Chris St. Hilaire is a Trinidadian-American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer based in New York City (Lenapehoking). An in-demand touring and studio musician, St. Hilaire has been a member of The Black Keys‘ road band since 2022, and has also supported artists such as Sinkane, Doyle Bramhall II, Jim Keller, Fred Thomas of The J.B.’s, Elizabeth and the Catapult, and Miles Kane on tour. In the studio, he is a sought after session musician, with notable performances on records by Dan Auerbach, Eric Krasno, CeeLo Green, Marcus King, Morley, Johanna Warren and many more.
Born in a suburb of New York City and raised between New York, Trinidad, and Antigua, Chris St. Hilaire grew up in a multicultural world. Largely self-taught, beginning with drums, his Caribbean roots showed in his rhythmic sensibilities. St. Hilaire got his musical start drumming along with cassette tapes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Meters – inspired also by his musical father, who toured as Chubby Checker’s guitarist and introduced him to songwriting. Shortly after moving to NYC as a teenager, he began gigging professionally.
As a founding member of The London Souls (established in 2008), St. Hilaire’s standout musicianship and singing earned him critical acclaim on the duo’s two studio albums, and over a decade of performances in North America, Europe, and Asia, sharing stages with The Who, Paul McCartney, Lenny Kravitz, and The Roots, among many others.
“St. Hilaire, for his part, is a bombastic, airtight drummer who’s somehow found the ability to croon out delicate vocal lines even as his hands are busy bringing his instrument to the brink of demolition.”
—Okayplayer
As an independent artist, Chris St. Hilaire has released two full-length solo albums to date – Enspirited (2023) and most recently Praise and Blame (2025). On Enspirited, St. Hilaire crafted an intensely scored manifesto of original calypsos and instrumentals using steelpan, percussion, synthesizers, strings, and woodwinds, which Caribbean Beat highlighted as “deceptively unique!”. Praise and Blame built on his experience, and delivered a polycultural, polyphonic collection of richly orchestrated compositions, prompting Djolo to remark, “Musically, St. Hilaire plays as a collective without ever losing his individual voice… The brass section is sharp, the steelpan shines without resorting to clichés, and the percussion speaks volumes.” Caribbean Beat again celebrated St. Hilaire’s work, noting how the album contained “songs that provoke, that query, that offer satirical commentary on global issues,” and showcased “the sophistication of Caribbean music to free minds and move feet.”
St. Hilaire has also released three EPs to his name: Knowledge of Self (2019), B.C. (2021), and Traveling Man (2022). From these selections, St. Hilaire has had his music featured in the Sundance Film Festival-selected How It Ends (directed by Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones), Sweet Dreams (directed by Lije Sarki and starring Johnny Knoxville), and Showtime’s hit political documentary series The Circus. In primetime television, Chris has been featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Later…with Jools Holland, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside The Black Keys.
As a producer, Chris St. Hilaire helmed Tell Dem (2024) a full-length album of politically conscious reggae, dub poetry, and dub compositions independently released by Trinidadian songwriter, dub poet, and educator Raga. St. Hilaire co-wrote, performed on, and engineered the entire album using his vast studio experience while stepping into the producer role, and recruited esteemed NYC-based musical collaborators from the Easy Star All Stars, The Skatalites, and the Riverside Church Inspirational Choir in support of his vision.
And in 2026, he debuted the six-track instrumental release titled Sabertooth, a collaboration alongside Detroit-based producer and organist Bobby Emmett that was co-written and recorded coming out of the pandemic.