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chris isaak
Chris Isaak got his first taste of music performance as a child in Stockton, Calif. He and his brother, then neophyte guitarists and rabid country-music fans, would sing tear-jerking country ballads until they made their mother cry.
Years later, after a teenage stint as a professional boxer and a college education, Isaak formed his first band. Christened Silvertone, the band has backed Isaak ever since.
After paying his dues in San Francisco clubs, Isaak earned a contract with Warner Bros. and released his first album, Silvertone, in 1985. Despite immense critical praise for Isaak's rockabilly-meets-Roy-Orbison-meets-Elvis sound, the record sold very poorly, as did Isaak's self-titled follow-up.
However, things began to turn around for Isaak as the '80s drew to a close. In 1988, he began an acting career with a bit part in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob. Isaak would continue to pursue acting, later landing roles in The Silence of the Lambs and .
Moreover, Isaak's 1989 album, Heart Shaped World, began selling strongly out of the gate. In 1990, the single "Wicked Game" was released accompanied by a steamy video of Isaak, a lifelong surfer, cavorting on the beach with supermodel Helena Christensen. "Wicked Game" became a Top 10 hit, as did Heart Shaped World. The album eventually achieved platinum sales.
Though Isaak has yet to match the commercial success of "Wicked Game" and Heart Shaped World, he has maintained a sizeable fan base. Both his 1993 album San Francisco Days and 1995's Forever Blue achieved gold sales. The single "Somebody's Crying," among others, was a minor radio and video hit. In 1996, Isaak released The Baja Sessions.
Isaak's most recent album, Speak of the Devil, released in August 1998, finds the singer straying from his established sound.
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