Chris Kroeze

Growing up, there was a guitar in the corner of the family basement that no one was supposed to touch. When no one was looking, a young Chris Kroeze (pronounced Cruise-E) would sneak down and find it. On his 6th birthday, Chris got a guitar of his own and hasn't put it down since.

Sitting around the campfire on warm summer nights as a child, Chris fell in love with the guitar. His dad would put small stickers on the strings to show him how to play and he listened and learned under the stars in Northwest Wisconsin. Before long, the instrument became the most important thing in his life.

The pull of small town life and the passion for music never left as Kroeze turned into one of the top country musicians in the Midwest. The power of small town community showed as family and friends in Barron helped him get started on his journey to Nashville in 2014, holding a fundraiser that would lead to him recording his first single “Four Letter Words,” which received strong radio play and kick started his career.

In 2015, he began a busy stretch of playing over 175 shows a year, and creating a large and loyal fan following. That popularity soared in 2018, when he appeared on NBC’s hit TV show “The Voice,” making it all the way to the finals in a runner-up finish. In the finale, Kroeze sang the original song “Human,” which was TOP 10 on the Billboard HOT 100 and TOP 5 on the iTunes TOP 100. His vocal and guitar skills, combined with a small-town charm, led to Kroeze to become the most streamed artist in the show’s history.

A popular live performer, Chris continued to perform at a frantic pace maintaining an average of over 175 shows a year through 2019, and the crowds have gotten bigger and bigger. He headlined a show at Aquafest for over 5,500 fans and has had a number of stops in which he has sold out multiple nights in a row, yet he still returns for pop-up shows at local bars he used to play at early in his career.

A small town boy who loves the outdoors through and through, Kroeze still lives in Barron, Wisconsin with his wife and can’t imagine raising his two children anywhere else.