The entertainment director of 3 Whisky Row sites at Dierks Bentley on the Phoenix subway, on the morning of July 12, for complications from COVID-19.
Kris “DJ Steel” Chupp had been working on Whiskey Row in Arizona since 2013, and also served as a resident DJ at two Whiskey Row sites, first in Scottsdale, most recently in Gilbert.
According to a GoFundMe crusade presented through Jessica Chupp, his wife, the DJ, who also owned a mechanical workshop, entered the ICU on June 26.
Riot Hospitality Group, which operates 3 branches of Whisky Rows in the valley in Tempe, Gilbert and Scottsdale, announced the announcement on social media.
The message said the Catering organization’s Chupp component “from the beginning and played a key role in the progression of the Whiskey Row logo and Dierks Bentley’s musical direction.”
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Bentley, a Phoenix native, opened his first Whisky Row with the Scottsdale-based Riot Hospitality Group, which operates El Hefe, Farm and Craft and Hand Cut restaurants in 2014.
There are now 4 Whiskey Row locations, adding Nashville, with a fifth early in Denver, Colorado. The channel describes its locations as american gourmet pubs “with a rock and roll attitude encouraged by Dierks himself.”
The star of the country declined to comment on the article, as did Riot Hospitality, who noted, “No one in our country has spoken publicly about his blackout out of respect for his wife and family.”
Riot’s Facebook post praised Chupp’s “positive and selfless attitude,” which “made him a DJ, father, husband and friend.”
Riot ended his message with: “You will be very missed, and the effect it has had on our business will never be forgotten.”
A GoFundMe account was created to pay for Chupp’s medical, funeral, and expense expenses.
When Scottsdale Whiskey Row shared a link to the background on Facebook, he included the message: “RIP to our expensive friend and member of the circle of relatives, Kris ‘DJ Steel’ Chupp. You’ve made so many other people laugh, dance and smile. over the years and we never will.”
Country singer Matt Farris replied, “It’ll never be the same again.”
Chupp’s father, George B. Nichols, shared his emotions on Facebook.
“Yesterday I lost my son,” Nichols wrote. “Your mother, sisters, wife, daughter, granddaughter and I suffer in a way that is too deep to be expressed. But he played more than us, and to all of you what he did, thank you. Accuse him, and we, in his mind and prayers, for us and thank you for all of you. And please, please, please, protect yourself.”
Contact your journalist at [email protected] or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.
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