Artis the Spoonman

Since 2009, he has lived in Port Townsend, Washington.

Artis has performed at many festivals, mostly in Canada and the United States. Other bands he has played with include Aerosmith and Phish, and he has been a featured performer at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival (2003 and 2004) and the Oregon Country Fair. He was a featured performer at the 2013 Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle.

Artis suffered a heart attack in 2002, and a benefit was organized for him in Seattle. He was reported as receiving state General Assistance Unemployable benefits from 2002 to 2010, and federal SSI benefits with alcoholism-related mental disability as of 2011.

On November 10, 1995, he released an album titled Entertain the Entertainers. The album was rated four and a half stars out of five by Allmusic.com who called his release "an exceptional album showing off a very good range for an artist that would otherwise be known more for the gimmick of his chosen instruments, regardless of his abilities on them."

Artis has made television appearances on Night Music with David Sanborn, BBC, and Late Night with David Letterman, among others. He plays an old man in the 1995 film Toast with the Gods.

In the same year, he recorded "Spoonman" with Soundgarden, a song written by Chris Cornell, and named for and featuring Artis for an upcoming album Superunknown. He played the spoons in the song and appeared in the music video. On their 1994 tour, he opened up for the band in New York City, and Shepherd's Bush in London. The single charted at number three on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number nine on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song also became a top twenty hit on the UK Singles Chart. In 1995, the song won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.

In 1993 he published a compilation of his poems and short stories called Artis-Aspirations to Manifestations from the Womb to the Void. In 1994, an NPR's Morning Edition focused on him and his rejection of material values. His song "Wake Up Call" opened the 1995 compilation Northwest Post-Grunge.

In 1992 Artis made a guest appearance, (as local talent), at Bumbershoot, Seattle, which that year featured a lineup of acts including Soundgarden, who were to become instrumental in bringing Artis to the attention of a wider audience.

Artis had been active since 1972 as a street artist when he had his first collaboration with a major artist, appearing on stage with Frank Zappa in Eugene, Oregon, and at New York's Palladium, in 1981.

Artis has stated he was a sailor in the United States Navy in the late 1960s, and worked for the United States Postal Service in the early 1970s.

Artis, known professionally as Artis the Spoonman (born October 3, 1948), is an American street performer and musician from Seattle, Washington, who uses spoons as a musical instrument.