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| Chris Gaines | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Brisbane, Australia (fictitiously) |
| Genres | Alternative rock Rock |
| Years active | 1999 |
| Labels | Capitol |
| Associated acts | Garth Brooks |
Chris Gaines is a fictional alternative rock singer created as an alter ego for a movie project titled The Lamb by Garth Brooks. Brooks assumed the Chris Gaines personality in 1999, recording one album under the name and charting three singles on the Billboard charts, including the Top 5 pop hit "Lost in You."
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History
In 1999 Brooks and his production company Red Strokes Entertainment, with Paramount Pictures, began to develop a movie in which Brooks would star. The Lamb was to have revolved around Chris Gaines, a fictional rock singer and his emotionally conflicted life as a musician in the public eye. To create buzz for the project, Brooks took on the identity of Gaines in the October 1999 album Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines, which was intended as a 'pre-soundtrack' to the film. Brooks also subsequently appeared as Gaines in a television mockumentary for the VH1 series Behind The Music and as the musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live which he hosted as himself.
Brooks' endless promotion of the album and the film did not seem to stir much excitement and the lack of success of the Chris Gaines experiment became fairly evident mere weeks after the album was released. Although critics admired Brooks for taking a musical risk, the majority of the American public was either totally bewildered, or completely unreceptive to the idea of Garth Brooks as anything but a pop-country singer. Many of his fans also felt that by supporting the Gaines project they would lose the real Garth Brooks. Sales of the album were unspectacular and although it made it to #2 on the pop album chart, expectations had been higher and retail stores began heavily discounting their oversupply. Less than expected sales of the album (more than two million) and no further developments in the production of the film as a result brought the project to an indefinite hiatus in February 2001 and Gaines quickly faded into obscurity.
Despite the less than spectacular response to the Chris Gaines project, Brooks gained his first - and only - US Top 40 pop single in "Lost in You", the first single from the album.
Fictional biography
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This section describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (August 2009) |
Christian Gene Gaines was born August 10, 1967 in Brisbane, Australia. His family moved to the Los Angeles area when he was five years old. As an only child, Chris was expected by many to carry the torch in the Olympic waters. His father had been a coach for Long Beach State, and both the U.S. and Australian Olympic swim teams. Chris' mother is a former swimmer for the Australian Olympic team, and a Commonwealth Games medalist. The young Gaines, however, defied expectations of an athletic future and developed a life-long passion for music, a passion so great Chris decided to quit school his senior year at Morning Side High School to pursue his music professionally. He did complete his G.E.D. in 1987.[1]
Chris joined his best friend Tommy Levitz along with Marc Obed in the band, CRUSH. The band signed with Capitol Records in 1985 and release their self-titled debut album in 1986. The second single, "My Love Tells Me So," was a smash and one of the year's most successful songs. But the band's success was short-lived when lead singer Tommy Levitz died in a plane crash later that year. For the next two years, Joe Smith of Capitol Records and Chris discussed the possibility of a Chris Gaines solo career, and in 1989, Chris debuted his solo album Straight Jacket. Both the public and the music industry responded favorably; the album spent an extraordinary 224 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album, which featured the hits "Maybe," "White Flag," and Digging For Gold," is still Chris' biggest-selling album to date. Tragedy struck again when Chris' father died in the fall of 1990 after his long battle with cancer.[1]
Almost a year to the day later, Chris released his second solo album, Fornucopia. Even though it was a very dark and angry album, it debuted at 1 and spent a combined 18 weeks on top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. The album included the soulful remake of the 1972 Ramsey Sellers classic, "It Don't Matter To The Sun," and the instant classic, "Main Street." In the winter of 1992, Chris was involved in a violent single-car crash that nearly ended his life. Chris spent six weeks in the hospital and over two years undergoing extensive plastic surgery on his face, shoulder and hands. Although he would not allow himself to be seen or photographed, Chris released his third solo album, Apostle, in the winter of 1994. Without any artist promotion, the album still managed to spend a combined 8 weeks atop the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart, and featured the singles "Way Of The Girl" and "Unsigned Letter." Finally, in the winter of 1996, Chris re-emerged into public view for the first time with Triangle. Chris was dubbed "The New Prince" by the media because of his new look and the fact that his music showed a move towards R&B - a distinct change in musical style from his past. "Driftin' Away," "That's The Way I Remember It," and "Snow In July" are the featured hits on the album. In 1999 Chris released his greatest hits, as well as two new songs, "Lost In You" and "Right Now."
See also
- Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines - history of the Chris Gaines project
- Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines - album from the Chris Gaines project
External links
References
- [1]USA Today: Kansas City crowd welcomes Brooks back to the stage
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