Extreme Sports' Unlikely Stars

WHO: Chris Cornell

DAY JOB: Ex-frontman of Audioslave, grunge dinosaur, restaurateur

EXTREME PASSION: Wakeboarding

BORED BOARDER: Cornell discovered his interest in wakeboarding out of sheer boredom. "I got a boat when I bought property on the Puget Sound," he says. "I got tired of just cruising around, so I got one of the early wakeboard prototypes." His passion led him to try out other extreme sports from snowboarding to motorcycling. "When summer ended and I couldn't wakeboard anymore, I was like, 'What do we do now?,'" he says. "So we went snowboarding. After one day, I couldn't get enough of it. That season, I went thirty times."

WORST INJURY: While catching air from a boat's waves in 1996, Cornell landed awkwardly, causing him to see stars. "My front foot came out as I hit the water and the board whipped around and hit me on the head," he says. "It cut through my skull. I thought I severed a nerve and did permanent damage to my brain. But I was just spaced out for a while."

BONUS BOD: While Cornell hates exercise - "There's nothing more boring than a gym," he says - he doesn't mind working out on a wakeboard. "You're just having a blast and the cherry on the cake is that it's good for you," he says. "When I'm in wakeboard shape, I don't get tired at all."