Christopher Aaron Driscoll was born in Ottawa on October 19, 1983 and raised in Charlottetown PEI where he (in his own words) "grew to love potatoes and hate Anne of Green Gables. His first set of drums was purchased second-hand at the age of 4 and sat idly in the basement until 12, when they suddenly became very interesting". At this time, he began taking private drum lessons with Charlottetown drummer Alan Dowling. Throughout his teenage years, Chris' passion for music became more and more evident. He attended Colonel Gray high school and performed in the jazz band there under the direction of Roger Jabbour. He also starred in the high school's production of the musical Beauty and the Beast as the lovable and humourous character Lumiere, along with his best friend, bassist Pat Reid as Cogsworth the Clock. Chris and Pat remained very close as friends and as musical colleagues; they both moved to Montreal soon after graduating from high school to attend the jazz performance program at McGill University. During their studies, they formed a jazz quartet called "Mobile Preid" along with guitarist Jim Bland and saxophonist Jonathan Lindhorst. In the summer of 2003, they performed regularly in Charlottetown's City Stages Youth Music Festival; in 2004 Mobile Preid was voted one of the five most promising young jazz ensembles in the world by the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), and was selected to represent McGill University at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague, Netherlands in the summer of that year. Shortly after returning from Europe, Mobile Pried gave a performance at Prince Edward Island's Victoria Playhouse; Chris was the MC for this concert, which was recorded live for CBC radio. Also in the summer of 2004, Chris and Pat attended the Banff International Jazz Workshop, where they were afforded the opportunity to work closely and perform with several of their much-admired jazz heroes such as Bill Frisell, Dave Douglas, Clarence Penn and James Genus.
Though music was the central focus of his life, Chris was a very passionate person enthralled with the world around him, and had many other interests. He was involved in sports and martial arts as a child, studied the Japanese language in university, and was planning to travel to Africa with his mother Mary after completing his studies at McGill.
He also loved to ski. He was an expert skier, and had been employed as an instructor in PEI; which is why it is all the more bewildering to those he left behind that on January 9, 2005, whilst enjoying himself on a beautiful winter morning at Jay Peak Ski Resort in Vermont, he tragically lost control and struck a tree. He was rushed to the North Country Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The funeral was held at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Charlottetown on Saturday January 15, 2005, followed by a musical tribute concert in the evening at Spring Park United Church. On May 31 2005, Chris was graduated posthumously by McGill University during the Faculty of Music convocation ceremony at Pollack Hall.
Chris Driscoll will be remembered as a vibrant, talented and energetic young man full of laughs, a little mischief, and a lot of love. His sudden and untimely passing is a truly devastating tragedy; yet amid the pain and sorrow of this terrible loss, there is the joy in knowing that our lives are immeasurably richer through having known Chris. Let us continue to celebrate the memory of this extraordinary person, who in his short time has made this world a better place.