Chris Isaak's Real Name: Chris Isaak

Quick answer: The singer records under his own name, Chris Isaak. AllMusic and the Library of Congress both give his birth date as June 26, 1956, in Stockton, California. AllMusic also lists the longer form Christopher Joseph Isaak under "Also Known As," but no second source here confirmed that full form.

Real name and early life

AllMusic's artist profile records his birth as June 26, 1956, in Stockton, California, and lists "Christopher Joseph Isaak" as another name. The Library of Congress authority file independently gives "b. 6-26-56, Stockton, Calif.," and a second note describes him as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in 1956 in Stockton.

AllMusic's biography, by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, says he began performing after he graduated from college. It describes his style as a throwback to early rock and roll, combining Elvis Presley's rockabilly croon with Roy Orbison's melancholy balladeering.

Career highlights

AllMusic says he formed the rockabilly band Silvertone, with guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, bassist Rowland Salley, and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson, which became his permanent backing band. His debut album, Silvertone, came out on Warner Bros. in 1985 to good reviews but weak sales, and a self-titled album followed two years later.

AllMusic says his 1989 album Heart Shaped World did not break through until late 1990, when "Wicked Game" was featured in David Lynch's film Wild at Heart. The single became a Top Ten hit, and the album reached the Top Ten and sold more than a million copies. It says San Francisco Days (1993) and Forever Blue (1995) both went gold, and that "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing," from 1995, was later used in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

AllMusic says he began acting with a small part in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob (1988) and later appeared in Wild at Heart, The Silence of the Lambs, and A Dirty Shame, and starred in his own Showtime sitcom. It says The Chris Isaak Hour debuted on the Biography Channel in 2009, alongside the album Mr. Lucky.

Later records listed by AllMusic include Chris Isaak Christmas (2004), Beyond the Sun (2011), a tribute to Sun Records recorded at Sun Studio, and First Comes the Night (2015), his 13th full-length album, partly produced by Dave Cobb. AllMusic says he was a judge on the seventh season of The X Factor Australia in 2015, appeared on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (2022) in a duet with Stevie Nicks, and released Everybody Knows It's Christmas on a revived Sun Records label.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Chris Isaak or Christopher Joseph Isaak are looking for the same singer. Silvertone is the name of his band and debut album, not a stage name.