Chris Isaak Biography:
Chris Isaak clearly loves the reverb-laden rockabilly and country of Sun Studios. In
particular, he transfers the sweeping melancholy of Roy Orbison's sweeping, classic
melancholy Monument singles ("Crying," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "In
Dreams") to the more stripped-down, rootsy sound of Sun. His stylized take on '50s
and '60s rock & roll eventually made him into a star in the early '90s, thanks to the
hit single "Wicked Game."
Isaak began performing after he graduated from college, forming the rockabilly band
Silvertone. The group, which featured guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, bassist Rowland
Salley, and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson, would become the singer/guitarist's permanent
supporting band. Isaak released his first album, Silvertone, on Warner Brothers Records in
1985. It was crtically well-received, yet it didn't sell. Two years later, he released
Chris Isaak which managed to scrape into the Top 200 album charts. After its release, the
singer began an acting career with a bit part in Jonathan Demme's 1988 film, Married to
the Mob; he would later have parts in Wild at Heart and The Silence of the Lambs.
Released in 1989, Heart Shaped World initially sold more than Chris Isaak, yet it didn't
manage to break big until late 1990, when the single "Wicked Game" was featured
in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Soon, the single became a Top Ten hit; the album also made
it into the Top Ten and sold over a million copies. Both 1993's San Francisco Days and
1995's Forever Blue mine essentially the same vein as Heart Shaped World, yet both went
gold and spawned a handful of hits. In 1996, Isaak released The Baja Sessions; Speak of
the Devil followed two years later.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide