Music has always been at the core of my life. My father, Paul Preston is a professional musician and his father was a musician so music was all around me as I was growing up. I started playing drums very early on and in third grade I began studying the tuba. I studied the tuba seriously on and off until leaving high school, fortunately, when I turned 11 my parents bought me an electric bass guitar and amp. By age 12 I was in a paying, gigging band with my older brother along with some guys much older than us. I was hooked. In high school I played in band, marching band, stage band, and any other group I could play with. Coming out of high school I was gigging quite often in a band that a couple of friends and I started called Harper Electric Furnace. We played bars regionally in Western NY.

      In 1984 the cast from the movie *The Natural* needed a band for a party they were throwing at the end of filming. I was asked if I could get something together and after a call to my brother Paul Jr. and my friend Rick McEvoy, we took the gig and called ourselves *The CPR Band*, which simply stood for Chris, Paul, & Rick. This was long before any one else was using the name. That first CPR gig went very well and within weeks we were gigging all over WNY.

   The CPR Band gigged continuously until 2004 when the guitar player at the time moved to Florida. Replacing members of the CPR band was always next to impossible due to the fact that we sold music that most other bands couldn't play. Through the years we won many music awards, we were hired by 97 Rock & The Buffalo Bills to play at the Bills games for many seasons, and we even played on music row in LA. Although we were a regional band we kept quite busy and enjoyed a large faithful following.

These days most of my playing is in the studio. I keep proficient chops on bass
and also work on my secondary instruments just to keep in practice. Other instruments include, guitar, keyboards, flute, drums and vocals. 

The CPR Band at a Bills Game Circa mid 90's
Ron LoCurto (l), Rick McEvoy (m), and me (r)