Chris Gaines

Chris Pearl Gaines
Origin	Brisbane, Australia (fictitiously)
Genres	Alternative rock, rock
Years active	1999
Labels	Capitol
Associated acts	Garth Brooks

Chris Gaines is a fictional rock star persona created as an alter ego for Garth Brooks to explore rock and roll styles far removed from his success as a country singer.

Initially, Brooks planned to feature the Gaines persona in The Lamb, a motion picture which never materialized. In 1999, Brooks released one album as Gaines; the album produced two charting Billboard singles, including the Top 5 pop hit "Lost in You".

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' 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. The album received mixed reviews, and fan response was often bewilderment. Although the album 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. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic speculated that the alternate persona and elaborate marketing scheme backfired, writing, "When Brooks' new persona and his album were revealed to the public, they were unforgiving - they didn't think he was playing a role, they simply thought he'd lost his mind."^[1] However, Erlewine gave the album a 3-out-of-5 stars rating and in the same review later writes "Judged as Brooks' first pop album, it's pretty good, and if it had been released that way, it likely would have been embraced by a wide audience."

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions					Certifications (sales threshold)
		US [2]	CAN [3]	CAN Country [4]	GER [5]	NOR [6]
In the Life of Chris Gaines	Release date: September 28, 1999 Label: Capitol Records Formats: CD, cassette	2	5	2	72	13	CAN: Platinum[7] US: 2× Platinum[8]

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions							Certifications (sales threshold)	Album
		US [9]	US AC [10]	US Country [11]	CAN [12]	CAN AC [13]	CAN Country [14]	UK [15]
1999	"Lost in You"	5	9	62	2	1	55	70	US: Gold[16]	In the Life of Chris Gaines
	"It Don't Matter to the Sun"	—^[A]	—	24	—	—	23	—
	"Right Now"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"That's the Way I Remember It"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Notes

• A^ "It Don't Matter to the Sun" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 13.^[17]

Music videos

Year	Title	Director
1999	"Lost in You"	Jon Small
	"Right Now"

References

1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (1999-09-28). "In the Life of Chris Gaines". allmusic. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
2. "Garth Brooks Album & Song Chart History - Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
3. "Garth Brooks Album & Song Chart History - Canadian Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
4. "Results - RPM - Library and Archives Canada: Country Albums/CDs". RPM. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
5. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts - German Albums". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
6. "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
7. "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
8. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - April 15, 2011: In the Life of Chris Gaines certified awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
9. "Garth Brooks Album & Song Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
10. "Garth Brooks Album & Song Chart History - Adult Contemporary". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
11. "Garth Brooks Album & Song Chart History - Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
12. "Garth Brooks : Allmusic : Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
13. "Results - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Adult Contemporary". RPM. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
14. "Results - RPM - Library and Archives Canada - Country Singles". RPM. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
15. "Chart Stats - Garth Brooks". chartstats.com. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
16. "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - April 15, 2011: "Lost in You" certified awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
17. Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 62. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.

External links

• Official Chris Gaines Myspace
• USA Today: Kansas City crowd welcomes Brooks back to the stage