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Chris “Spoons” Daniels, born Christopher Williams Daniels on September 30, 1952, is an American bandleader, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and roots musician best known for the horn-driven, swing, R&B, jump blues style band he has led since 1984, Chris Daniels & The Kings. With a music career that spans four decades, he has produced fourteen albums on several labels including critically-acclaimed international releases and has won multiple awards in the United States and the Netherlands. During the decades as a long-standing unit, Chris Daniels & The Kings have toured throughout the US and Europe appearing at festivals such as The Telluride Bluegrass Festival Carolina Downhome Blues Festival,, Parkpop Festival in the Netherlands, Marktrock in Belgium; plus appearing on TV and radio shows such as Countdown Cafe in Holland, , Nashville Now , Ohne Filter in Germany, and the HDnet Network in the US. Daniels also tours as a sideman and bandleader for various artists across the US and Europe including Russell Smith of the Amazing Rhythm Aces, The Kings backing David Bromberg in Colorado, Chicago, and New York, with New Grass Revival in Nashville and Telluride, and with Dutch guitarist Jan Rijbroek, and the BMaster (formally Blues Masters) in Europe.

Daniels is recognized for collaborating with and acting as a bandleader for when the Kings backed Al Kooper, Sam Bush, Bo Diddley, John Cowan, Francine Reed, Henry Paul, Sonny Landreth, The Coasters, The Drifters, and The Platters and others. He earned a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Children's Album for collaborating on JumpinJazz Kids.

Life and Career
Daniels was born in St. Paul, MN, and began playing guitar at ten years old. In the late 1950s, his first influences were acoustic blues and folk music. At seventeen, he moved to East Coast where he worked as a sideman musician for a band led by David Johansen who later founded the New York Dolls. He settled in Colorado in 1971 and joined the acoustic jam band Magic Music in 1972, contributing as a singer, songwriter, lead guitarist, mandolin, and banjo player. Magic Music toured the states from 1971 to 1976 and performed at the 2nd and 3rd Telluride Bluegrass Festival, gaining serious interest from Flying Fish Records/Rounder Records and others before the group broke up. Other members of the Magic Music organization included Tim Goodman of Southern Pacific and Rob Galloway who later played bass with Carol King’s backing band, Navarro.

Between 1976 and 1979, Daniels attended Macalester College in St. Paul and Berklee College of Music in Boston graduating Cum Laude. He returned to Colorado and formed his own group “Spoons” that released one album titled “Definitely Live” in 1981 on Sunshine Records. After the group disbanded in 1982, Daniels teamed up with Russell Smith of the Amazing Rhythm Aces and began to tour the US as a guitar, mandolin, and banjo player. Smith’s guitar playing and singing influenced many of the artists he worked with, and Daniels developed his upbeat, jazz, swing, and blues styles during those years.

In 1982 Daniels began working with New Grass Revival (Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, and Pat Flynn) as his for a series of performances headlining the Friday night shows at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Daniels and the Kings served as the Friday night headliner from 1986 to 1991. In 1984 he was both a headliner with New Grass Revival on Friday and a sideman with Russell Smith in the final performance on Sunday night.

In 1983 Daniels founded the “After Hours Jam” at the historic Sheridan Opera House in Telluride. He served as the bandleader and Master of Ceremonies for the late night concerts, hosting guest artists that included Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill, Edgar Meyer, Victor Wooten, Henry Paul, Howard Levy, Jonell Mosser, Bill Payne, Al Kooper, David Bromberg and a host of others. Daniels met David Bromberg at the After Hours Jam, and through that connection Bromberg and Daniels began playing a series of concerts in Colorado, Chicago and New York. Bromberg wrote the song "Testify" that his band recorded and then The Kings backed Bromberg on his album on his Sideman Serenade record. Over the next 25 years, Chris & The Kings would also serve as the backup band for many more roots artists such as Sam Bush, John Cowan, Al Kooper, Diane Reeves, The Coasters, Henry Paul, The Platters, The Drifters, and Bo Diddley and others.

Daniels is known for his award-winning educator and organization leader. For five years Daniels served as Executive Director at Swallow Hill Music Association, of the largest US roots, folk, and acoustic school and concert organization. He began teaching in 2001 at the Community College level and then became an Assistant Professor for music business at the University of Colorado Denver's College of Arts & Media in 2007.

Daniels is recognized for his vocal and guitar work on a series of radio and TV commercials that include Pizza Hut, Ford Motor Company, McDonalds, Cascadian Farms and more. In addition, Daniels is known for TV music placement that included the 2006 ABC series Men in Trees.

After being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in 2010, Daniels survived an Hematopoietic bone marrow transplantation via stem cells. Daniels resumed performing throughout the West with The Kings, and in 2012, he finished recording his fifteenth album. He continues to teach music business as an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Denver and was nominated to be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2013 with Judy Collins and The Nitty Dirt Band.

The Kings
In February of 1984, Daniels formed Chris Daniels & The R&B Kings (later shortened to The Kings) in playing their first show in May of 1984. The band developed a strong regional following, performing old R&B jump-blues and rock styles with their distinctive 3-piece horn-section.

Daniels' first national chart recognition came from the song When You're Cool, released off the album the bearing the same name, on the emerging Triple A radio format pioneered by stations such as KBCO in Boulder, WXRT in Chicago, Cities 97 in Minneapolis, and cities all across the US. “When You’re Cool” was later covered by Conway Twitty.