Corey Taylor
He is one of the greatest vocalists in music today. It has performances that can make you crumble and ones that can make you explode. He is diverse, bold, and also insane and he was born on December 8, 1973. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Corey Taylor:
= His full name is Corey Todd Taylor. We had to write this because Corey sounded everything but "Todd".
= He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, United States.
= As a child, he lived with his mother for the first few years of his life, a period that was not simple for him. His mother did not have a permanent job and they had to move every few months to a different house because she had no money to pay rent. He first met his father only when he was 30 years old.
= Already at the age of 15 he moved in with his grandmother (a professional bowling player) who became his guardian. Corey said that he lives today very much thanks to her and even though he lived with her for a short period (3 years) it was a shaky and influential period.
= Aside from her care that he would go to school and have a place to live, his grandmother was the one who exposed him to the world of music, especially with Elvis Presley's albums. She is the one who helped him buy his first guitar and other instruments.
= By that time Corey had already started using drugs and developing symptoms of heavy addiction. He suffered from an overdose several times and once even tried to commit suicide using drugs. His grandmother found him dumped in a trash can while unconscious.
= Corey said that after the incident, when he decided to recover on the sofa at his grandmother's house, he watched the MTV music awards on TV. At the same event, the band "Faith No More" performed the song "Epic". Thanks to its performance and music, Corey decided that music is his goal in life and started writing and creating music. Many thanks to Patton and his friends!
= In the early 1990s, when the Grunge scene gained momentum in Seattle, a heavy and cruel metal scene developed in Des Moines. It may not have made headlines like Grunge but the atmosphere was very similar. Everyone knew everyone, everyone played with everyone and everyone put the ensembles together and disassembled them.
= Corey's first band was "Stone Sour". He formed the band together with drummer Joel Ekman, bassist Shawn Economaki and guitarist Josh Rand. Although they recorded a demo album in 1993, it was not until 2002 that they released their first album. But before that...
= In 1997 three "menacing" guys, Joey Jordison, Shawn Crahan, and Mick Thomson offered Corey to join a new metal band they put together, called "Slipknot".
= Today most of you are probably already familiar with the band, which is wearing overalls and masks and its members are called by numbers and not by names. Although Corey was the sixth member to join the band he actually chose the number eight, as it has the shape of an infinity symbol (with it upside down on the side).
= Two years later, after a number of line-up changes, two demo albums, and quite a few insane performances, the band managed to generate interest in record companies and finally signed a seven-album contract with Roadrunner Records.
= In 1999 the band released its first album which carries the band's name. A strong, screaming, short, and ripping album that managed to reach only 51st place in the "Billboard 200" chart but became a legend in the genre. Thanks to this album "Slipknot" gained immense exposure and began to create its fanatical fan base, known as "The Maggots".
= In 2001 came out the second album, called "Iowa". This album has already reached number three on the Billboard charts and the tour to promote the album became "sold out" in many stadiums across the United States right from the start.
= But as soon as the tour ended, clashes broke out between the band members and they went on a break that gave Corey the opportunity to return to his first project. He returned to Josh and they both brought guitarist Jim Root, Corey's friend from "Slipknot". Together with the original bassist and drummer, they began recording for the debut album.
= In 2002, "Stone Sour" released its debut album. The album reached number 49 on the Billboard charts and earned the band two Grammy Award nominations. Along with the exposure of "Slipknot", the album gave "Stone Sour" their breakthrough.
= In 2004 "Slipknot's" second album "Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses" was released. The recordings for the album were very difficult even though the famous producer Rick Rubin was recruited for the mission. The album reached number two on the Billboard charts and gave the band its first Grammy Award in 2006. At the end of the tour to promote the album the band went on a break again.
= And again we return to "Stone Sour" who released their second album "Come What (ever) May" in 2006 after the drummer was replaced by Roy Mayorga (great drummer). In this case, too, the second album was more successful than the first, having the fourth place on the Billboard charts and giving the band a Grammy nomination in 2006 (competing with "Slipknot").
= Two years later we return to "Slipknot". Corey and the eight disturbed members have released the band's fourth album called "All Hope Is Gone" which took off straight to number one on the Billboard charts. It is also the band's last album with bassist Paul Gray, who died as a result of a mix of drugs in 2010.
= And again... in 2010 "Stone Sour" released their third album "Audio Secrecy", which the band members dedicated to their friend Paul from "Slipknot".
= In 2012 the band released the album "House of Gold & Bones - Part 1" and a year later the album "House of Gold & Bones - Part 2". After the release of the albums, Jim Roth decided to leave the band and focus on "Slipknot".
= That same year "Slipknot", which was trying to recover from Paul's death, returned to the stages and performed at a number of festivals. A year later, with two new members including drummer Jay Weinberg (who we really love), the band released their fifth album, "5: The Gray Chapter" in the bassist's name.
= In 2017, the members of "Stone Sour" returned to collaborate and released their last album, "Hydrograd". In 2020 the band members announced that they are going on an indefinite break and do not know if they will return to play together, we of course very much hope so!
= In 2019, "Slipknot" released their sixth album "We Are Not Your Kind". One of the most intriguing, talked about, and biggest albums in 2019. The album of course trashed the first place in the Billboard charts, was a huge global success, and launched one of the biggest tours in the world.
= In October 2020, Corey released the first solo album of his career, "CMFT"! The album is a collection of songs that Corey has written over the years and has not been published as "Slipknot" or "Stone Sour". It is also an album that combines several styles and shows Corey's love for various genres.
= Corey loves to collaborate with other groups and artists and under his hands/voice came out quite a big number of performances and exciting cover versions at the highest levels. Collaborations like the song "Fuck You" with Dimbag Darrell and "Damageplan", the song "From Can to Can't" with David Grohl and friends, the song "Sleeping Dogs" with guitarist Zakk Wylde, the song "A Different World" With Korn and more and more. He also has one song with Lzzy Hale. Search the web, it's crazy!
= Throughout his life Corey suffered from addictions and although he managed to get rid of drugs at a relatively early age (20s) he continued to be addicted to alcohol. Aside from the instability it brought to his life, he has lost almost everything quite a number of times and we do not want to think of a world without Corey...
= In honor of his birthday, Corey released a new single from his debut album on 8/12/2020.
= In 2022 "Slipknot" released its seventh album "The End, So Far", we hope that the name of the album does not imply the continued activity of the band which is in record activity of tours and albums in the last three years. By the way, this is the last album released by the band under the label "Roadrunner Records" with which they signed in 1998!