When Christopher Keith Irvine was born on November 9 1970, no one could have foreseen that he would go on to amass one of the most eclectic and impressive CVs of… well, pretty much anyone you care to mention. Today you know him as Chris Jericho, one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever to grace the sport, frontman of the increasingly successful heavy metal band Fozzy, actor, author, and host of the hugely popular Talk Is Jericho podcast. It’s incredible that the young man who grew up listening to rock’n’roll and consuming professional wrestling on cable television in Winnipeg, Canada, has gone on to achieve iconic status in so many fields.
“People often ask me when the music started getting a look-in after the wrestling,” he smiles. “The truth is, it was always there – Iwas always doing it. It’s just that I got recognition as a wrestler first. People would say when Fozzy started, ‘Oh, when did you first want to be in a band?’ And I’d say, ‘Oh, I dunno, about 20 years ago!’ I’ve never been one to limit myself to one thing, I always wanted it all.”
It’s fair to say he got it all. We sat down with one of metal’s most charismatic characters, to find out how his story unfolded.
What are your memories of your childhood?
“Well, my father [Ted Irvine] played in the NHL, the hockey equivalent of the Premier League, from 1967-1977. So, my first few years we moved around a lot. WeI wanted to be in a rock’n’roll band and I wanted to be a wrestler, and I just worked on how to manifest those two things.”
