Chris Montez (born January 17, 1943) is a Mexican-American singer, best known for enduring 1962 single "Let's Dance", which went to #4 in the United States, and #2 in the UK. Following the death of Ritchie Valens, Montez became one of the leading rockers of the Hispanic community of Los Angeles, California.

Born Ezekiel Christopher Montanez in Los Angeles, California, Montez was brought up in Hawthorne, California. His early musical influences included the latino music played and performed by residents of his neighborhood, as well as Ritchie Valens. After the release of the highly successful "Let's Dance" on Monogram Records, Montez spent several years touring with artists such as Sam Cooke, The Platters, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, as well as The Beatles, then relatively unknown outside of Liverpool.

With a desire to return to the charts, Montez returned to the recording studio in 1965, this time at A&M Records. Montez was searching for the same rock and roll formula that would replicate the success of "Let's Dance". During a recording session, A&M co-founder Herb Alpert dropped in and suggested that Montez try a different approach: a Middle of the road, soft ballad sound. While not particularly interested in Montez had no desire to shift from rock and roll to adult standard, but trusted Alpert's insticts enough to give it a try.

"Call Me" was the first single released from his 1966 A&M album, "The More I See You". The title single from the album, making its way to primarily adult-formatted radio stations, confused some non-rock and roll DJs, who were unfamiliar with Chris' past work. When back-announcing the song, the DJs would often refer to Chris as a female ( Likely because these songs were sung in a falsetto). But by the time the album was released, Montez' pictures on the front and back of the jacket cleared up any mystery surrounding his gender.

"The More I See You" album yielded three top 40 singles for Montez: The title cut, plus "Call Me" and "There Will Never Be Another You". Unfortunately, it was this album that would yield the most Top 40 hits for Montez.

Montez would record three more albums for A&M: "Time After Time", "Foolin' Around", and "Watch What Happens". None of these albums mirrored the success of The More I See You album. The title cut album, "Time After Time", did hit the Top 40, but no other hits followed. Following the release of "Watch What Happens" in 1968, Montez left A&M Records.

In November, 1972, Montez charted a Latin hit in Brazil: "Loco por ti (Crazy about you)" became very popular in that country. Montez resurfaced in 1974 at CBS Records, with the release of a new LP, "The Best of Chris Montez", a mix of both old and new recordings, with the new ones having little to no resemblance of his past hits.[citation needed] This, and Chris' more mature appearance on the cover, with longer hair, a mustache, and a stylish (for the mid-1970s) patterned shirt, was proof that the album marked time.

Montez recorded one more album for CBS: Raza: Ay No Digas, which did well internationally, but failed to make an impact in the U.S. His final album, with exclusively Spanish-language material, was Cartas de Amor, released on the independent label AYM in 1983.

The 1983 album CARTAS DE AMOR was released on A&M Records (A&M Discos) of Mexico. Montez today continues to perform, mainly to foreign audiences, but still maintains a series of concert dates stateside. Most of his American appearances in 2007 were in Branson, Missouri.

In July, 2008, Frozen Pictures announced plans to produce a documentary musical film on Montez's life and career. "'Chris Montez is an incredibly influential musician whose life and music have touched on every major thread in rock ‘n' roll, from Latino rock to R&B, Sixties pop to lounge, surf to punk,' said Burt Kearns, who writes, produces or directs all of Frozen's projects with Brett Hudson. 'His story is epic.'

As of 2009, Chris Montez continues to perform throughout the U.S. and Internationally.

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