Chris Ketley

Chris Ketley
Chris Ketley performing live in 2017
Background information
Born	(1985-01-29) 29 January 1985 (age 41)
Occupations	Musician, arranger, musical director, composer, producer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, bass
Website	chrisketley.co.uk

Chris Ketley (born 29 January 1985) is a British, London-based multi-instrumentalist, musical director, arranger, composer and producer.

He is most well known for being a pop session musician playing guitar and piano for Ellie Goulding and has previously worked with a variety of bands and artists such as Bryan Ferry, Zendaya, Banks, the Rakes, Dua Lipa, Markus Feehily (of Westlife), Martin Luke Brown, Betsy, DJ Fresh, Christophe Willem, Conor Maynard, Rumer, the Moons, and the On Offs.

He has made TV appearances with CeeLo Green, Katherine Jenkins, Cher, Gary Barlow, Alfie Bow, Barry Manilow, Donny Osmond and LeAnn Rimes.

In addition to his live experience, Ketley composes and produces music for placement on advertising campaigns, TV, short films and other bespoke media. His clients have included the BBC, 20th Century Fox, Biscuit Filmworks (Noam Murro), Pantene, Universal Music and Grey London.

Some of his live career highlights include a headline show at Madison Square Garden, The Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, Saturday Night Live, Later with Jools Holland, Coachella Festival and a headline show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Early career

Ketley's career started in his late teens playing for UK bands such as the On Offs whilst touring the UK and Europe. By the age of 21, he was touring the world with UK post-punk band the Rakes. By his mid-twenties, Ketley was playing with Ellie Goulding on some of the world's biggest stages, TV shows and open-air festivals.

Bryan Ferry at the Hollywood Bowl

Ketley composed orchestral arrangements for Bryan Ferry's headline show at the Hollywood Bowl on 26 August 2017. The full orchestra was conducted by Thomas Wilkins. Ketley worked closely with Ferry and his team to compose 18 new scores for the concert for a full size symphony orchestra. He worked closely with Jessica Dannheisser who assisted in orchestrating.

Strings arrangements

Ketley has arranged, recorded and produced strings at Abbey Road Studios, Air Studios, and British Grove Studios. His arrangements have been used live at the Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and Carnegie Hall.

He arranged the strings and group vocals across multiple tracks on Ellie Goulding's album Delirium in addition to live recordings and special acoustic releases of singles such as "Love Me like You Do", from the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades of Grey.

Royal wedding

Ketley accompanied Ellie Goulding when she was asked to sing at the Royal wedding reception in 2011. The Duke of Cambridge and Duchess of Cambridge asked Goulding to sing her cover version of Elton John's "Your Song" for their first dance.

Live career

Television appearances

Discography

Awards

Ketley's work on a piece of music called "Avail", which was used in an online advert to raise awareness about domestic violence, was awarded a Cannes Lions award in 2017. The piece of music was set to picture by Biscuit Filmworks production company, directed by Noam Murro, commissioned by Victim Support, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

The piece of music was co-written by Ketley, Joe Kearns and Ellie Goulding, arranged by Ketley, and co-produced by Ketley and Kearns.

Endorsements

• Gretsch Guitars
• Hofner Guitars
• Blackstar Amplification

References

External links

• Official website
• Chris Ketley latest news
• SoundCloud