Chris Cornell (born Christopher John Boyle on July 20, 1964) is an American musician best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the rock bands Soundgarden (1984-1997) and
Audioslave (2001-2007). He was the founder and frontman for Temple of the Dog, the one-off tribute band dedicated to his former roommate, Andrew Wood, and has released two solo albums, Euphoria
Morning (1999) and Carry On (2007). He also co-wrote
and performed the song "You Know My Name" for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.
Career
Soundgarden (1984–1997)
-
Along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains and
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden became one of the biggest and most
successful bands from Seattle's emerging grunge scene in the early 1990s. The band was formed in 1984 by Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto, with Cornell originally on drums and
vocals. They hired drummer Scott Sundquist, so that Cornell could concentrate on
singing. After a year-and-a-half Sundquist was replaced by Matt Cameron, former drummer of
Skin Yard.
The band signed to Sub Pop, releasing the Screaming
Life EP in 1987 and the Fopp EP in
1988 (a combination of the two was issued as Screaming Life/Fopp in 1990).
Though the band was being courted by major labels, in 1988 they signed to SST Records to
release their debut album, Ultramega OK (1988), for which they earned a
Grammy nomination for Best Metal
Performance in 1990.
Cornell became known for the power and range of his voice, and for his dark lyrics often dealing with themes of death and
existentialism. He is renowned for hitting high notes in his vocal range in full
head voice (as opposed to falsetto). The highest
officially recorded note he sings is a B5 at about 3:50 into the Soundgarden cover of "Smokestack Lightning". On one occasion on an early bootleg recording he is heard hitting the A
above high C.
In 1989, the band released their second effort and also their first album for a major label, Louder Than Love, through A&M Records. It was also the
last Soundgarden album to feature the band's original bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Ben Shepherd
was soon recruited as a permanent replacement. Soundgarden finally found widespread success in 1991 with the double-platinum
album Badmotorfinger.
After Cornell had finished with the Temple of the Dog project, Soundgarden used Badmotorfinger's success achievement as a
springboard, following up with 1994's Superunknown, the band's highwater mark
critically and commercially, which sold 7 million copies worldwide[1] and earned them a pair of Grammys.
In late 1994, after touring in support of the album Superunknown, doctors
discovered that Cornell had severely strained his vocal cords. Soundgarden cancelled several
shows to avoid causing any permanent damage. During this time he collaborated with shock rocker Alice Cooper on Cooper's album The Last Temptation, and
together with him wrote the song "Stolen Prayer".
Their final album, the million-selling Down on the Upside followed in 1996,
but served more to foreshadow the band's demise than to continue their successful climb. Due to tensions within the band,
Soundgarden announced it was disbanding on April 9, 1997.
Going solo: Euphoria Morning (1998 - 2000)
In 1998 Cornell began writing work for a solo album, entitled Euphoria
Morning, released on September 21, 1999, on which
he collaborated with Alain Johannes and Natasha
Shneider of the band Eleven. The album proved commercially unsuccessful although
the album's single "Can't Change Me" was nominated for "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" at the 2000 Grammy Awards. They also
contributed the song "Sunshower" (a bonus track on the Japanese release of Euphoria Morning) to the soundtrack of
Great Expectations, and a reworked version of the track "Mission",
retitled "Mission 2000", was used on the soundtrack to the film Mission: Impossible
II. Euphoria Morning includes Cornell's tribute to his friend Jeff
Buckley, entitled "Wave Goodbye". It has been noted that Euphoria Morning is influenced by Buckley's songwriting
and distinctive vocal style. In 2000, he embarked on a tour in support of the album.
Audioslave (2001–2007)
-
Audioslave was formed after Zack de la Rocha
left Rage Against the Machine and the remaining members were searching for
another vocalist. Producer and friend Rick Rubin suggested that they contact Chris Cornell.
Rubin played the remaining Rage band members the Soundgarden song "Slaves &
Bulldozers" to showcase his ability. Cornell was in the writing process of a second solo CD, but decided to shelve that
and pursue the opportunity to work with Tom Morello, Tim
Commerford and Brad Wilk when they approached him.
The recording of their self-titled debut went very smoothly by all accounts.[citation needed] All members felt that they were experiencing a collective burst of
creativity. Despite this, the band was nearly derailed before the album's release; Cornell was going through alcohol dependency
problems[citation needed] and a slot on the Ozzfest tour
was cancelled. The problems were ironed out however, and he has remained sober since this time.
Their debut album, Audioslave, released in November 2002, spawned hits such
as "Like a Stone" and "Cochise", and has reached
triple-platinum status in the United States. The band toured through 2003, before resting in 2004 to record their second
album.
Audioslave's second album, Out of Exile, was released in May 2005 and debuted at
#1 on the U.S. charts. Critics noted Cornell's stronger vocals, due to him quitting smoking and drinking. The album has since
gone on to achieve platinum status. The album features the singles, "Be Yourself",
"Doesn't Remind Me", "Out of Exile" and
"Your Time Has Come". The band toured through 2005, across USA and Canada and on May
31, 2005, Audioslave became the first American rock group to perform a concert in Cuba, playing for free in front of an audience
of 70,000.
In early 2006 the band returned, recording their third album as they had written most of the material during the tour. The
band released the album, titled Revelations, in September 2006. The first two
singles were "Original Fire" and "Revelations". Two of the songs from the third album,
"Shape of Things to Come" and "Wide Awake" were also prominently featured in Michael Mann's film Miami Vice prior to the
release of the album. Despite the exposure to other forms of media and the positive critical buzz for their third album,
Audioslave did not tour behind the release. They went into hiatus to allow Cornell to complete the title track for the latest
James Bond movie and Morello to pursue his own solo work under the moniker of
The Nightwatchman.[2]
On February 15, 2007, Cornell officially announced his departure from Audioslave, stating
that "Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I
wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors." [3]
Solo again: Carry On (2007-present)
Cornell co-wrote and performed the song accompanying the opening titles for the 2006 James
Bond film Casino Royale. He and composer David Arnold collaborated on the song titled "You Know My Name".
This is the first Bond theme song since 1983's Octopussy to have a different title from the film, the first since 1987's The Living Daylights to feature a male singer, the first ever sung by a male American, and the
first ever title theme song to not appear on the soundtrack album. This song became the first song recorded for his solo
album, which he began work on in 2007.
On June 5, 2007 Cornell released his second solo album
Carry On, with producer Steve
Lillywhite. Among the artists who accompanied him on his second solo release was friend and legendary musician
Gary Lucas, who contributed acoustic guitar to some of the tracks. Cornell has stated that he
is always writing, and that there are some songs that he was not able to put onto an Audioslave album.[4]
While recording his second solo album, Cornell was involved in a motorcycle accident.[5] He was apparently "rear-ended by a
truck in L.A.'s Studio City while riding his motorcycle" and
"catapulted 20 feet into the air." He was, however, able to walk away from the accident but had severe cuts and bruises. He
returned to the studio later that day.
"Carry On" debuted at number 17 on the American Billboard charts.
A promotional CD for Carry On was released in March 2007, entitled "The Roads We Choose - A Retrospective." The 17-song
CD included songs from Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and Cornell's solo work. Though not officially released onto
CD, an hour long acoustic concert Cornell performed on 7 September of 2006 at O-Baren in Stockholm is widely available for
download under the title Chris Cornell: Unplugged in
Sweden.
Cornell recently appeared as support to Aerosmith on at least one leg, Dublin, of their 2007 world tour[6]
An August 10, 2007, post on Cornell's MySpace blog reported that he was diagnosed with strained vocal cords following the end
of his U.S. summer tour. A doctor "strongly advised" him to take off 10-14 days from performing to prevent further damage. Shows
in Austria, Hungary, and Poland were cancelled, although Cornell promises to return to those countries.
Other Projects
Cornell worked as a producer and backing
vocalist on the Screaming Trees' album Uncle Anesthesia and acted in a cameo role and an onstage performance in Cameron Crowe's Seattle-based film Singles. He also
contributed 'Seasons' as well as the Soundgarden song "Birth Ritual" to the film's soundtrack. Cornell contributed vocals on the
Alice in Chains song "Right Turn." He was also part of the project called M.A.C.C. that recorded the song "Hey Baby (New Rising
Sun)" for the 1993 Jimi Hendrix tribute album, "Stone Free".
It was falsely indicated (for many years) that Cornell had written the song "Someone to Die For" for the 2004
Spider-Man 2 soundtrack, but this was disproved
during an Interview in April 2007.[7] The song is performed
by Jimmy Gnecco of Ours and Brian
May of Queen. Cornell had recorded a version of the song sometime earlier, which was
released only to members of the Eleven street
team.
Cornell is touring with Linkin Park around New Zealand, Australia and Asia; and will be at Rod Laver Arena on the 14th and
15th of October.
Cornell was the face of fashion producer John Varvatos' 2006 ad campaign. He recently
became a restaurateur with the opening of his restaurant, Black Calvados in Paris. He is also the
owner of the music publishing company You Make Me Sick I Make Music.
Temple of the Dog (1991)
-
While still in Soundgarden, Cornell recorded an album with members of what would become Pearl
Jam. This collaboration went under the name Temple of the Dog, and the
self-titled album was released in 1991. The album is a tribute to their mutual friend, and Cornell's former roommate,
Andrew Wood. Wood, the former lead singer of Mother Love Bone, died of a heroin overdose the year before. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Mother Love Bone would team up with
Mike McCready and Matt Cameron and find a new
vocalist Eddie Vedder in 1991, forming Pearl Jam.
Temple of the Dog has gone on to sell more than a million copies, thanks in large part to the singles "Say Hello 2 Heaven"
and "Hunger Strike," which features the duet of Cornell and Vedder. This was the
first time Vedder was recorded professionally.
Recognition
- Badmotorfinger, Soundgarden's breakthrough album reached double platinum status.
- Superunknown, another Soundgarden album won 2 grammys and reached quintuple platinum status.
- Down on the Upside, Soundgarden album, reached platinum status.
- Audioslave, the debut album from Audioslave reached triple platinum status.
- Out of Exile, the second album released by Audioslave, reached platinum status, and debuted on the U.S. music charts
at #1.
- Cornell received a grammy nomination for Can't Change Me on his first solo album, Euphoria Morning
- In March of 2003, MTV and Blender Magazine aired a
special on MTV and MTV2 listing the 22 Greatest Voices in Music, on which Cornell is listed as
number 12.
- The monthly hard-rock magazine Hit Parader listed Chris Cornell at number four on
its list of the top 100 metal vocalists of all time in the November 2006 issue, behind only Rob
Halford, Robert Plant, and Steven Tyler.
Personal life
Cornell was born on July 20, 1964 in Seattle , Washington and lived there in his childhood. His parents are Ed Boyle (a
pharmacist of Irish Catholic descent)[8] and Karen Cornell
(an accountant of Jewish descent).[9] Cornell and his
siblings took his mother's maiden name after his parents divorced.
Cornell mentions on the Audioslave - Live in Cuba DVD documentary that he spent a two-year period between the ages of 9
and 11 solidly listening to The Beatles after finding a large collection of Beatles records
abandoned in the basement of a house. He then suffered from a severe case of depression during his teenage years, rarely leaving
the house. At one point, he spent a whole year of his life without leaving his house, during which time he would spend his time
drinking, playing drums and guitar. Before becoming a successful musician, he worked at a seafood wholesaler and was a sous chef
at a restaurant named Ray's Boathouse.
He is currently married to Vicky Karayiannis, a Paris-based publicist, and was previously married to Susan Silver, the manager
of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. He had a
daughter with Silver, Lillian Jean, in June 2000. He and Silver divorced in 2001 and he remarried in 2003 to Karayiannis. She
gave birth to his second daughter, Toni, in September 2004, and their second and his third child, Christopher Nicholas, in
December 2005.
He has an older brother, Peter, and two younger sisters, Katy and Suzy, who together formed the band Inflatable Soule, a moderately popular band in Seattle during the '90s. Peter Cornell is now in the band
Black Market Radio, which released their debut album entitled Suicide Parlour
in 2006.
Discography
Contributions and collaborations
Soundtracks
- * = Song does not appear on the soundtrack despite appearing in the movie.
Footnotes
- ^ Soundgarden Discography
- ^ Chris Cornell
Working On Solo LP — But Dismisses Rumors Of Audioslave Split
- ^ Chris Harris. "Chris Cornell Talks
Audioslave Split, Nixes Soundgarden Reunion", MTV, February 15, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
- ^ Chris Cornell solo album
- ^ Quick Hits: The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Family Values Tour, Chris Cornell, Scream 5 tour, Snow Patrol, Staind,
Lollapalooza, Metallica, Elvis Costello, NIN
- ^ Aerosmith at Marlay Park (Baile Átha Cliath) on 26 Jun 2007 – Last.fm
- ^ Chris Cornell Live @ MMM Interview 4/4
- ^ Howard Stern Show 6/12/07: Chris Cornell Interview
- ^ Howard Stern Show 6/12/07: Chris Cornell Interview
External links
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