Throwback Thursday: Remember When Garth Brooks Had an Alter Ego?
We're looking back at Garth Brooks' short-lived rockstar career and his alter ego, Chris Gaines.
During the CMA Awards 50th Anniversary celebration on Wednesday night (Nov. 2), country star Garth Brooks took home the top prize of Entertainer of the Year. Rewind the clocks 17 years, add some guy-liner and the same guitar-picking Oklahoma-native was exploring his rock-n-roll side as his alter ego, Chris Gaines.
In 1999, Brooks had plans to star in a full-length featured movie about a rockstar surrounded around the character of Gaines. To take it another step further, as Gaines, Brooks released a pre-soundtrack album for the film, In the Life of Chris Gaines.
People weren’t as excited about Brooks’ experiment as he hoped and the project didn’t last very long. In the Life of Chris Gaines made its way to the No. 2 spot on pop album charts and produced the single “Lost in You,” which peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s pop charts.
Due to the underwhelming response, production of the Chris Gaines film came to a halt and the fictional rock character seemed to vanish into thin air. Brooks knows hot to make fun of himself though and appeared as Gaines on a VH1 mockumentary for their hit television series Behind the Music and was the featured musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live, which he hosted.
Maybe Brooks’ career as a rockstar didn’t pan, but we’re happy to have him safe and sound in the country music genre.
