Chris Corrigan

It was a cross-Canada journey that first brought Chris Corrigan to PEI. On that journey, he met Lennie Gallant. After returning home to Edmonton, Chris got an invitation from Lennie asking him to come back to the east coast and play in his group, Speed the Plough. At 22 years old, he packed his things and moved to PEI and he has been here, making impressive contributions to the musical and cultural fabric of Prince Edward Island, ever since. 

Chris’ father was a guitar player, so he grew up around it. When he was four, he took an interest in the instrument and his father started showing him a few things. At five, he saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, and that piece of history marked the start of his pursuit of a life and study in music. 

In 1982, after settling into the rhythm of the Island, Chris formed a trio called The Distortions with Peter Richards and Reg Ballagh. They played local gigs, doing mostly covers, with a few original songs sprinkled in. He was balancing his days and nights with gigs in his own group, gigs with Lennie, and working as an accompanying musician in theatres around PEI. 

After The Distortions, he formed a group called the Dogs, with Mike Mooney, Chas Guay, Sean Ferris, and Dale Desroches. The Dogs played three nights a week for three years at the local club, The Dip. The Dip was a basement club and cultural hub located at the corner of Grafton Street and Queen Street in Charlottetown. 

In the mid-nineties, Chris formed a group with Chas Guay, Dale Desroches, Paul MacAusland, and Joey Kitson called Black Cat Bone. Simultaneously, Lennie Gallant’s career was picking up and Chris was spending more and more time in a supporting role in Lennie’s touring band. Between his local shows and his work on the road with Lennie, Chris was one of the busiest musicians in town. 

Curious about the Halifax scene, Chris started spending some time there. He met Glenn Meisner at CBC, Natalie McMaster, Mary Jane Lamond, and Laura Smith. These encounters developed into gigs, and by the late nineties, he was touring the world in their bands. These connections kept producing new opportunities and in 2000, he found himself on the road with Rita MacNeil.

In the early oughts, Chris formed a songwriting and recording project with Chas Guay and Mike Mooney called Birdhouse. They recorded an album in Halifax at CBC Studios with the help of Glenn Meisner and it produced a well-crafted collection of songs from three of Charlottetown’s best musicians. Following the release of their self-titled album they played a handful of shows and then the group faded out. 

Around the same time, Chris began playing in the pit at Confederation Centre of the Arts. To this day, he is still part of the Charlottetown Festival cast. He has been performing in this role for 24 years. 

Corrigan has spent the past 44 years working hard in the music business. He wears many hats, he’s committed to excellence and constantly trying to study and grow. He’s been involved in over 150 different recording projects, and recently he scored the feature-length Susan Rodgers film, Still the Water.

Chris Corrigan’s career in music is remarkable. His contributions to our local scene cannot be understated and his work on the global stage has been monumental. Islanders truly are the beneficiaries of his journey to the east coast in his early twenties.  

If you’d like to take in an upcoming performance, you can always hear him with The Charlottetown Festival. Also, on September 6, you will find him at the Malpeque Community Centre doing a live and improvised score to the silent film, Asphalt, presented by Roving Picture Shows.