You may know him as the new singer of "Alice In Chains", but his career did not start and end with the aforementioned band, but much more...
(Photo: kerrang.com)
= His full name is William Bradley DuVall and he was born on September 6, 1967, in Washington, USA
= He is descended from Dutch and North African lineage.
= The first influence he had on music came from the direction of Jimi Hendrix when he was a little boy listening to the album "Band of Gypsys" together with his cousin.
= He started his musical career in Atlanta, after moving there with his mother and stepfather. He was attracted to the Harcore Punk scene that existed there when in 1980 he founded his first band "Awareness Void of Chaos".
= In 1983 he founded the band "Neon Christ" taking the role of guitar and writer. The band was controversial due to its outspoken political lyrics and rough music style. They released two EPs in 1984 and 1990, although the band broke up as early as 1986. By the way, they returned to perform several times in 2006.
(Photo: southernlordeurope.com)
= In 1987 DuVall formed the band "Final Offering" with two other members, but it did not survive long after one of them returned to his previous band and the other died of a drug overdose.
= In 1988, DuVall together with Hank Schroy on the bass and Matthew Cowley on the drums founded the band "No Walls", which for him was his first significant band, since it fulfilled exactly what he wanted.
A crazy mix of styles from the world of rock, jazz, and pop that blend together into melodic, but very complex songs. DuVall said that they tried to combine "Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, "Sonic Youth", Ornette Coleman, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, "The Beatles", all together!! The band released one self-titled album in 1992 and despite rave reviews, it failed commercially and the band broke up.
= This was the first time that DuVall also took on the singing role!
(Photo: Wikipedia)
= At the same time as he was engaged in music at that time, DuVall graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy studies with a specialization in religion.
= In 1994 DuVall and Milton Davis (one of the greatest producers in the Soul, R&B, and Pop genre) wrote the song "I Know" for the musician Dionne Farris (remember "Arrested Development"?) which was the first single from her debut album and gain tremendous success (stayed 38 weeks on the Billboard charts). In 1996, DuVall won the ASCAP Pop Music Award for the song.
= In 1996, DuVall founded the band "Madfly" together with Nico Constantine on guitar, Jeffrey Blount on bass, and Beva Davies on drums. They released two albums "Get the Silver" (1996)" and "White Hot in the Black" (1998)". With this band DuVall tried to get out of the musical complexity, he felt that in his previous bands, the music was complex and even ahead of its time, and this time he wanted to change it 180 degrees.
He wanted to make "an over-the-top glam-pop" music !! This was the first time that DuVall took the position of vocalist without the guitar.
(Photo: Wikipedia)
= Three years later the bassist left the band due to medical problems. The three members added bassist Adam Stanger and changed their name to "Comes With The Fall". They released their self-titled debut album in 2000, through DuVall's label "DVL Records", but after feeling unable to break through the confines of Atlanta, they moved to Los Angeles.
(Photo: Comes With The Fall)
= After several months of raging the stages in Los Angeles, they were approached by a talented musician named Jerry Cantrell. Jerry was very impressed by the band and even went to perform with them several times. He offered them to be an opening act on his tour. During 2001 they toured with him as an opening act occasionally filling in for his bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin when they were unavailable.
= In the same year they released their second album "The Year One". After the release of the album the band again goes on tour with Jerry, this time to promote his second album "Degradation Trip" and to promote their second album, but this time they are not only an opening act but also his backing band.
= In April 2002, during the tour, Layne Staley from the band "Alice in Chains" passed away. That same week DuVall lost his grandmother to whom he was attached. He said that during the tour he and Jerry were very fragile and several times during the tour they cried together on stage when they performed the songs of "Alice".
= In 2004 the drummer left the band in favor of the band "Danzig", but managed to record with them in 2005 their third album "Beyond the Last Light", which was released only in 2007.
= In March 2006, the band "Alice in Chains" held a tribute performance to Layne and the fans and invited DuVall to sing the song "Rooster" with them. After the show, he had a short audition where he sang "Love, Hate, Love" with the other band members. Sean Kinney looked at the other members and declared that the search was over. The band members really liked DuVall's voice and the way he sings the songs of "Alice" when he doesn't try to imitate Layne but takes them to his own place.
That year, DuVall was officially announced as a member of "Alice In Chains".
(Photo: Johnny Buzzerio)
= These reunion shows gave the band an appetite to write and record new music, but at first, they thought it wouldn't be appropriate to do so under the original name of "Alice", but over time as they performed together and spent time together it felt more right to them. In October 2008, the band entered the studio "Studio 606" of the "Foo Fighters" in California to record the album.
The band did not have a record company to accompany them at that time, so Jerry and Sean financed the recordings from their own pockets.
= During the recordings, Layne Staley's mother visited the studio and gave the band her blessing. So it was already clear to all the members that this project was going to bear the name of "Alice in Chains" and not any other name. Mystically, the recording of the album ended on March 18, 2009, Jerry's birthday which is also the birthday of DuVall's son. In this album Jerry took the lead in vocals with DuVall as co-pilot, he wrote and sang alone the song "Last of My Kind" on the album.
= In September 2009, the renewed band released their fourth album "Black Gives Way to Blue".
= In 2012 DuVall joined the supergroup "Giraffe Tongue Orchestra" which included Brent Hinds the guitarist of "Mastodon", Ben Weinman the guitarist of "the Dillinger Escape Plan", Thomas Pridgen the drummer
of "the Mars Volta" and Pete Griffin the bassist of "Dethklok". They released one album called "Broken Lines" in 2016.
= In May 2013, "Alice" released her fifth album "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", where also here Jerry continues his role as the lead singer of the album, but DuVall takes a more significant part in the writing of the songs "Hung on a Hook" and "Phantom Limb" where he is the lead singer. This album was also nominated for Grammy Awards and included the singles: "Hollow", "Stone" and "Voices".
= In February 2018 the guitar brand "Framus Guitars" released a special edition guitar designed by DuVall himself, the guitar was named "William DuVall Talisman Signature".
= In August 2018, the band released their sixth album "Rainier Fog" which they recorded in "Studio X", where the band's third and last album with Layne was recorded. In this album, DuVall already takes a more significant part in both the writing of the lyrics and the music.
= In October 2019 DuVall released his first solo album called "One Alone" under his own label.
Listen to DuVall's solo album on: Spotify, Apple Music