Chuck Cheesman
Chuck Cheesman makes music for children and with children, and he thinks it is probably the best job on the planet. Sometimes parents come to him and say, "Mr. Chuck, I can't sing." He simply replies, "Cookie Monster and Bob Dylan have had hit records. You can sing. Everybody can sing!" And that is exactly the message Chuck Cheesman hasbeen pouring into this world for more than a decade: We can all make music together, and we (the boring old grown-ups) owe it to our children to share with them a love for the arts, music, and dancing. We owe it to our children to give them the love and joy that make life worth living.
Chuck got his start in children's music as a Wiggleworms™ instructor at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. While teaching at OTSFM he released the CD A Family Songbook (2003) - a collection of mostly familiar children's songs - which has since gone out of print. Thrills from his OTSFM years include having had the family of President Barack Obama attend his classes and also his contribution of three tracks to the hit Wiggleworms Love You CD.
Now making his home in Flagstaff, Arizona, Chuck is best known for his Dancing With No Shoes On! music programs for children and families. He and his wife have two children of their own, and it's hardly a surprise that both children have taken a shine to music themselves as budding Suzuki Method violin students.
Chuck is very proud to be serving as Bookmans' Music in the Classrooms instructor for a third school year (2011-2012). Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Flagstaff provides a very generous grant so that Chuck is able to bring his much loved children's music into Head Start classrooms in Flagstaff.
Dancing With No Shoes On is Chuck's first full length recording for children that features primarily original songs. It was produced by the talented Sam Zucchini of The Zucchini Brothers fame, and the collaboration between Chuck and his friend Sam has resulted in a collection of music that will please people of all ages. Nine new tracks - along with four remastered songs from A Family Songbook - showcase Chuck's smart, kid-friendly songwriting and an all-star cast of guest musicians.
Chuck Cheesman is also highly regarded as a songwriter and performer of music for grown-ups. Please visit http://www.chuckcheesman.net for more information and to listen to samples of his "adult" music.