Performing at Chicago Singer Spotlight on Wednesday, February 13 at FitzGerald's

Christina Grace
Christina Grace is a woman of many talents and 'grace,' revealing themselves on her debut album, "That's What You Think." A uniquely gifted singer and songwriter, Christina is blessed with phenomenal vocal talent that casts images like a beautiful Monet painting. In 2000, Christina met up with famed independent Canadian producer Randy Moore, to begin arrangements on her debut album. With the assistance of Moore, sound engineer Dave Hall and manager Archie Wright, of Wright Records Inc., Christina began recording the beginnings of "That's What You Think" in July 2000. The highly anticipated music contained on the album is a collection of original material that music fans and peers in the business are sure to enjoy and appreciate. "That's What You Think" has the reminiscent vocal stylings of Whitney Houston and lyrical power similar to Richard Marx. There are fourteen songs on the album, most of which were written by Christina. Perhaps the two most recognizable tunes on the LP are "I See Only You," the lead single; a fast paced rock song, and "Better Times," a radio-friendly power ballad. "I See Only You" went to peak at number four on the European Independent Music Charts and "Better Times" was recognized by Radio Delilah's Delilah Davis, whose musical program is broadcast throughout radio stations nationwide. Christina has been privileged to perform for the past two summers at Ontario's Superior Country Music Fest in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, along with other featured artists. This year promises to be exciting for her since she is now with "Hard Drive," a new band, made up of Christina, guitarist Charlie Long, bassist Bob Kaufman, and drummer Darren Mende. Watch for them around Chicago! For more information about Christina go to www.christinagrace.org

Tom Slater
Tom Slater was 3 years old when he first bled for rock and roll. It was a balmy summer afternoon when the shy and reserved youngster stepped onto his family's porch and began doing an Elvis impersonation for neighbors. So caught up in his rendition of "Hound Dog" was he, shaking his hips and dancing all over the place, that he lost his balance, fell forward off the porch and busted his head open. His parents rushed him to the ER, where they waited a long time to see a doctor. Tom was a bit dazed but it wasn't long before he realized all the potential "fans" in the waiting room. Defiantly, he burst back into his Presley impersonation, belting out his rendition of "All Shook Up", performing with wild abandon for all the other waiting, injured patients. His parents decided he was fine and decided to take him back home before they ever saw the doctor. Born in Detroit, Michigan and raised outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Tom has been writing songs and playing guitar for 15 years. He began taking classical piano lessons at age 9 and playing the trombone when he was 10. In college, he was a music education major, but eventually switched to Political Science and ended up editing the school newspaper. It wasn't until college was over that he finally took his original music seriously. When he moved to Chicago in 1997, he formed his first band, Swell Mental Place. They recorded a 7-song CD and played throughout the Chicagoland area, but disbanded after two years. Since early 2000, Tom has been playing on his own at open mikes, coffee houses, festivals, sleazy juke joints and hot spot hangouts all over Chicago. In July of 2001, he released a 5-song CD entitled "What's Underneath." His plans for 2002 include (finally!) assembling a back-up band, a small tour and laying the groundwork for his next album.

Kirsten Gustafson
Chicago audiences first took notice of Kirsten Gustafson with the release of her critically acclaimed first CD "You Taught My Heart To Sing" in 1992. After years of vocal work with an assortment of musical configurations--everything from rock bands to jazz groups--the Atlantic Jazz recording put her on the map literally overnight. The late, great Sammy Cahn was so impressed with her singing th he entusiastically agreed to write the liner notes for her disc. "Miss Gustafson will be among the greats." he wrote, "you heard it first from me!" In the years since her stunning debut, Kirsten has concentrated on live performance. In 1994 she joined the latin-influenced Samba Bamba! as their lead singer. The band had a 16 month run at Vinyl, a popular Chicago night club at the time. The wild popularity of Samba Bamba! led to concerts in New York and Los Angeles as well a slew of private parties and corporate events. Kirsten continues to do voice-over and jingle sessions while working on a new CD with Blue Note guitarist, Fareed Haque. Her second CD, "Live at Montreux" was released in 2000.Wth her sheer love of singing, she has charmed audiences from the famed Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, to the Parisian club scene.

Paul Morgan