“…Dedrick has a place in the not-exactly-rock pantheon right alongside Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach.”
—LA Weekly
Chris’s professional career began in the late ’60s as a singer and songwriter in The Free Design, producing seven albums between 1967 and 1973 that stand among the most inventive and melodically seductive of their era. Of the group’s hit debut single, “Kites Are Fun,” New York Times critic Alec Wilder wrote: “…It was so fine that I literally wept when I heard it.” Soon he was writing for artists as prestigious as Peter, Paul & Mary, Melissa Manchester, Barry Mann, and Simon & Garfunkel with James Taylor.
With a Genie for his original score for feature film, The Saddest Music In the World, and three Gemini Awards scores for television, Chris continues composing for the small and big screen, and for recording artists.
awards
AWARDS
2006 GEMINI NOMINATION - Best Original Score for a Program or Mini-Series
"The Man Who Lost Himself" ("The Stranger I Married")
2004 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score for a Program or Mini-Series
“Elizabeth Rex”
2004 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score for a Program or Mini-Series
“Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion”
2004 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score for a Dramatic Series
“The Shields Stories/ A Wood”
2003 GENIE AWARD – Best Original Score for a Feature Film
“The Saddest Music In The World”
2003 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score for a Program or Miniseries
“No Night Is Too Long”
2002 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score for a Program or Miniseries
“Torso”
2001 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score
“Counterforce”
1999 GEMINI NOMINATION – Best Original Score
“Emily of New Moon”
1998 GEMINI NOMINATION - Best Original Score
“Emily of New Moon”
1998 GEMINI AWARD - Best Original Score
“Shipwreck On The Skeleton Coast”
1998 GEMINI NOMINATION - Best Original Score
“The Arrow”
1997 GEMINI AWARD - Best Original Score
“The Road To Avonlea”
1996 GEMINI AWARD - Best Original Score
“Million Dollar Babies”
1997 HOT DOCS AWARD - Best Original Score
“Shipreck On The Skeleton Coast”
Bio
“…Dedrick has a place in the not-exactly-rock pantheon right alongside Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach.”
—LA Weekly
Musical trends come and go, especially amidst the rapid-fire atmosphere of contemporary pop culture—but the appeal of a strong melody, creatively arranged and expressively sung, is timeless. Which is why Christopher Dedrick is the subject of as much international acclaim today as when he began making music more than three decades ago. The Toronto-based composer, arranger and conductor has amassed a body of work that encompasses hundreds of recordings and performances, all of them the product of an attention to detail and a passion for creativity that has captivated casual listeners and fellow artists alike.
Chris’s professional career began in the late ’60s, at the age of 19, as a singer and principal songwriter in sibling vocal group The Free Design. In the midst of perhaps the most creative and competitive climate in pop history, The Free Design produced seven albums between 1967 and 1973 that stand among the most inventive and melodically seductive of their era. Of the group’s hit debut single, “Kites Are Fun,” New York Times critic Alec Wilder wrote: “…It was so fine that I literally wept when I heard it.”
Shortly before relocating to Toronto from New York, Chris served as chief arranger for the U.S. Air Force’s Airmen of Note in Washington, D.C., from, 1969 to 1971. Simultaneous to this, he commuted to New York City to contribute to recording sessions for artists as prestigious as Peter, Paul & Mary, Melissa Manchester, Barry Mann, and Simon & Garfunkel with James Taylor. Additional activities at the time included producing records and commercials, and performing concerts with The Free Design and various orchestras.
Since settling in Canada in 1972, Chris has established himself as one of the country’s foremost composers and arrangers for television and film—a status validated by the honour of a Genie for his original score for feature film, The Saddest Music In the World, and three Gemini Awards scores for television. But this doesn’t begin to summarize his many credits and interests. Among the dozens of works he has composed for chamber ensembles, jazz bands, choirs and symphony orchestras, Chris is a major creative force behind several recordings and performances by the world-renowned Canadian Brass. In addition to having arranged and composed selections from five of their 1990s albums, the Canadian Brass turned in rapturously received concerts of his suites Mother and Child (Hamilton, 1994; with the Bach-Elgar Choir) and Fantasies for Anna (Toronto, 1995). Chris also conducted the Canadian Brass and members of the New Philharmonic at the 1995 premieres of Entre Nous in Toronto and New York City.
Chris is presently writing and composing several new scores for both the small and big screen. Some of his recently completed projects are due to be heard by the largest national and international audiences of his career, including the score for the highly anticipated Guy Maddin film The Saddest Music in the World, starring Isabella Rosselini; the CBC Television miniseries, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion; and a new Rhombus Media feature, Childstar, directed by Don McKellar.
As if to confirm the tangible care and passion invested in Chris’s music—as well as its timelessness—his career has, in a sense, come full circle as of late. In October 2003, an American record label began a deluxe CD reissue program of The Free Design’s discography. The event prompted some of contemporary alternative music’s most respected artists—a few of which weren’t yet born when the albums were originally released—to step forward and claim the group, and Chris’s impeccable songcraft, as an influence. “[It] somehow still sounds innovative and genre-defining,” wrote the New York Times’ Neil Strauss.
It’s a sentiment that’s sure to be applied to all of Christopher Dedrick’s music for generations to come.
credits
MOTION PICTURES / MINI-SERIES / MOVIES OF THE WEEK
IN GOD'S COUNTRY
THE MAN WHO LOST HIMSELF
SHADES OF BLACK
THE GREAT POLAR BEAR ADVENTURE
A DAD FOR CHRISTMAS
WAKING WALTER (The Walter Gretzky Story)
Studio: Alberta Filmworks/Accent Entertainment
Producer: Caroline Bell
Director: Dean Bennett
THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
Studio: IFC / Rhombus Media
Producer: Atom Egoyan
Daniel Iron Jody Shapiro
Director: Guy Maddin
Starring: Isabella Rossellini
CHILDSTAR
Studio: Rhombus Media
Producer: Jennifer Jonas
Niv Fichman
Director: Don McKellar
Starring: Mark Rendall
THE SHATTERED CITY
Studio: Tapestry Films / CBC
Producer: Mary Young Leckie
Director: Bruce Pittman
ELIZABETH REX
Studio: Rhombus Media
Producer: Barbara Willis Sweete
Director: Barbara Willis Sweete
Starring: Brent Carver
Dianne D’Aquila
I, CLAUDIA
Studio: Sienna Films
Director: Chris Abraham
Producer: Jennifer Kawaja
Julia Sereny
Starring: Kristen Thomson
TRIPPING WIRE
Studio: Galafilm
Director: Stephen Surjik
Producer: Ann Marie Latraverse
NO NIGHT IS TOO LONG
Studio: BBC / Alliance Atlantis
Producer: Ann Marie Latraverse
Alison Jackson
Director: Tom Shankland
WALTER AND HENRY
Studio: Yorktown/Showtime
Producer: Norman Jewison
Michael Jewison
Director: Dan Petrie Sr.
Starring: John Larroquette
Kate Nelligan
James Coburn
TORSO
Studio: Shaftesbury Films
Producer: Christina Jennings
Director: Alex Chappel
THE COURAGE TO LOVE
Studio: Star Films / Lifetime
Producer: Vanessa Williams
Director: Kari Skogland
Starring: Vanessa Williams
Stacy Keach
SALLY MARSHALL IS NOT AN ALIEN
Studio: Cinar/ Infinity
Director: Mario Andreacchio
Producer: Micheline Charest
Terry Charatsis
THE WITNESS FILES
Studio: Allegro Films
Director: Doug Jackson
Producer: Jacque Methe
Diana Kerew
Stephane Reichel
Stefan Wodoslawski
THE PLANET OF JUNIOR BROWN
Studio: The Film Works
Director: Clement Virgo Starring: Sarah Polley
THE ARROW
(4hr Miniseries)
Studio: Tapestry Films/
The Film Works
Producer: Mary Young Leckie
Director: Don McBrearty
Starring: Dan Aykroyd
MILLION DOLLAR BABIES
(4hr Miniseries)
Studio: CBS
Director: Christian Duguay
Producer: Bernard Zuckerman
Starring: Beau Bridges
Kate Nelligan
THIS MATTER OF MARRIAGE
Studio: Alliance
Director: Brad Turner
Starring: Leslie Hope
TELEVISION SERIES
DEEP IN THE CITY a.k.a THE CITY
(17 Episodes)
Studio: CTV
Producer: Pierre Sarrazin
Suzette Couture
EMILY OF NEW MOON
(46 episodes)
Studio: Cinar / Salter Street
THE SHIELDS STORIES – A WOOD
(1 Episode)
Studio: Shaftesbury Films
Director: Laurie Spring
Producer: Christina Jennings
ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS
(10 Episodes)
Studio: Paragon
Producer: Michael Sloan
RAY BRADBURRY THEATRE
(13 Episodes)
Studio: Atlantis Films
Producer: Peter Sussman
Larry Wilcox
Ray Bradburry
IVANHOE – THE KING”S KNIGHT
(39 Episodes)
Studio: Cinar/France Animation
Producer: Patricia Lavoie
Christophe Izard