Chip Richter Creating and Performing "Music for Kids & Families" for 30 Years.
Short Artist Bio
Veteran and award-winning children’s singer-songwriter Chip Richter serves up stories, songs, and smiles “Family Style.” His concerts feel like a table set for everyone, with rollicking tunes, gentle moments, and the kind of laughter that sneaks into your pockets for later. Many families walk away saying it was “more fun than a kid should be allowed to have,” thanks to Chip’s generous portions of joy, love, and connection for all ages.
Touring nationally as a solo artist and with his band, The Munks, Chip brings a warm presence and a winsome style that instantly resonates with families. His mission remains steady and heartfelt: helping parents and children turn toward one another with love, curiosity, and meaningful conversation. Through concerts, workshops, and seminars, he encourages families to lean into everything they were made to be.
For more than three decades, Chip has traveled full time as a singer-songwriter, family entertainer, and speaker. Along the way he has collected a colorful toolkit of roles that continue to shape his creative life: Youth Pastor, Children’s Camp Director, Worship Arts Director, Football Coach, Recording Engineer, Studio Owner, Producer, and Businessman. In recent years he has added a new chapter as a children’s television producer, writer, puppeteer, and puppet builder, creating and bringing to life the online kids-and-family series Once Upon A Porch.
Chip’s music has become a beloved summer tradition at Lakeside Chautauqua on the shores of Lake Erie, where thousands of children and parents have been welcomed each year by his songs, stories, and unmistakable spirit. His work ranges from joyful, bash-around anthems to songs with deeper spiritual threads that never feel heavy-handed. He’s been named Best Family Musician by Lake Erie Living Magazine, earned multiple Ohio Music Awards for Best Children’s Song, and received a Parents’ Choice Award for his album The Dream Tree.
With a folk-infused charm and a knack for capturing little snapshots of family life, Chip’s music speaks to the child tucked inside all of us, offering a gentle reminder that wonder still knows our address.
Touring nationally as a solo artist and with his band, The Munks, Chip brings a warm presence and a winsome style that instantly resonates with families. His mission remains steady and heartfelt: helping parents and children turn toward one another with love, curiosity, and meaningful conversation. Through concerts, workshops, and seminars, he encourages families to lean into everything they were made to be.
For more than three decades, Chip has traveled full time as a singer-songwriter, family entertainer, and speaker. Along the way he has collected a colorful toolkit of roles that continue to shape his creative life: Youth Pastor, Children’s Camp Director, Worship Arts Director, Football Coach, Recording Engineer, Studio Owner, Producer, and Businessman. In recent years he has added a new chapter as a children’s television producer, writer, puppeteer, and puppet builder, creating and bringing to life the online kids-and-family series Once Upon A Porch.
Chip’s music has become a beloved summer tradition at Lakeside Chautauqua on the shores of Lake Erie, where thousands of children and parents have been welcomed each year by his songs, stories, and unmistakable spirit. His work ranges from joyful, bash-around anthems to songs with deeper spiritual threads that never feel heavy-handed. He’s been named Best Family Musician by Lake Erie Living Magazine, earned multiple Ohio Music Awards for Best Children’s Song, and received a Parents’ Choice Award for his album The Dream Tree.
With a folk-infused charm and a knack for capturing little snapshots of family life, Chip’s music speaks to the child tucked inside all of us, offering a gentle reminder that wonder still knows our address.
My Story: "How the Path of "Music for Kids and Families" Came looking for Me."
I never set out to become a songwriter or performer for kids and families. There was no moment where I pointed to that path and said, “That’s it.” Instead, the path came looking for me. Here’s how.
My musical world began in the church. I learned by playing, then by writing songs shaped by worship and community. After high school I headed to a school of theology in Anaheim, California, where I started taking music more seriously. After college I found myself leading worship in small groups, then larger gatherings, eventually coordinating the worship ministry at our home church for eight years. Somewhere in there I also began writing and performing songs that were still rooted in faith but not strictly worship music, sharing them in coffeehouses and on college campuses.
During that season, my church supported the music I was creating and helped make my first studio album possible. People of Destiny, produced by Rich Stevens at Rich Sound Studio in Warren, Ohio, was released in 1994 on cassette. Around that same time, the business I worked for was sold, and I suddenly found myself at a crossroads. So I decided to give full-time music a real shot. I booked concerts in churches, accepted invitations to worship conferences, and focused entirely on music for adults within the Christian market.
It was very grassroots. Those People of Destiny cassettes made their way into people’s hands little by little through my shows and through a few Christian bookstores. I got encouraging feedback, but the most surprising comments came from parents of young children who told me their kids listened to my music at bedtime. I didn’t recognize it then, but looking back, that was the first nudge toward where I was heading.
I was hustling hard to book enough shows to pay the bills, and my father-in-law helped by sending out press kits to people he met. One of those packages reached Herb Goetz, Director of Religion and Education at Lakeside, the Chautauqua on Lake Erie. Herb contacted me and asked to meet about booking a concert and discussing “a couple other ideas.”
So I drove up to Lakeside on Labor Day weekend. In his office, Herb told me how much he enjoyed my music and that he wanted to bring me in for a summer concert. Then he mentioned a new kids program called God Squad that had launched that year. They needed someone to lead it and perform several times a week as an artist-in-residence for ten weeks. He asked if I’d be interested.
I was stunned. I told him, “But I don’t do music for kids.” He smiled and said, “I know. But I think you’ll be great at it.” He must’ve seen that he had caught me off guard, because he added, “Don’t answer now. Think about it, talk to your wife, and let me know tomorrow.”
I left wondering how I could possibly do something like this. When I told my wife, she said exactly what I had said: “But you don’t do music for kids.” And I replied, “I know. But he thinks I’d be great at it.” We walked for a long time by the lake, talking and praying, and somewhere on that shoreline we both realized we were in the middle of what I’ve come to call a “Burning Bush Experience.” One of those moments where something unexpected and extraordinary appears right in front of you and invites you to come closer, to listen, to follow. By the time we returned to the lake house, we knew we needed to say yes.
I met with Herb the next day and accepted the offer. The following summer I stepped into the world of God Squad, and from that point on, everything changed.
More than thirty summers have passed since then, and I can say without hesitation that my life and musical path were transformed by that moment. I love the work I get to do. It’s a privilege to encourage parents and to be part of a child’s growing-up years. But I’ll be honest: it didn’t happen instantly for me. At first, I resisted being considered a “kids’ songwriter.” I wanted to be taken seriously, and I assumed those two things couldn’t coexist.
Before that first summer at Lakeside, I listened to a lot of children’s music to prepare, and I quickly knew I didn’t want to go in that direction. Some of it was hard for me to make it through even once, and the idea of doing that kind of music all summer made me feel, well, queasy. So I began writing my own songs for kids, but I refused to abandon the musical sensibilities and lyrical care I used when writing for adults.
I kept thinking about those parents who told me their children loved my People of Destiny songs. I realized I didn’t need to simplify or dilute what I was doing. I just needed to aim those songs toward young listeners without lowering the bar. I’ve held to that ever since. And it works. Parents tell me they listen to my music even when the kids aren’t around. Somewhere along the way, my concerts became something the whole family enjoys together.
I’ve thought a lot about why that is, and I believe it comes down to three things:
Peace and Every Good-
My musical world began in the church. I learned by playing, then by writing songs shaped by worship and community. After high school I headed to a school of theology in Anaheim, California, where I started taking music more seriously. After college I found myself leading worship in small groups, then larger gatherings, eventually coordinating the worship ministry at our home church for eight years. Somewhere in there I also began writing and performing songs that were still rooted in faith but not strictly worship music, sharing them in coffeehouses and on college campuses.
During that season, my church supported the music I was creating and helped make my first studio album possible. People of Destiny, produced by Rich Stevens at Rich Sound Studio in Warren, Ohio, was released in 1994 on cassette. Around that same time, the business I worked for was sold, and I suddenly found myself at a crossroads. So I decided to give full-time music a real shot. I booked concerts in churches, accepted invitations to worship conferences, and focused entirely on music for adults within the Christian market.
It was very grassroots. Those People of Destiny cassettes made their way into people’s hands little by little through my shows and through a few Christian bookstores. I got encouraging feedback, but the most surprising comments came from parents of young children who told me their kids listened to my music at bedtime. I didn’t recognize it then, but looking back, that was the first nudge toward where I was heading.
I was hustling hard to book enough shows to pay the bills, and my father-in-law helped by sending out press kits to people he met. One of those packages reached Herb Goetz, Director of Religion and Education at Lakeside, the Chautauqua on Lake Erie. Herb contacted me and asked to meet about booking a concert and discussing “a couple other ideas.”
So I drove up to Lakeside on Labor Day weekend. In his office, Herb told me how much he enjoyed my music and that he wanted to bring me in for a summer concert. Then he mentioned a new kids program called God Squad that had launched that year. They needed someone to lead it and perform several times a week as an artist-in-residence for ten weeks. He asked if I’d be interested.
I was stunned. I told him, “But I don’t do music for kids.” He smiled and said, “I know. But I think you’ll be great at it.” He must’ve seen that he had caught me off guard, because he added, “Don’t answer now. Think about it, talk to your wife, and let me know tomorrow.”
I left wondering how I could possibly do something like this. When I told my wife, she said exactly what I had said: “But you don’t do music for kids.” And I replied, “I know. But he thinks I’d be great at it.” We walked for a long time by the lake, talking and praying, and somewhere on that shoreline we both realized we were in the middle of what I’ve come to call a “Burning Bush Experience.” One of those moments where something unexpected and extraordinary appears right in front of you and invites you to come closer, to listen, to follow. By the time we returned to the lake house, we knew we needed to say yes.
I met with Herb the next day and accepted the offer. The following summer I stepped into the world of God Squad, and from that point on, everything changed.
More than thirty summers have passed since then, and I can say without hesitation that my life and musical path were transformed by that moment. I love the work I get to do. It’s a privilege to encourage parents and to be part of a child’s growing-up years. But I’ll be honest: it didn’t happen instantly for me. At first, I resisted being considered a “kids’ songwriter.” I wanted to be taken seriously, and I assumed those two things couldn’t coexist.
Before that first summer at Lakeside, I listened to a lot of children’s music to prepare, and I quickly knew I didn’t want to go in that direction. Some of it was hard for me to make it through even once, and the idea of doing that kind of music all summer made me feel, well, queasy. So I began writing my own songs for kids, but I refused to abandon the musical sensibilities and lyrical care I used when writing for adults.
I kept thinking about those parents who told me their children loved my People of Destiny songs. I realized I didn’t need to simplify or dilute what I was doing. I just needed to aim those songs toward young listeners without lowering the bar. I’ve held to that ever since. And it works. Parents tell me they listen to my music even when the kids aren’t around. Somewhere along the way, my concerts became something the whole family enjoys together.
I’ve thought a lot about why that is, and I believe it comes down to three things:
- I never dumb down the music. I take the work seriously, crafting the most honest songs I can and keeping the production quality high.
- Children are more intuitive than we give them credit for. They respond to what’s genuine. I never sing down to them, and they recognize that.
- Every person carries a child’s heart inside. As Fred Rogers said, “There’s a child in me still, and sometimes not so still.” When I sing, I’m reaching for that part of every person in the room.
- For children: You are amazing and one of a kind.
- For parents: Your child is a gift, and you’re a better parent than you think.
- For all of us: We are loved with an everlasting love that connects and holds us all together.
Peace and Every Good-
