Faces Behind The Hair: Sebastian Bach

Sebastian Bach was born as Sebastian Philip Bierk on April 3, 1968 in Freeport, Bahamas, and spend most of his childhood and teen years in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

In the late eighties band named Skid Row did not have a singer until they spotted Bach singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding. Skid Row asked him to join but he first turned down the offer down. Still he changed his mind after hearing a demo tape of "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life" andsent the band a demo of him singing the song Saved By Love. Skid Row liked it and flew him to New Jersey where they began rehearsinf and playing gigs.
Bach was eventually fired when he booked a show where Skid Row would have opened for KISS in 1996. Other band members told Bach that Skid Row was too big to be an opening act and that they weren't going to do the show. Bach then left a message on a bandmate's answering machine telling him that you're never too big to open up for KISS, and subsequently left the band. Ironically enough, four years later, Skid Row was one of the opening acts for the 2000 Kiss Farewell Tour sans Bach.

In 1993, Bach provided vocals for Triumph's "Rock N' Roll Machine" during the Q107 Hall of Fame broadcast and a couple of years later Bach formed a rock band called The Last Hard Men, with Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion, The Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length, self-titled album for Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label, Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1000 CDs. The album has since been re-released and can be purchased commercially.

In 2000, Bach began performing in Broadway productions, debuting with the title role in Jekyll & Hyde in April 2000. Although originally only contracted through early September, Bach received good reviews and was asked to extend until October 15. Replacing him was David Hasselhoff, whom Bach mentored slightly during rehearsals. He also appeared as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show in 2001.

In early 2002, Bach became the host of VH1's Forever Wild. In October that same year, Bach was signed to perform in the national touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar, playing the title role alongside JCS veteran Carl Anderson (who reprised his familiar role from Broadway and film of Judas Iscariot). On April 2003, following a disagreement with the director, Bach was fired for alleged diva-like behavior. He has said if he ever did the show again, he would like to try the role of Judas next time. A DVD video of live performances called Forever Wild was released in June 2004. That same year, he reprised the title role(s) in another showing of Jekyll and Hyde.

Sometime in 2003, Bach tried out for Velvet Revolver before the band found Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!"

From 2004 to 2007, Bach had a recurring role on the WB television show Gilmore Girls as "Gil", the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, Hep Alien. In 2005, Bach cooperated with Henning Pauly to be the singer on the Frameshift album called An Absence of Empathy, which was released in April 2005.

He still performs with his band, Sebastian Bach (formerly noted as Bach Tight Five and Sebastian Bach and Friends). Members of Bach Tight Five lived with him and his family as recently documented on VH1's "I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series.

Bach has worked a lot together with Axl Rose, and can be heard performing backing vocals on the song "Sorry", from Guns N' Roses new 2008 album Chinese Democracy. Bach toured as an opening act for GNR's "Chinese Democracy Tour" 2009-2010, and performed "My Michelle" with Axl Rose in Quebec City on February 1, 2010.)


Bach and his wife, Maria Bierk, have three children: sons Paris and London and daughter Sebastiana (born 2007). Paris was formerly the drummer of Thrash Metal band Severed Hand; Severed Hand opened up for Bach on occasion and were also featured on the VH1 special I Married Sebastian Bach. On the 31th December 2010 Bach informed fans on his Facebook page that he and Maria separated in April and were going to file for divorce in 2011.