February 10, 2025
In this release of Backstage at the Egyptian, our marketing intern Lia Martinez asks Chris Ruggiero, a love song music artist, a variety of questions. Continue reading to find out about balancing professional and personal life, thoughts on his recent publicity boom, and insights he hopes to gain through his Valentine themed performance at the Egyptian Theatre.
Lia: Being a music artist requires many performances, how do you manage to have a balance between your professional and personal life? Do you have any advice for people hoping to become artists?
Chris: I think when you’re passionate about something, it’s easy to let it consume you, but then you might get a few years down the road and realize you don’t have any balance in your life, or you’ve neglected and lost some friends along the way. Because I had so many relationships with older artists when I was starting out, I got a good education about the mistakes that a lot of them had made. They didn’t want to see me make the same mistakes. I don’t think I needed to be told to put my family and friends first because they’re so important to me, but the lesson of having balance seemed to be a recurring theme. A lot of the artists of the 60s and 70s ruined marriages or weren’t there for their children perhaps, so all of those warnings came early for me. I also have a manager that actually cares about my happiness and well-being, not just about the bottom line. So that’s a good piece of advice for young hopeful artists. You have to find someone who believes in you and make sure they have your best interest at heart; ideally, someone who asks a lot of questions and is interested in what’s important to you – as opposed to them just trying to tell you how much they know or what they think you should do.
L: How would you describe your style of singing? Were there factors that went into figuring out if a specific style suited your voice best?
C: Well, my first love was doo wop music. I still include a little bit of it in the show, but those ballads were very sentimental and heartfelt and that really spoke to me. Those songs really touched something inside me and it seemed to touch a lot of other people, too. So, what that evolved into is that I am always looking for songs that have a strong message and a strong melody. The lyrics and the story are paramount. I was inspired by people like Paul Anka and Bobby Rydell – those clear, strong, emotional voices from the first decade or so of rock and roll. I would hope that when people describe my style they might use some of those same adjectives, or they might say that my style is “moving” – that it moves them emotionally – because that’s what I’m aiming for. I want them to feel the emotional charge in the stories that I’m telling through these great songs.
L: I’ve noticed your forte is singing love songs, are there any you prefer to sing? Have you considered branching out to sing other genres of music?
C: My favorites are changing all the time. Right now they’re “Run to Me,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and two newer songs in my show, “Weekend in New England” (originally by Barry Manilow) and “Hello” (which was originally recorded by Lionel Richie.) I always try to find ways to make these songs my own, so younger audiences may recognize that there’s a little piece of an Adele song woven into the Lionel Richie song. On my albums, especially on my Christmas album, there are songs that are really lively and uptempo, some are a little jazzier, some have a country feel… The breadth of the material is kind of broad across my albums – there are songs originally recorded by Johnny Mathis, Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt, Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother), Don McLean, the Beatles, Joao Gilberto, but these songs really are timeless – because the lyrics and the melodies are timeless – they talk about falling in love, being in love, losing love – those are things that never ever go out of style. And they appeal to me and they appeal to a lot of younger people because a song with sentimental lyrics will always be relevant. I keep an open mind but you probably won’t find me doing any hip hop.
L: How do you feel being a young artist and already having a lot of publicity such as performing on PBS and Good Morning America?
C: Well, I don’t let it go to my head. I guess that might be one of the more important things. For me, this is all about people and all of those big media appearances you mentioned and the articles in Rolling Stone, etc. – those have all brought a bigger audience and to me, the most important part of that is it means I get to touch more people with my music. It also gives me a chance to mention the people who inspired me or collaborated with me and give them the recognition they deserve.
