Bio of Chris Cornell, Rock Singer
Soundgarden and Audioslave Lead Vocalist Releases Solo CD Carry On
American Frontman is now enjoying a successful solo career with album Carry On after two decades in the music industry with two of America's top rock bands.
Chris Cornell has spent most of the last twenty years as the singer in two influential and successful American rock bands, as well as establishing himself as a solo artist, an award winning songwriter, and one of the most popular singers in rock music today.
Singer with Rock Band Soundgarden
From 1984 to 1997, Cornell was the singer with Seattle rock band Soundgarden, which he formed with guitarist Kim Thayil. Having signed to the now legendary Subpop independent label, the band recorded and released their first EP in 1987, and released their first album on SST records, Ultramega OK, the following year. The debut album was nominated for a Grammy, and attracted the attention of major label A&M Records.
In 1989, they released Louder Than Love, but it wasn’t until 1991’s Badmotorfinger that they found much greater popularity. The album spawned hits such as “Rusty Cage”, and “Jesus Christ Pose”, and “Outshined” and went on to be certified double platinum.
Cornell also contributed to the album Temple of the Dog in 1991, along with fellow musicians such as Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard who would go on to have huge success in the band Pearl Jam. The album was a tribute to the singer and songwriter Andrew Wood, a friend and former roommate of Cornell, who had died of a drug overdose the previous year.
Superunknown and Beyond
In 1994, the band hit their peak with the release of the album Superunknown, a modern rock classic that sold 7 million copies and won 2 Grammy awards. The album spawned the hits "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" and the band toured relentlessly in support of the record, before releasing their next album, Down on the Upside in 1996. The band continued to tour until 1997 when they split, citing creative and personal differences as the reason.
Chris Cornell recorded and released his debut solo album, Euphoria Morning, in 1999, which included the Grammy-nominated song “Can’t Change Me” and spent most of the next year on tour.
Frontman for Audioslave
In 2001, Cornell joined three former members of the band Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk, to form a new band, Audioslave. They released their first album, the self-titled Audioslave, in 2002, which went on to sell over three million copies. They toured throughout 2003, and then released their second album Out of Exile in 2005. In May of that year, they became the first American rock band to play a concert in Cuba. They released their final album, Revelations, in 2006, but by February 2007 Cornell had announced in a Rolling Stone interview that he was leaving the band due to personal and creative differences.
Solo Star
Cornell wrote and performed the song “You Know My Name” for the James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006, and in June 2007 released his second solo album, entitled Carry On. Since then, he has toured internationally, and remains on tour in 2008. The album contains a cover version of the Michael Jackson classic "Billie Jean" which attracted huge attention recently when American Idol finalist David Cook performed the 'Cornell' version on the live show to great acclaim from the judges and the public. Since then, Cornell's version has rocketed up the iTunes chart.
According to the a recent interview, Cornell is also preparing to release his next solo album, which is being produced by Timbaland, and should be available later this year.
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