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 multi-platinum selling British artist Ellie Goulding and has previously worked with a variety of bands and artists such as

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ''The Independent'', Ferry an ...

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the ...

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The Rakes The Rakes were an English post-punk band formed in London in 2003. Their first album ''Capture/Release'' released in 2005, received a nine out of ten review in the ''NME'' and was rated 13th best album of the year in the same paper. The band ci ...

, Dua Lipa,

Markus Feehily Markus "Mark" Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is an Irish singer and one of the two lead vocalists of the pop vocal group Westlife. Westlife has released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours and won several awards, becomin ...

(

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), Martin Luke Brown, Betsy,

DJ Fresh Daniel Edward Stein (born 11 April 1977), better known by his stage name DJ Fresh, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, best known for making electronic music. He is one of the principal members of the drum and bass group Bad Company, ...

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, Rumer and The

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Australia, The Moons & The on Offs. He has made TV appearances with

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, Katherine Jenkins, Cher,

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, Alfie Bow, Barry Manilow, Donny Osmond and LeAnn Rimes. In addition to his live experience, Chris 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,

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, Jools Holland,

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and a headline show at

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Early career

His career started in his late teens playing for UK bands such as The on Offs whilst touring the UK & Europe. By the age of 21 he was touring the world with UK post punk band

. By his mid-twenties Chris was playing with Ellie Goulding on some of the world's biggest stages, TV shows and open-air festivals the music industry has to offer.

Bryan Ferry at the Hollywood Bowl

Chris 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. Chris worked closely with Bryan 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.

String arrangement

Chris has arranged, recorded and produced strings at Abbey Road Studios,

Air Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

British Grove Studios British Grove Studios is a recording studio located at 20 British Grove in Chiswick, West London, and owned by musician Mark Knopfler. British Grove Studios was built by David Stewart, the studio's former manager, and commissioned by Knopfler as ...

. His arrangements have been used live at the Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood Bowl & 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 for the film 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.

Royal wedding

Chris Ketley accompanied Ellie Goulding when she was asked to sing at The Royal Wedding reception in 2011. The

Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

and

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

asked Ellie Goulding to sing her cover version of Elton John's "

Your Song "Your Song" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. It was John's first international Top 10 chart single. "Your Song" was first released by American rock band Three Dog Night in M ...

" for their first dance.

Live career

T.V. appearances

Discography

Awards

His 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 Noam Murro ( he, נועם מורו; born ) is an Israeli film director and film producer. He is best known for directing the films ''Smart People'', '' 300: Rise of an Empire'', and the BBC miniseries ''Watership Down''. Early and personal life ...

, commissioned by Victim Support, choreographed by

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (born 1976) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer and director. He has made over 50 choreographic pieces and received two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, three Ballet Tanz awards for best choreographe ...

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

Endorsements

* Gretsch Guitars * Hofner Guitars *Blackstar Amplification

References

External links

*
Chris Ketley Latest News

Soundcloud
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketley, Chris 1985 births Living people British session musicians British male guitarists 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British male musicians