.
- For children: You are amazing and one of a kind.
- For parents: You're child is a gift and you're a better parent than you think you are.
- For all of us: We are loved with an everlasting love.
All the Best-
