Christopher Charles Stamey (born December 6, 1954)[2] is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. After a brief time playing with Alex Chilton, as well as Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, Stamey formed The dB's with Peter Holsapple.
After moving from Chapel Hill to New York City, Stamey played with the Erasers, then as Alex Chilton's bass player.[6]
In 1977, Stamey founded the independent New York City record label Car Records, which released the 1978 Chris Bell single with the tracks "I Am the Cosmos" and "You and Your Sister".[7]
Stamey recorded and released two critically acclaimed albums with The dB's, Stands for Decibels (1981) and Repercussion (1982), which were initially released only in the UK,[2] before leaving the band to pursue a solo career.[8]
In 1991, Stamey and Holsapple reunited to record the album, Mavericks, which led to live concerts in London, England.[3]
In 1996, Stamey moved back to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and opened the recording studio, Modern Recording, with former dB's producer Scott Litt.[2] He has worked as a producer and sound engineer for various artists and recording projects including those by the alternative country group Whiskeytown.
In 2004, Stamey released the album Travels in the South, quickly followed by V.O.T.E. 2004, enlarged as 2005's A Question of Temperature featuring the group Yo La Tengo as the album's backing musicians.
In July 2009, Stamey and Holsapple released their second album as a duo entitled Here and Now, which was promoted by a follow-up concert tour.[9]
In 2012, Stamey reunited with the dB's to complete Falling Off the Sky, their first new studio album in 25 years and their first in 30 years with the original 1978 line-up.
On February 5, 2013, Stamey released the solo album Lovesick BluesonYep Roc Records, followed by Euphoria in 2015.
Stamey was the driving force behind a group of musician-friends performing Big Star's Third album live in the US, the UK, Spain, and Australia, on a series of occasions between 2010 and 2016, resulting in a live double CD/DVD recorded at Glendale's Alex Theatre in 2016 and released in 2017. On the record, he performs vocals and guitar on I Am the Cosmos, the Chris Bell single he had released on his Car Records label some 40-odd years earlier.
On June 12, 2021 (Record Store Day), Stamey and Holsapple released Our Back PagesonOmnivore, an album of acoustic arrangements of songs by The dB’s.
