Chris Isaak Biography
Christopher Joseph Isaak professionally known as Chris Isaak is a well-known and celebrated American musician and casual actor. Isaak is best known for his hit “Wicked Game”, as well as the songs “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” and “Somebody’s Crying”. Isaak is known for his signature 1950s rock & roll style and crooner sound, as well as his falsetto and reverb-laden music.
Isaak is closely associated with film director David Lynch, who has used his music in various films and gave him a role in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. His songs generally focus on the themes of love, loss, and heartbreak.
With a career spanning four decades, Isaak has released a total of 12 studio albums, toured, and received various award nominations. Isaak has been called the Roy Orbison of the 1990s and is often also compared to Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
10 Quick Facts About Chris Isaak
- Name: hristopher Joseph Isaak
- Age: 65 years
- Birthday: June 2
- Zodiac Sign: Cancer
- Height: 6 Feet 1 Inch
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Musician and casual actor
- Marital Status: Single
- Salary: Under Review
- Net worth: $21 million dollars
Chris Isaak Age
Isaak is 65 years old as of 2021, he was born on June 26, 1956, in Stockton, California, United States.
Chris Isaak Birthday
Isaak celebrates his birthday on June 26, every year and his birth sign is Cancer.
Chris Isaak Height
Isaak stands at a height of 6 Feet 1 Inch. Known for his gifted voice and charming personality, Isaak has brown eyes and the color of his hair is dark brown.
Chris Isaak Weight
Isaak Weighs 85 kg. However, details regarding his other body measurements are currently not publicly available. We will update this section when the information is available.
Chris Isaak Education
Isaak graduated in 1974 after attending Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in north Stockton where he was class president all three years, culminating with his election as student body president in his senior year and in 1974 graduating class valedictorian and head of the all-male cheer squad.
He joined San Joaquin Delta Community College, before transferring to the University of the Pacific and in 1981, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English and communications arts. He studied in Japan in an exchange program.
After graduating from college, he made his first band, Silvertone. This rockabilly outfit consisted of James Calvin Wilsey using a guitar, Rowland Salley the bass, and Kenney Dale Johnson on the drums, who remained with Isaak as his permanent backing band.
Chris Isaak Family
Isaak was born in Stockton, California at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, to Dorothy Vignolo (mother), a potato chip factory worker, and Joseph “Joe” Isaak (father 1929 – 2012), a forklift driver. His father’s family is Catholic Black Sea German from North Dakota. Isaak’s mother is Italian American, from Genoa. It is not known if he has any siblings. We will update this section once this information is available.
Chris Isaak Wife
Carole Lowe was Isaak’s high school sweetheart who died of cancer. Chris has dated several women in the industry but seems to still be looking for something he is yet to find.
Recently he has dated model Anka Radakovich, Minnie Driver, Margaret Cho, Bai Ling, and Caroline Rhea but still, rumors have it that he dated Helena Christensen, the model in his Wicked Game music video in 1999. Isaak is largely a single man at the moment but may have married his career and has a cute fur dog Rodney that keeps his company.
Chris Isaak Children
As of now, there isn’t any documented report on the public records about Isaak having kids. He seems to be more engaged in his career rather than starting a family. Nevertheless, this information is currently under review and will be updated once we get it from a credible source.
Chris Isaak Salary
According to our reliable sources, Isaak’s annual salary is currently under review. Nevertheless, we are keeping tabs and will update you once this information is available.
Chris Isaak Net Worth
Isaak has an estimated net worth of $21 million dollars as of 2022. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a musician and actor. Through his various sources of income, Chris has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Chris Isaak Measurements and Facts
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Isaak.
Chris Isaak Wiki
- Full Names: Christopher Joseph Isaak
- Popular As: Chris Isaak
- Gender: Male
- Occupation / Profession: Musician & Actor
- Nationality: American
- Race / Ethnicity: White
- Religion: Not Known
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
Chris Isaak Birthday
- Age / How Old?: 64 Years Old
- Zodiac Sign: Cancer
- Date of Birth: June 26, 1956
- Place of Birth: Stockton, California
- Birthday: June 26,
Chris Isaak Body Measurements
- Body Measurements: Not Available
- Height / How Tall?: 6 Feet 1 Inch
- Weight: 85 kg
- Eye Color: Brown
- Hair Color: Dark Brown
Chris Isaak Family and Relationship
- Father (Dad): Joseph “Joe” Isaak
- Mother: Dorothy Vignolo
- Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Not Known
- Marital Status: Single
- Wife/Spouse: Not Available
- Dating / Girlfriend: Single
- Children: Pending Update
Chris Isaak Networth and Salary
- Net Worth: $21 million dollars
- Salary: Under Review
- Source of Income: Entertainment
Chris Isaak Music Career
In 1985, Isaak signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records and released his first album, Silvertone, to critical acclaim, including from John Fogerty. The name was taken from the band he formed after graduating college; a reference to the Silvertone guitar brand popularized during the 1950s.
The album’s sound was raw and diverse, mingling country blues with conventional folk ballads. Although the album was a critical success, it failed to sell respectably. Two tracks from the album, “Gone Ridin'” and “Livin’ for Your Lover,” featured in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.
Isaak’s self-titled follow-up album was released in 1986 and managed to scrape into the Billboard Top 200. The album saw Isaak hone his style to sophisticated R&B. The artwork for Chris Isaak, was photographed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
Isaak’s contract was renewed in 1988 when Warner Bros. moved him to their Reprise Records label. “Suspicion of Love” appears in the 1988 hit movie Married to the Mob starring Matthew Modine, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Dean Stockwell.
Isaak’s best-known song is “Wicked Game.” First released on the 1989 album Heart Shaped World, an instrumental version of the song was subsequently featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart. Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who was obsessed with Lynch films, played the vocal version and it became the station’s most-requested song.
Chesnut spread the word to other radio stations and the single became a national Top 10 hit in February 1991. It also reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart. The music video for the song was directed by Herb Ritts and was an MTV and VH1 hit; shot in black and white, it featured Isaak and supermodel Helena Christensen in a sensual encounter on the beach, caressing each other and whispering in each other’s ears.
Another less-seen version of “Wicked Game” is directed by David Lynch and comprises scenes from the film Wild at Heart. “Wicked Game” featured as the backing music in the 2001 TV advertisement for the Jaguar X-Type in the UK.
In 1995 Isaak split with longtime guitarist James Calvin Wilsey. That year’s Forever Blue album and the accompanying tour featured Hershel Yatovitz on guitar. In an interview with Mark Needham, an engineer who worked with Isaak on “Wicked Game,” Needham claimed that it took several years to put the track together.
In 1995, Isaak released his fifth album, Forever Blue. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album and the single Somebody’s Crying was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA on March 15, 1996. Isaak’s “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” was featured in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut. The music video for the song was directed by Herb Ritts, it was shot in color and featured Isaak and French supermodel Laetitia Casta in a motel room. This was Isaak’s second collaboration with Ritts.
Isaak composed a theme song for U.S. late-night television variety/talk show, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. In 2001, Isaak starred in his own television show, The Chris Isaak Show. It aired from March 2001 to March 2004 in the United States on the cable television network Showtime.
This adult comedy show featured Isaak and his band playing themselves and the episode plots were based on fictional accounts of the backstage world of Isaak the rock star next door.
In 2004 his track “Life Will Go On” was featured on Chasing Liberty’s soundtrack, which starred Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode. His track “Two Hearts” was featured in the closing credits of the 1993 film True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, written by Quentin Tarantino, and starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette.
Isaak’s producer, Erik Jacobsen, was instrumental in his sound for 15 years. Jacobsen is known for his production work with The Lovin’ Spoonful, and solo albums from Spoonful’s John Sebastian and Jerry Yester. Isaak ceased working with Jacobsen on his 2002 album, Always Got Tonight. In 2007 Isaak opened for Stevie Nicks on her Crystal Visions Tour during the first leg of the tour.
In 2006, he appeared on a duet with Johnny Hallyday covering Fats Domino’s hit “Blueberry Hill”. The duet was recorded and issued on Johnny Hallyday’s live album La Cigale (2007, Warner Music). At the end of this record, you can hear Isaak thanking the French rock-’n’-roll star as “The King.”
Isaak collaborated with John Shanks for his 2009 album Mr. Lucky. He contributed a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” for a tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, released in September 2011.
Isaak released an album called Beyond the Sun, which was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee at the Sun Records studio. On September 7, 2015, it was announced that Isaak would be performing at the 2015 AFL Grand Final, along with English singer Ellie Goulding and Canadian musician Bryan Adams. In 2016, he did the “First Comes the Night Tour.”
Chris Isaak Actor
Isaak has also appeared in numerous films, sometimes as the main character but mostly playing cameo roles. He starred with Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda in the 1993 Bernardo Bertolucci directed Little Buddha and played a major role in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).
Other motion pictures include Married to the Mob (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), That Thing You Do! (1996), A Dirty Shame (2004), and The Informers (2008).
Isaak starred in the televised situation comedy The Chris Isaak Show (2001–04) playing himself and featuring actual members of his band along with actors and celebrity guests.
He guest-starred on “The One After the Superbowl, Part One,” the Super Bowl XXX edition of the television sitcom Friends; and on the HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, as astronaut Ed White, the first American astronaut to leave the confines of his spacecraft, who later died in the 1967 Apollo 1 fire.
The Biography Channel aired The Chris Isaak Hour, a one-hour music interview and performance show in 2009. The series premiere featured Trisha Yearwood and included the first-ever performance of “Breaking Apart,” a duet from Isaak’s new album, Mr. Lucky. Additional guests included Stevie Nicks, Smashing Pumpkins, Chicago, Glen Campbell, Michael Bublé, Yusuf Islam, and Jewel.
In April 2010 Isaak was the special guest during Conan O’Brien’s The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour performance at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, California. On September 29, 2011, Isaak received the Stockton Arts Commission STAR Award in his hometown of Stockton, California.
In 2014 he voiced the character of “Enoch,” the apparent ruler of the town of Pittsfield, in the second episode of Over the Garden Wall, “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee.”
On May 3, 2015, Isaak was confirmed to be replacing Natalie Bassingthwaighte on the seventh season of The X Factor Australia. He joins James Blunt and returning judges Guy Sebastian and Dannii Minogue.
Chris Isaak Illness
A bout with pneumonia has forced Isaak off the road. He has canceled the entirety of a month-long U.S. tour of 17 shows that comprised the rest of his concert schedule for the year that was supposed to begin in a week and a half.
“As my fans know, I’m a pretty healthy clean living rock and roller,” he said in a statement on his website. “It’s really unusual for me to cancel shows but the good news is, I’m on the mend and look forward to getting back with my band as soon as I’m 100 percent. I want to thank my fans in advance for their good wishes.”
Chris Isaak Wicked Game
Isaak released “Wicked Game” from his third studio album of the Heart-Shaped World in 1989. The single became a hit when it was featured in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart in 1990 despite being released in 1989.
The Atlanta radio station music director called Lee Chesnut, who loved David Lynch films, began playing the song making it quickly become a nationwide top-ten hit in January 1991, making it reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the first hit song of Isaak’s career.
It has subsequently been featured in numerous high-profile movies and television series and advertisements and also been covered by many other artists so much so that Dazed magazine questioned whether it might be the most influential love song in modern music.
Chris Isaak Awards and Nominations
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography 1991 · Wicked Game
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video 1991 · Wicked Game
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film 1991 · Wicked Game
Chris Isaak Songs
- Silvertone(1985)
- Chris Isaak(1986)
- Heart-Shaped World(1989)
- San Francisco Days(1993)
- Forever Blue(1995)
- Baja Sessions(1996)
- Speak of the Devil(1998)
- Always Got Tonight(2002)
- Christmas(2004)
- Lucky(2009)
- Beyond the Sun(2011)
- First Comes the Night(2015)
Chris Isaak Movies
- The Silence of the Lambs- SWAT Commander (1991)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me- Special Agent Chester Desmond (1992)
- Little Buddha- Dean Conrad (1994)
- That Thing You Do!- Uncle Bob (1996)
- A Dirty Shame- Vaughn Stickles (2004)
- The Informers- Les (2008)
Chris Isaak TV Shows
- Wiseguy– Berated lounge singer (1987)
- Friends– Rob Donnan (Season 2, Episode 12, 1996 – “The One After the Superbowl”)
- From the Earth to the Moon– Astronaut Edward White II (1998)
- Melrose Place– Himself/Musical Guest (Season 7, Episode 28, 1998 – Ryan’s Choice)
- The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn– Himself (Season 3, Episode 40, June 29, 2001)
- The Greatest– Himself (50 Sexiest Video Moments, 2003)
- Ed– Jamie Decker (Season 3, Episode 20, 2003 – “Second Chances”)
- The Greatest– Himself/Host (100 Greatest Videos, 2003)
- The Chris Isaak Show– Himself (2001–2004)
- American Dreams– Roy Orbison (Season 2, Episode 14, 2004 – “Old Enough to Fight”)
- The Footy Show– Himself (Grand Final, 2004)
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson– Michael Caine in Space (Season 2, Episode 177, 2006)
- Great Performances Jerry Lee Lewis: Last Man Standing Life– Himself (2007)
- The Bill Engvall Show– Himself (Season 1, Episode 6, 2007)
- Australian Idol– Himself (Season 6, November 9–10, 2008)
- The Chris Isaak Hour– Himself/Host (2009)
- George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight– Himself (Season 2, Episode 23, 2011)
- Conan– Himself (Episode 192, January 4, 2012)
- Loose Women– Himself (September 28, 2012)
- The Tonight Show– Himself (January 13, 2014)
- Hot in Cleveland– Chase Jackson (one episode, 2014)
- Over the Garden Wall– Enoch (one episode, 2014)
- Adventure Time– 7718 (one episode, 2015)
- The X Factor Australia– Himself – Judge/Mentor (2015)
- Sheriff Callie’s Wild West– Johnny Strum (voice) (Season 2, 2016)
Frequently Asked Questions About Chris Isaak
Who is Chris Isaak?
Chris Isaak is an American musician and casual actor. Isaak is best known for his hit “Wicked Game”, as well as the songs “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” and “Somebody’s Crying”.
How old is Chris Isaak?
Isaak is an American national born on June 26, 1956, in Stockton, California, United States.
How tall is Chris Isaak?
Isaak stands at a height of 6 Feet 1 Inch.
Is Chris Isaak married?
Details about Isaak’s love life are still under review. We will let you know when he gets in a relationship or when we discover helpful information about his love life.
How much is Chris Isaak worth?
Isaak has an approximate net worth of $21 million dollars. This amount has been accrued from his/her leading roles in the entertainment industry.
How much does Chris Isaak make?
According to our reliable sources, Isaak’s annual salary is currently under review. Nevertheless, we are keeping tabs and will update you once this information is available.
Where does Chris Isaak live?
Because of security reasons, Isaak has not shared his precise location of residence. We will update this information if we get the location and images of his house.
Is Chris Isaak dead or alive?
Isaak is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.
Where is Chris Isaak Now?
Isaak is still an active participant in the creative entertainment industry.
Chris Isaak Contacts
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