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October 19, 1999
Gaines Pales Next to Garth
In his first two weeks as a fictional pop-rock star, "Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines" is not faring nearly as well as "Garth Brooks as Garth Brooks." Sales of In The Life Of Chris Gaines certainly points to a quick RIAA-certified gold sales status (more than 500,000 copies), but Brooks' two previous country albums each sold more than three times as many copies in a shorter period of time.
In The Life Of Chris Gaines sold 262,000 copies its first week out and added another 133,000 last week (ending Oct. 15). It was a strong enough showing to keep the album amidst the nation's Top 5 overall sellers in Billboard, but far short of last year's Double Live (first week sales of 1,085,000) and 1997's Sevens (897,000).
Brooks told Launch.com, "It would crush my heart to be on the end of a project where so much work and so much heart and soul was put in, and where the music is so good, to not find success. So we'll see what I'm supposed to learn from this."
Brooks is currently making TV rounds, with an appear on "Good Morning America" this Friday (Oct. 22) and on the VH-1 GQ Awards (Oct. 30). He has also completed a holiday album, Garth Brooks & The Magic Of Christmas, which will be available Nov. 23.
Copyright © 1999 CountryCool.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
September 13, 1999
Brooks Previews Chris Gaines
Garth Brooks held a press conference and listening party at Nashville's Emerald Sound Studios Sept. 10 to preview his upcoming album, In The Life of Chris Gaines. The album is based on the Brooks-invented pop/rock persona Chris Gaines, who will play a key role in the forthcoming movie, "The Lamb."
Emerald Sound, which hosted the event, was decorated with massive fictional album covers and respective biographies detailing the history of the Gaines character.
Brooks, however, appeared at the event as himself and joked that in recent phone interviews, journalists had questioned whether he would call as himself or as Gaines. To set the record straight, Garth told the press, "It's just me, it's Garth. It's fun, it's a character in a movie."
"The Lamb," which is described as a thriller, is currently entering script form, according to Brooks. "'The Lamb' is not about Chris Gaines, it's about a fan of Chris Gaines," he explained. "Chris is throughout the movie with his music and his presence."
Brooks said that he's not sure if he will portray the leaner, younger Gaines in the movie role. "You're talking about a guy who's 6'1'' and 220 pounds trying to play somebody who looks to be about 5'8'', about 160 pounds," he said of himself. "Hollywood's got miracles, but I don't think they've got those yet."
He explained that he thought Aerosmith's Steven Tyler would be great for the part because he's "gorgeous, skinny and has lots of hair."
The album, which is set for a Sept. 28 release, is described as a greatest hits package, based primarily on songs from six prior albums in the character's career. It showcases Brooks singing in the character's voice and runs the gamut from R&B-styled cuts to Fleetwood Mac and Beatles-influenced sounds. The eye for detailing the mock 14-year span of the collection even goes so far as Brooks changing the depth of his voice to show age and wear and tear.
Pat Quigley, Capitol Nashville president, said that, if the album takes off, Brooks may be recording the six fictitious albums that the current album is based on as early as next year.
As for Brooks spawning other characters, don't look for a new one anytime soon. "There's not going to be other characters that evolve out of Garth," said Brooks. "If it is, it may be a children's character for children's books, like a little Garth." He added with a laugh, "But not a mini-me or anything,"
The album's first release, "Lost In You," debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 single's chart. Brooks will perform Gaines' material on an NBC Special, airing Sept. 29 8-9pm ET.
(Written by Richard McVey II.) Copyright © 1999 CountryCool.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Garth Brooks'
New Album: Hardly Country
Sep 9, 1999, 10:05 am PT
Garth Brooks may sell several million copies of his
forthcoming album, In the Life of Chris Gaines, but it'll be his first
album in a decade not to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums
chart. Brooks and Capitol Records have asked that the album, which
features Brooks as a fictitious pop star he'll likely play in a film for
Paramount next year, not be listed on the country chart.
"We've worked with Billboard, out of respect for country music, because
this isn't a country album," says Brooks, country's top-selling artist.
The album's first single, "Lost in You," debuted at No. 5 on the Sept.
11 Billboard Hot 100 chart; some country radio stations have added the
commercial single's second track, "It Don't Matter to the Sun." The
album will be released Sept. 28; an NBC-TV special will air the
following night.
"If we're lucky enough for this thing to do well on the charts, I
wouldn't want to see Chris Gaines on the country chart," Brooks says.
"If you knock somebody out of No. 1 on the country chart with this
album, it's not fair to country music."
Garth Brooks' Rock Alter Ego, Chris Gaines, Scores A Hit
Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports
If Chris Gaines, whose debut single has become a hit on adult-contemporary radio, sounds
familiar, it's because he probably is.
Under his real name, Garth Brooks, he's been near the top of the country charts almost
continuously for the past decade, with songs such as "Friends in Low Places" and "Longneck
Bottle" .
"Lost in You" , at #10 and climbing on the adult-contemporary chart in the
radio trade magazine Radio & Records, is the first single from Garth Brooks in ... The Life of
Chris Gaines (Sept. 28), a 13-track album that purports to be the greatest hits of a fictional rock singer Brooks portrays in
the upcoming movie "The Lamb." The CD was produced by Don Was (Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones).
"This is not a country record; it's being worked strictly to pop radio," R&R music editor Steve Wonsiewicz said of the track,
a slinky R&B ballad that Brooks sings in a falsetto voice. The song could easily be mistaken for a Babyface hit; in fact, R&B
singer/producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is the movie's executive producer.
"It's doing quite well for his first experiment [in] the pop world," Wonsiewicz said. He said he could not recall any artist,
whether pop or country, who has been so immediately successful with a conceptual alter ego like Gaines'.
"Lost in You," Brooks' first-ever commercially available single, according to label spokesperson Nancy Henderson, was
released to radio in late July and made available in stores Aug. 24. It's backed by a more traditional Brooks country tune, "It
Don't Matter to the Sun," which is at #23 and climbing on the R&R country chart under the name Garth Brooks as Chris
Gaines.
Brooks' vocals are nearly unrecognizable on the single, which, according to several published news reports, is indicative of
the rest of the album. The singer uses a high-register, oddly cadenced delivery in place of his customary warm baritone.
"Garth has accomplished a feat of Herculean proportions," Was said in statement. "He has summoned up the long-gone thrill
of innovation, adventure and risk that was once the foundation of rock 'n' roll music."
There's no release date yet for "The Lamb," which tells the fictional story of Gaines, a 32-year-old Australian rock star who
had extensive plastic surgery, rendering him almost unrecognizable, after a violent car crash. The movie was written by Jeb
Stuart ("Die Hard").
Brooks, 37, has made no secret of his love for such rockers as grease-painted heavy metalers Kiss and classic rock band
Styx. He has covered songs by Aerosmith ("The Fever") and Billy Joel ("Shameless"). He also recorded Bob Dylan's "To
Make You Feel My Love" for the "Hope Floats" soundtrack (1998), which gave him an earlier adult-contemporary hit.
Brooks' fans don't seem put off by the singer's explorations. "I'm not surprised that Garth made the jump to rock,"
23-year-old fan Brandon Wiesner wrote in an e-mail in which he called Brooks a "marketing wizard." The Missouri
webmaster of Planet Garth, an unofficial website, said he believes Brooks created the Gaines character to cross over to a
new audience.
"Garth is too loyal to country music to cross over himself," Wiesner said. "[Neither] I, nor other Garth fans ... feel betrayed
with the crossover. It's more like an added bonus, but [I] hope it isn't a full-time gig."
Brooks has adopted a morose rock-star look for the project, with a mini-goatee and jet-black hair hanging in his mascaraed
eyes. He is expected to appear as himself when he promotes the album.
In May, Brooks was named the Academy of Country Music's artist of the decade and entertainer of the year, the latest
plaudits in an unprecedented country career in which he has sold more than 95 million records in the United States.
Copyright © 1999 SonicNet. All rights reserved.
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September 3, 1999
I Want My Garth TV
Capitol Records isn't missing a trick promoting the upcoming
Garth Brooks album. With the successful release of a commercial
single and TV appearances coinciding with the Sept. 28 album
release of In The Life Of Chris Gaines, the genre-crossing pop
album is likely to fly off the shelves.
Brooks' first-ever commercial single, "Lost In You"/"It Don't
Matter To The Sun," sold 107,214 copies last week. The song
"Lost In You" enjoys strong radio support on Adult
Contemporary, New Adult Contemporary and Top-40 radio,
while "It Don't Matter To The Sun" is a smash hit on country radio.
Fans won't have any trouble catching a glimpse of Brooks on TV
in late September. Brooks recently completed a taping for an NBC
special "Garth Brooks In...The Life Of Chris Gaines," set to air Sept. 29 at 8pm ET. He will also
appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (Sept. 27), "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and
"Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (Sept. 28), "The Today Show" and CNN's "Showbiz Today"
(Sept. 29), ABC's "The View" (Oct. 4) and "Good Morning America" (Oct. 22).
(Written by Dustin Schrimpsher.) Copyright © 1999 CountryCool.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
Less than a week after being named the Academy of Country Music’s
"Entertainer of the Year"and "Artist of the Decade", Garth Brooks is ready to
rock! Yesterday, the singer announced his next venture, which includes an
album titled "In The Life Of Chris Gaines" and a feature film thriller called
"The Lamb."
"In The Life Of Chris Gaines" is a 14-song original pop/rock disc that
highlights the music career of Chris Gaines, the fictional lead character of
"The Lamb". Produced by Don Was, the LP is set for release in October
with the first single, "Lost In You," set to hit Top-40 and Adult Contemporary
airwaves in August.
Brooks has teamed with R&B sensation Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds to
produce the film. In an unorthodox marketing move, the disc release will
preceed the film premiere to try to raise awareness of Chris Gaines’ music
and, hence, "The Lamb".
Judging by how much George Strait’s album sales benefitted from his role in
"Pure Country", should we expect Garth to follow in his idol’s footsteps?
"We won’t know about a role for Garth until further filming takes place," says
spokesperson Catherine Olim. "Chris [the character] goes though different
time periods, so there will probably be different actors playing him."
Written by Michael Hight.
Copyright © 1999 CountryCool.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
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