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BIOGRAPHY
Christopher Michael Oliva was born on April 3rd, 1963 in Pompton
Plains, New Jersey. He was the youngest of four children
and was known as the "cryer" of the family. Criss
had two older brothers, Tony and Jon. He also had an older
sister named Joann.
According to his parents, Criss was a spoiled
child and got pretty much anything he asked for. This was
because at the age of three Criss almost drowned. One day
after Criss' father got out of work he went fishing. Criss
was being watched by his uncle and was playing near the waters
edge. Somehow his uncle lost track of him and Criss fell
into the water. His father found him floating face up and
dove into the water after him. And even with being disabled
Mr. Oliva was able to pull Criss to safety. From that point
on a special bond was made between Criss and his father.
In 1973 Criss and his family moved to Escondido,
California. Here Criss spent a lot of time with his brother
Jon. They used to ride motorcycles together in the mountains
near their home.
In 1976 the Oliva family moved to Dunedin,
Florida. Music began to attract the attention of Criss.
He began practicing the guitar after Jon showed him how to play
a few chords. He'd spend hours figuring out the licks on
his favorite records.
1978 was the year Jon and Criss formed the
group Avatar. After several personnel changes and a name
change in 1983 the group Savatage was born. They released
an EP and six albums with Criss before tragedy struck during a
tour break.
At around 3:30 am on the morning of October
17th, 1993, Criss and his wife Dawn were involved in a head on
collision with a drunk driver. Criss was killed instantly.
His wife was taken to Tampa General Hospital with a number of
internal injuries and fractures. The other driver was said
to have had a record of seven prior DUI's and a blood alcohol
level of .294% ( Florida's legal limit being .10%). He was
charged and convicted of DUI manslaughter, DUI serious injury,
and vehicular homicide. He only spent 18 months in jail
and had his drivers license revoked indefinitely.
>The surviving members of Savatage organized a Criss Oliva
Memorial Concert on Saturday November 20th 1993 at the Boatyard
Village Pavillion near Clearwater. Other bands that performed
at the event were: I Mother Earth, White Trash, My Sisters Machine,
and a special tribute set from the remaining Savatage members
with Jon Oliva back fronting his brothers band. Savatage played
without a guiarist, opting to leave a white strat with roses going
up the neck which resembled the back cover of the 'Streets' album
in the spot were Criss used to stand. (A picture from the Memorial
Concert).
Mr. Oliva's final comment of his son was about his love for
the guitar. "He lived for that guitar" he said, "I
would go over to his home for a visit and no matter what he was
doing, on the phone, eating dinner, Criss would always have a
guitar n his hands."
Criss was only 30 years old at the time of his
death. His gravesite can be found at Curlew Memorial Gardens
just north of Clearwater, Florida.
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