When you think of Steven Seagal showing his chops, you probably don't think of "chops" as musical skills.
But here he is, launching his country-singing career and co-writing the theme song for "Fire Down Below," which opens this week. He also co-wrote songs for "The Glimmer Man" and "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory."Unless you're a huge Steven Seagal fan, you probably met this news with a snicker - from a distance, of course. What in the world is a martial-arts trained action hero doing singing country music? He's a box-office star; he doesn't need the money, right?
Well, maybe.
"With very few exceptions, most actors who go on to try music do so when their career is on the rocks," says J.D. Considine, pop-music critic for the Baltimore Sun and a contributing reviewer for the Rolling Stone Album Guide. "Don Johnson did it when `Miami Vice' was on the wane. David Soul didn't even get into it until `Starsky and Hutch' was pushing up daisies."
Seagal is the latest in a long line of singing actors. Not even counting such obvious kitschy examples as William Shatner and Jack Webb, it's easy to compile a list of people who made their name on screen and then went to the recording studio: John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Crystal Bernard.
Sometimes, they even have hits. Sometimes, they're even halfway decent.
"Don Johnson's first record was not all that horrible," Considine says. "It wasn't something that I'd recommend anyone spend money on, but it wasn't an embarrassment, either . . . As a torch singer, Cybill Shepherd was no more of an embarrassment than Carly Simon was in the same role."
For every actor who sings, there seems to be a singer who acts, and they seem to have an easier time earning respect for their efforts. Dwight Yoakam received critical kudos for his bad-guy performance in last year's "Sling Blade." David Bowie won acclaim for playing "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Frank Sinatra won an Oscar for a nonmusical role in "From Here to Eternity."
"Traditionally, the reason singers go from singing to acting is that acting is a step up - for the most part, you make more money acting," Considine says. "These days, the reason musicians go into acting is that they're already actors, in their videos." Considine cites Mariah Carey, whose performance in the James Bondish (OK, Jane Bondish) video for "Honey" has resulted in acting offers.
So many rappers act, it seems like a job requirement: Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, Ice-T and even Vanilla Ice have made big-screen appearances. Some, such as Smith, have become acting superstars; others, notably Cube, have received critical acclaim.
Some actors who sing do it only for their roles; others have a sense of their limitations; still others actually make decent records. Considine cites a few examples: "Meryl Streep singing with Blue Rodeo at the end of `Postcards From the Edge' - that was a terrific vocal performance. But she never recorded it. Robert Mitchum's calypso record wasn't half-bad. Johnny Depp seems to have a pretty good sense of what he can and can't do."
Apparently, so does Seagal: At an Aug. 27 performance at Planet Hollywood in Dallas, he never took a solo lead vocal, and his guitar solos were modest. Meanwhile, his band scorched, and he looked better for it.
"You have to remember that this is a guy who's used to working with stuntmen," Considine says. "Seagal doing country music makes me want to see other action stars give music a try. I would love to see Arnold Schwarzenegger do gangsta rap."
OUR FIVE FAVORITE ACTORS WHO SING
Wilford Brimley: The avuncular Quaker Oats spokesman knows the right thing to do with his '40s crooner voice, as evidenced last fall when he performed at a YWCA benefit at Casa Manana in Fort Worth.
Keith Carradine: He's not the world's greatest singer, but his barely on-key vocals on "I'm Easy" from Robert Altman's "Nashville" added to the song's charm - and helped make it a hit. (He also starred in the Broadway musical "Will Rogers Follies: A Life in Revue."
Marilyn Monroe: The actress recorded enough albums for the Music Club label to compile "The Essential Recordings," due for a Sept. 16 release. We hear she does a mean "Happy Birthday."
Harry Dean Stanton: The hangdog, lowlife specialist co-stars with Seagal in "Fire Down Below." If you go way back to "Cool Hand Luke," you'll catch him in a nice, mournful vocal on a gospel-blues number.
John Travolta: With the guy popping up in every third movie these days, it's easy to forget that he has made the Top 40 more than once. Mostly for "Grease," in which he acted and sang.
OUR FIVE FAVORITE SINGERS WHO ACT
(Note to Elvis fans: He was just too obvious a choice, OK?)
David Bowie: Considering his theatrical nature, Bowie's switch to motion pictures was no surprise. Somehow, he seems just right for a space alien ("The Man Who Fell to Earth"), an aging vampire ("The Hunger") and Andy Warhol ("Basquiat").
Levon Helm: Another of Seagal's "Fire Down Below" co-stars, he made his movie-acting debut as Loretta Lynn's father in another coal-mining movie, "Coal Miner's Daughter." In an interesting case of synergy, Lynn's twin daughters, Patsy and Peggy, make their film debuts in "Fire Down Below."
Reba McEntire: Reba showed her acting talent and her sense of humor as a gun-nut survivalist in "Tremors," a sci-fi satire about giant worms. She has also made several TV-movies.
Gene Simmons: The Kiss tongue-wielder played an evil hermaphrodite in "Never Too Young to Die," an '80s bomb that also starred actor-singer John Stamos and singer-actor Vanity. We use all those adjectives loosely, by the way.
Dwight Yoakam: As the abusive boyfriend in "Sling Blade," he was one of last year's best villains. Wanna see Dwight in another film? Rent "Red Rock West," in which he plays a perturbed trucker.