If you were to ask your good friend Wikipedia about Chris Gaines, you’d find out the following:
He was born in Brisbane in 1967. He was making music since at least 1984. And in 1999 he appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing his chart topping hit ‘Lost In You’.
In actual fact, though, he’s the “poppelgänger” of Garth Brooks, one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Where Brooks is a little bit country, Chris Gaines is a little bit rock n’ roll. He’s the Flexo to his Bender. (See: goatee).
Turns out, Garth developed the character of this “fictitious rock legend” for a myster/thriller movie called The Lamb, which was to be scripted by Die Hard screenwriter Jeb Stuart.
The story would follow a female fan of pop star Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks) investigating the mysterious circumstances around his death and Ashely Judd was, at one point, rumoured to be attached.
Brooks also contributed to the script but here’s the thing: the film never eventuated.
Screenwriter Jeb Stuart’s wife was ill at the time, Brooks and his then-wife were divorcing, the album didn't sell as expected and the project was put on hold. But by some quirk of marketing/fate, the soundtrack came out well before the film was supposed to.
That album was Chris Gaines: Greatest Hits, alternatively known as 'Garth Brooks in...The Life of Chris Gaines'. At the time, “the industry and every press outlet” thought he had lost it, according to Brooks himself. Without the film for context, this concept album under his rock nom de plume made little to no sense.
But somehow his single ‘Lost In You’ still made it to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 (at the same time that ‘Bills, Bills, Bills’ by Destiny’s Child was at #9, no less).
The life and times of Chris Gaines
Gaines seemed to take the character so seriously, that people found it really hard to laugh along. As a person he comes across as so sweet and mild-mannered that he couldn't really pull off the joke. But was it supposed to be a joke?
There were no sly winks, no hint of a smile, when Garth is telling a live audience about Chris’ father losing “his long bout with cancer in 1990.”
There was so much effort put into a backstory and you can tell it all meant a lot to Garth; like Chris’ life and career served as a way to explore another side of himself.
Canonically Chris Gaines moved to the L.A. area when he was five, his father Gene Gaines was the former coach of the U.S. Olympics swim team, his mother Caroline Johns Gaines was a former swimmer for the Australian Olympic team and a Commonwealth Games medallist, and they both hoped he would carry on the family Olympic torch. Musically speaking, he had previously been a teen heartthrob when he quit high school to join pop rock band Crush, explored his sex addiction in his sophomore album, and in 1989 he released his Grammy-winning debut album, Straight Jacket.
In the winter of 1992, Chris almost died in a car crash, in which his face was 'horrifically disfigured' — for a spell he refused to be seen in public and released his critically-acclaimed third solo album Apostle in 1994 from bed. Around 1999 Chris had finally found a woman “who can put up with him” and it was she who influenced his drift towards a more RnB sound.
Before it was canned, there was also going to be a Chris Gaines solo album The Lamb, which apparently 'critics' were predicting would be 'the definitive album of the new millennium'.
(Funnily enough, after it all happened Keith Urban implied that the character had been strongly influenced by his own life: “He says the singer was born in the same town as he was in the same year; both are signed to the same record label; and play the same music. Urban and Gaines even have identical soul patches”).
In a 2015 interview, Brooks reflected on the whole experience: "All I can say is, my ribs are still sore from getting the sh*t kicked out of me for doing that one. But, I love that record, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, to tell you the truth, because it's all about the music, and I thought the music was fantastic."
This year, on September 28th, the 20th anniversary of the release of Chris Gaines: Greatest Hits, Nashville will host the first ever Gainesfest 2019 - A Celebration of The Life of Chris Gaines. The festivities will include a Chris Gaines look-a-like contest, a Chris Gaines tribute band, and Chris Gaines-inspired art for sale.
Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino covers Garth Brooks aka Chris Gaines
Last year, when Glover was to appear on Saturday Night Live as both host and musical guest, the parallels were made between him and Brooks. Both C.G. and C.G. are the only two musical alter egos to appear alongside their creators.
In a press kit around the 1999 release of Gaines’ album, Garth Brooks appeared as himself and spoke earnestly about the star. “I can understand the people that are diehard country fans and have always seen Garth doing country music not being able to come along for this ride. So if they choose to sit this one out, I can’t complain and that’s cool.”
He continued: “For those people who see this as totally what it is — just a ride, a fictitious character that just lets it swing — then you’re gonna have a great time.”
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