Sorry to bring it up again, but to me, if we're talking about slow starts to real careers, by singers that love music as musicians and stay true to their own sound, I'll bring it up again.
Chris Isaak . I'm not sure if he's rich or not. So much of that has to do what people do with the bigger money the make when things are really good. If he'd popped his money into S&P 500 index funds in the early 90s when he was making it he'd be quite well off even with the markets going up an down the last 10 years. If tried to make more and invest in restaurants or had his advisers trying to outsmart the market, he's probably just making a living on tour and modest residuals.
I suppose some of you might say.. "who's Chris Isaak" . While never being a Mariah Carrey or something... he had some big years ... and even was a household name, named to a VH1 sexiest list, and had the fun of half a dozen on camera hollywood movie bit roles. I'm sure is still doing what he loves: make music and make it his way and continue to have an audience of people that appreciate what he does.
He's put out 11 studio albums, 1 went tripple platinum, one single platinum a couple gold and a number have, oddly enough almost all the albums including his 2011 album do well in Australia despite him being a California boy... looks like he a loyal core group of fans in France and Sweeden and the UK . (thats a 16 year recording career and I don't think its over)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Isaak_discography
I guess.. I see the connection as.. I can think I can count the artists that I've gotten into after 1990 on two hands. And he's one of them. (and maybe less.. only Norah Jones inbetween had me listening to her album on replay(and unfortunately only her first for me)) His acoustic album "Baja Sessions" is has been one of my favorite albums for the last 15 plus years.
All of the songs on that album.. start to finish.. half his own and half covers feel just as good as the next one.. just like Norah's first, and Haley's first (and i'm sure those to follow)
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His story again:
Chris had been scraping along but making music even if it wasn't getting heard by a ton of peopel... the song that caught on was on his third album and it wasn't till 2 years after that third album came out that the momentum started.
Quote:Quote:
Isaak's third album, Heart Shaped World (1989) proved to be a breakthrough effort for the singer, when famed director David Lynch used an instrumental version of Isaak's song "Wicked Game" for the film Wild at Heart (1991). A disc jockey in Atlanta took notice of the haunting track and started playing Isaak's album version—complete with vocals—on his station. The song soon caught on with listeners, and the album started to climb the charts in America as well as around the world. Reaching as high as number six on the Billboard pop charts in 1991, "Wicked Game" gave Isaak's career a tremendous boost.
Soon, Herb Ritts' unforgettable video of the song helped make Isaak a multi-media star and sex symbol. In the video, Isaak famously nuzzled model Helena Christensen on the beach. Not surprisingly, the steamy clip proved to be wildly popular with both sexes. Another track from the album, "Don't Make Me Dream About You," would also earn significant airplay, turning Heart Shaped Box into a multi-platinum album in the U.S. and a smash-hit internationally.
http://www.biography.com/people/chris-is...948?page=2
and while I'm at it.. here are a couple of my favorites from baja sessions which maybe wasn't as huge of a commecial success his others on either side of it.. but it's beautiful.. and he's still touching me with it for one
one of his
and a cover he did on the album :
