{{Short description|American singer-songwriter (born 1979)}} {{For|other people with similar names|Chris Owens (disambiguation){{!}}Chris Owens}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Christopher Owens | image = Christopher Owens Coachella 2012.jpg | landscape = yes | alt = | caption = Owens at Coachella in 2012 | birth_name = Christopher David Owens | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|07|13}} | birth_place = Miami, Florida, United States | genre = Indie rock, indie pop, garage rock | years_active = 2001–present | occupation = Singer, songwriter, musician | instrument = Vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion | label = Fat Possum, Turnstile, True Panther }} '''Christopher David Owens''' (born July 13, 1979)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-03/music/the-secret-life-of-girls/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106141807/http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-03/music/the-secret-life-of-girls|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 6, 2009|title=The Secret Life of Girls|date=November 3, 2009|publisher=Villagevoice.com|accessdate=September 27, 2014}}</ref> is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the frontman and songwriter for the now-defunct indie rock band Girls. He released his debut album as a solo artist, ''Lysandre'', in January 2013.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lindsay |first=Cam |title=The Cult of Girls |date=October 2009 |publisher=Exclaim! |url=http://exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=137&csid2=4&fid1=41441}}</ref> In September 2014, Owens released his second album, ''A New Testament''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stream Christopher Owens' New Album A New Testament Via Pitchfork Advance|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/56810-stream-christopher-owens-new-album-a-new-testament-via-pitchfork-advance/|accessdate=October 1, 2014|agency=Pitchfork|date=September 22, 2014}}</ref> In May 2015, Owens released his third album, ''Chrissybaby Forever''.<ref>[https://christopherowens.bandcamp.com/releases Christopher Owens<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In October 2024, Owens released his fourth album, ''I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jonze |first=Tim |date=August 14, 2024 |title='I had a walloping left hook I didn't see coming': ex-Girls singer Christopher Owens on his journey back from rock bottom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/aug/14/i-had-a-walloping-left-hook-i-didnt-see-coming-ex-girls-singer-christopher-owens-on-his-journey-back-from-rock-bottom |access-date=October 18, 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Renshaw |first=David |date=October 17, 2024 |title=Christopher Owens won't be defeated |url=https://www.thefader.com/2024/10/17/christopher-owens-i-wanna-run-barefoot-through-your-hair-interview |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=The Fader}}</ref>
==Early life== Owens was born in Miami, Florida.<ref name="faqmagazine1">{{cite web |url=http://www.faqmagazine.org/ChristopherGirls.htm |title=Christopher Owens - Girls - FAQ |publisher=Faqmagazine.org |accessdate=October 13, 2012 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005052054/http://www.faqmagazine.org/ChristopherGirls.htm |archivedate=October 5, 2012 }}</ref> At the time of his birth, both his parents were members of the Children of God traveling religious community. Shortly before Owens' birth his infant brother Steven died of pneumonia due to the reluctance of the church's members to seek professional medical assistance.<ref name="faqmagazine1"/> In 1981, Owens' family left the United States to travel with the church and he lived "all over Asia" until he was ten, before traveling throughout Western Europe. Owens learned to play guitar in his early teens and would perform covers of Everly Brothers and The Fleetwoods songs on the street. At the age of sixteen, he left the church while based in Slovenia and followed his sister to Amarillo, Texas. Owens spent his first four years in Texas working as a nighttime shelf stocker in Albertson's grocery store as well as in various restaurants. In 2001 he met artist Stanley Marsh 3, who hired him first as a lawn mower and later as a personal assistant. After nine years in Texas, Owens moved to San Francisco, California with the intention of becoming a "famous painter".<ref name="faqmagazine1"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Examiner |first=Will Reisman Special to the |date=June 1, 2022 |title=Girls frontman Chris Owens has new music and a new attitude |url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/culture/girls-frontman-chris-owens-has-new-music-and-a-new-attitude/article_2ee7e54e-de1b-11ec-a3a6-ab3f9b533cb3.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618082444/https://www.sfexaminer.com/culture/girls-frontman-chris-owens-has-new-music-and-a-new-attitude/article_2ee7e54e-de1b-11ec-a3a6-ab3f9b533cb3.html |archive-date=June 18, 2022 |access-date=May 15, 2024 |website=San Francisco Examiner |language=en}}</ref> There he met musicians Matt Fishbeck and Ariel Pink and joined their band Holy Shit as a touring guitarist.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 24, 2015 |title=Christopher Owens' upbringing in radical Christian cult Children of… |url=https://www.huckmag.com/article/christopher-owens-upbringing-radical-christian-cult-children-god |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=Huck |language=en}}</ref> In 2007, Owens was inspired to form his own band and began writing songs for the first time at the age of 28.
==Music career== With Girls, Owens released two studio albums and an EP. Girls' first recordings were released as a single, "Lust For Life", on the independent label True Panther Sounds in 2008. ''Album'' was released in 2009.
The band released their second full-length album ''Father, Son, Holy Ghost'' on September 9, 2011, in UK/Europe and on September 13 in the USA.
In July 2012, Owens announced via his Twitter feed that he was leaving the band and would continue to record music under his own name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pitchfork.com/news/47047-girls-frontman-christopher-owens-leaves-band/|title=Girls Frontman Christopher Owens Leaves Band | News|publisher=Pitchfork|date=July 2, 2012|accessdate=October 13, 2012}}</ref>
On October 25, 2012, Owens announced that he would release his debut solo album, titled ''Lysandre'', in January 2013. The album was recorded with a group of musicians in Los Angeles with producer Doug Boehm - who produced Girls' ''Father, Son, Holy Ghost''. Owens released a statement with the announcement of ''Lysandre''{{'}}s release explaining that the album tells the story - in track sequence - of the first Girls tour in 2008 and takes its title from a girl he met in France during that trip. His statement calls the album "a coming of age story, a road trip story, a love story." The album and new solo career have allowed Owens to satisfy his own creative whims, and although he is sitting on a couple records worth of new material, "he admits that the gap between writing and recording gives him the distance to reappraise a song's quality."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://exclaim.ca/Interviews/FromTheMagazine/christopher_owens-wants_to_move_on|title=Christopher Owens|publisher=Exclaim.ca|accessdate=September 27, 2014}}</ref>
Owens, along with the seven musicians who appear on the album, performed ''Lysandre'' in full at San Francisco's The Lodge at the Regency Center on November 9, 2012. He was also featured on the cover of Issue #83 of The Fader.<ref>{{cite web|last=McCloskey|first=Caroline|title=Christopher Owens: Christopher's Theme|url=http://www.thefader.com/2012/11/27/christopher-owens-christophers-theme/|publisher=The Fader|date=November 27, 2012|accessdate=December 3, 2012}}</ref> He released his second solo album, ''A New Testament'', on September 30, 2014, in the US and September 29 worldwide.<ref name="hm">{{cite web|url=http://thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/christopher-owens-to-release-new-solo-album-in-spring-models-for-new-hm-campaign-139919|title=Christopher Owens to release new solo album in spring, models for new H&M campaign|author=Luke Morgan Britton|date=October 22, 2013|work=The Line of Best Fit|accessdate=September 27, 2014}}</ref>
In December 2016, he announced on Twitter that he has formed a new band named Curls with two other musicians, Cody Rhodes and Luke Baće.<ref>{{cite web|title=For the Second Time, Girls' Christopher Owens Forms a Band Named Curls|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/for-a-second-time-girls-christopher-owens-forms-a.html|website=pastemagazine.com|accessdate=January 10, 2017|archive-date=January 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110235811/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/for-a-second-time-girls-christopher-owens-forms-a.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Together, they released the 2017 EP titled ''Vante''.
On July 30, 2024, Owens announced his return to Girls' home label, True Panther, and released his first song in seven years, "I Think About Heaven".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Corcoran |first=Nina |date=July 30, 2024 |title=Girls' Christopher Owens Shares First New Song in Seven Years |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/girls-christopher-owens-shares-first-new-song-in-seven-years-listen/ |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> He released his fourth studio album, ''I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair'', on October 18, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Strauss |first=Matthew |date=August 12, 2024 |title=Girls' Christopher Owens Announces First Solo Album in Nearly a Decade, Shares New Song |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/girls-christopher-owens-announces-first-solo-album-in-nearly-a-decade-shares-new-song-watch-the-video/ |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref>
==Fashion== In September 2012, it was announced by Saint Laurent Paris (formerly Yves Saint Laurent) that Owens would be the face of their Spring/Summer campaign, to be shot by returning Creative Director Hedi Slimane. A promotional video was released during Paris Fashion Week featuring multiple black and white images of Owens edited to the audio of Girls' "Just A Song".<ref>{{cite web |title=Christopher Owens Stars in Saint Laurent Paris Campaign Video |first=Olivia |last=Graham |publisher=The FADER |date=November 1, 2012 |url=http://www.thefader.com/2012/10/01/christopher-owens-stars-in-saint-laurent-paris-campaign-video/ |accessdate=November 1, 2012}}</ref>
In October 2013, Owens became the new face of the H&M campaign promoting the Isabel Marant range.<ref name="hm"/>
Owens shared that these modeling gigs allowed him to recoup the financial loss of touring ''Lysandre''––there were nine people in his band, and to maintain an intimate atmosphere, he had refused to play festivals.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Diehl|first1=Matt|title=Christopher Owens on Growing Up, Modeling and Quitting His Band Girls|url=http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/christopher-owens-new-testament-modeling-and-quitting-girls/?smid=pl-share|accessdate=October 9, 2014|agency=T Magazine, The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=September 29, 2014}}</ref>
==Discography== '''With Girls''' * ''Album'' (2009) *''Broken Dreams Club'' (2010) * ''Father, Son, Holy Ghost'' (2011)
'''Solo albums''' * ''Lysandre'' (2013) * ''A New Testament'' (2014) * ''Chrissybaby Forever'' (2015) * ''I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair'' (2024)
'''With Curls''' *''Vante'' (2017)
'''Solo singles'''
* "Lysandre" (2012, Fat Possum Records) * "Here We Go" (2013, Turnstile) * "Nothing More Than Everything To Me" (2014, Turnstile) * "It Comes Back To You" (2014, Turnstile) * "I Think About Heaven" (2024, True Panther Sounds) * "No Good" (2024, True Panther Sounds) * "This Is My Guitar" (2024, True Panther Sounds)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Discogs artist}}
{{Christopher Owens}} {{Girls (band)}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Christopher}} Category:1979 births Category:American indie rock musicians Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American rock singers Category:American rock songwriters Category:Fat Possum Records artists Category:Living people Category:Singers from Miami Category:American rock guitarists Category:American male guitarists Category:Singer-songwriters from Florida Category:Guitarists from Florida Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters Category:21st-century American guitarists Category:21st-century American male singers