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Chris Cornell

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Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell (born Christopher John Boyle on July 20, 1964) is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the rock bands Soundgarden (1984-1997) and later Audioslave (2001-2007). He was also the frontman for Temple of the Dog (1990 - 1992). He began his musical career as a drummer, before moving on to become a singer and guitarist. He also enjoyed acclaim as a solo performer with his first solo album Euphoria Morning (1999). Its follow-up Carry On is set for release in June 2007.

Early life

Cornell was born in Seattle, Washington and lived there in his childhood. His Irish Catholic parents are Ed Boyle (a pharmacist) and Karen Cornell (an accountant). Cornell's last name used to be Boyle, but after his parents divorced he and his siblings took his mother's maiden name. Cornell mentions on the Audioslave - Live in Cuba DVD Documentary that he spent a 2 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 without leaving his house, during which time he would play drums and guitar.[citation needed]

"My lifestyle was transformed after many years of drinking a lot, isolating myself a lot and going into long periods of depression."[citation needed]

Career

Soundgarden (1984–1997)

Along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden became one of the biggest and most successful bands from Seattle's emerging grunge scene in the early 1990s. Cornell became known for the incredible power and range of his voice, and for his dark lyrics often dealing with themes of death and existentialism. Soundgarden finally found widespread success in 1991 with the double-platinum album Badmotorfinger. They used this 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. 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.

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 Dave Krusen and find a new vocalist Eddie Vedder in 1991, this band was called 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 To Heaven" and "Hunger Strike," which features the duet of Cornell and Vedder. This was the first time Vedder was recorded professionally.

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".

Cornell himself gained nearly as much fame as Soundgarden during this decade, chiefly due to his singing abilities and vocal range. His ability to "belt" a note, almost screaming it is well used, giving his baritonal range an often much louder, or "higher" sound. This is shown to much effect on Ultramega OK's "Beyond the Wheel," Badmotorfinger's "Slaves & Bulldozers" and the title track from Superunknown. [2]

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". Due to tensions within the band, Soundgarden announced it was disbanding on April 9, 1997.

Euphoria Morning (1999)

Cornell released a solo album entitled Euphoria Morning in 1999, on which he collaborated with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of the band Eleven (now in Queens of the Stone Age). 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. Chris 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" to the film Mission: Impossible II soundtrack, retitled "Mission 2000". Euphoria Morning includes Chris' 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.

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. Rick played the remaining Rage band members the Soundgarden song "Slaves and Bulldozers" to showcase Chris' ability. Chris 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.

File:Chris Cornell 2.jpg
Chris Cornell in the music video for Show Me How to Live by Audioslave

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; Chris was going through alcohol dependency problems[citation needed] and a slot on the Ozzfest tour was cancelled. The problems were ironed out however, and Chris 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 their third album, titled Revelations, on September 5, 2006. The first two singles are "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.[3]

On February 15, 2007, Cornell officially announced his departure from Audioslave, issuing this statement:

¨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.¨

[1]

Carry On (2007)

Album cover for Carry On

In the fall of 2006, Cornell started recording his second solo album Carry On, with producer Steve Lillywhite. Among some fellow artists who are expected to accompany him on his second solo release is friend and legendary musician Gary Lucas, who has 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 into an Audioslave album.[4]. The album release date has been pushed out from the original release date of May 1 to June 5, 2007.

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 to record his album later that day.

Among the roster of artists contributing to some of the tracks on Carry On are jazz bassist Miles Mosley, guitarists Brian Ray, Gary Lucas, Cameron Greider and Dimitri Coats, and drummer Nir Zidkyahu.

The first official single from this album has been confirmed as "No Such Thing", and the song "Arms Around Your Love" has also leaked recently.

Other Projects

In 1982 or 1993 (revision needed), Cornell joined a band called The Shemps. Not much information is known about this, so please give all the input you can!

Cornell 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 that did not appear on the film's official soundtrack album.

Though he did not perform on the track, Cornell sang a demo of "Someone to Die For" for the 2004 Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. The song is performed by Jimmy Gnecco of Ours and Brian May of Queen.

Cornell also was the face of fashion producer John Varvatos' 2006 ad campaign. He also recently became a restaurateur with the opening of his restaurant, Black Calavados in Paris. He is also the owner of the music publishing company You Make Me Sick I Make Music.

Public Recognition

  • Badmotofinger, Soundgarden's major label debut album reached double platinum status.
  • Superunknown, another Soundgarden album won 2 grammys.
  • 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.
  • Chris is renowned for hitting very high notes in his vocal range. The highest officially recorded note he sings is an A above male high C, in Jesus Christ Pose, and 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. He hits the G above tenor high C in Smokestack Lightning, Gun, Cold Bitch and Say Hello To Heaven, in full(head) voice.
  • Axl Rose has said in interview that he was a big fan of Soundgarden, especially liking Cornell's voice and singing. [6].
  • Cornell is referenced by The Suicide Machines on "The Vans Song" where they advise people to "worship Jeff Spicoli not Chris Cornell".

Family

  • He is currently married to Vicky Karayiannis, and was previously married to Susan Silver, the manager of Alice in Chains
  • Chris has an older brother, Peter, whose band Black Market Radio released their debut album entitled "Suicide Parlour" in 2006. The similarity in their voices is uncanny and Peter Cornell's band and sound is described as similar to Soundgarden.[7]
  • One brother, Peter, and two sisters, Katy and Suzy, formed the band, Inflatable Soule, a moderately popular band during the nineties in Seattle.

Discography

Contributions and collaborations

Soundtracks

* = Song does not appear on the soundtrack despite appearing in the movie.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Chris Harris (February 15, 2007). "Chris Cornell Talks Audioslave Split, Nixes Soundgarden Reunion". MTV. Retrieved 2007-02-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to Chris Cornell.
Preceded by
Madonna
Die Another Day (song), 2002 		James Bond title artist
Casino Royale (You Know My Name), 2006 		Succeeded by
Incumbent

Template:James Bond themes

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