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Chris Cornell Profile |
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Birth Date: July 20, 1964
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Birth Place: Seattle, Washington, USA
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Birth Name: Christopher John Boyle
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Height: 6'2"
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Biography |
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.
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.
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Other Information |
Daughter Lilian Jean (b. 28 June 2000) (7 lbs 12 oz).
Lead vocalist, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of the
alt rock band Soundgarden (was originally the drummer before
Matt Cameron joined and Cornell switched to vocals).
Wrote "Jesus Christ Pose" as a parody of Jane's Addiction
singer / Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell.
Used to be a cook.
November 19th 2002: release of Audioslave's debut album.
Enjoys snowboarding and mountain biking in his leisure.
Wrote the track 'Wave Goodbye' about the death of his
friend, musician Jeff Buckley.
Is an avid reader who enjoys books on philosophy and eastern
culture. Counts Sylvia Plath among his favourite authors.
Sold over 5 million records with his band Soundgarden. Sold
over 300,000 copies of his solo debut, Euphoria Morning, as
well as earned a grammy nomination. In 2002 his new band
Audioslave sold 2 million copies of their self titled debut.
Vicky gave birth to his second daughter named Toni on the
18th of September, 2004
Owns a rock-themed restaurant in Paris called "Black
Calavados". |
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since October 1, 2007