Faces Behind The Hair: Dee Snider

Daniel "Dee" Snider was born March 15, 1955, in Astoria, New York and grew up in nearby Baldwin and graduated from Baldwin High School in 1973.As a child he sang in a church choir, several school choruses, and Baldwin HS Concert Choir. He also was selected for the All State Chorus by singing. While in eighth grade, Snider was in a Black Sabbath cover band.

In early 1976, Snider joined Twisted Sister and became the sole songwriter of the band thereafter. The group released their first studio album, Under the Blade, in September 1982 and developed a following in the UK. Less than a year later, Twisted Sister released their sophomore effort, You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll. Their third album, Stay Hungry, hit shelves on May 10, 1984. This would become the band's most successful record with the hits "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock." To emphasize the "twisted sister" image, Snider adopted a trademark persona of metal-inspired drag with long blond hair, an excessive amount of eye shadow and rouge, and bright red lipstick.

During the mid 1980s, before the premiere of Headbangers Ball, the first MTV program to consist entirely of heavy metal videos was Heavy Metal Mania. The first episode aired in June 1985 and was hosted by Dee Snider. It featured metal news, interviews with metal artists, and in-studio co-hosts. That same year in November, Twisted Sister released Come Out and Play which sold over 500,000 copies but was marred by a poor concert tour.

In 1985, a Senate hearing was instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), who wanted to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. The system was to include letters identifying the type of objectionable content to be found in each album (e.g. O for occult themes, S for sex, D for drugs, V for violence, etc.). Dee Snider, John Denver, and Frank Zappa all testified against censorship and the proposed warning system. Such a system was never implemented, but the result of the trial brought about what is now the generic "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" label.

The PMRC was initially formed by the wives of Washington DC power brokers Al Gore (D-TN, Senate) and Secretary of State James Baker. Tipper Gore in particular became the face of the PMRC and a public foil for Snider in the hearings. Ironically, in the 2000 US Presidential Election cycle, Snider endorsed Vice President Gore for office.

A fifth Twisted Sister album would be made in 1987's Love Is for Suckers. The record was originally planned to be a Dee Snider solo effort, but Atlantic Records encouraged a release under the Twisted Sister name. Touring lasted only into October that year and on the 12th of that month, Snider announced his departure from the band. It was during this time that Snider formed Desperado, a band featuring ex-Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme, and bassist Marc Russel. The group's only album, Ace, has never been officially released but was heavily bootlegged on CD under the title Bloodied But Unbowed.

n the 1990s, Snider formed Widowmaker with Joe Franco, a good friend to Twisted Sister and drummer on the Love Is For Suckers, as well as Al Pitrelli and Marc Russel. The quartet recorded two albums with limited underground success, titled Blood and Bullets and Stand By For Pain. In the late 1990s, Snider toured with a "self-tribute" band called Dee Snider's SMFs (Sick Mother Fuckers), sometimes featuring ex-Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero. The usual line up included Dee Snider, Derek Tailer, Charlie Mills, Keith Alexander, and Spike.

In 1997, Dee Snider began hosting the House of Hair, a syndicated 1980s hard rock/heavy metal radio show that airs on over 200 radio stations across North America. It is syndicated by the United Stations Radio Networks. The show's format runs two hours and features Snider's closing catchphrase, "If it ain't metal, it's crap!"

In 1998, Snider had penned a song entitled "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)" which would be recorded in 1998 by Celine Dion for her album These Are Special Times. According to Snider, Dion at the time was not aware of who wrote the song. Later that year, he also wrote and starred in the horror film Strangeland. Snider has also penned the script to a sequel which has the working title of Strangeland: Disciple. As of January 2008, however, Snider was less than optimistic that it would ever see the light of day, saying in an interview with Bullz-Eye.com that he had reached a point where he should "put a sign on my website that says, 'Y’got ten million dollars? Give me a call. I’ve got the script ready to go, Robert Englund’s attached, I’m attached. If somebody’s serious and wants to make it, call me. But don’t call me ‘til you’re ready to hand the check over.'” In May 2009, Dee Snider revealed on his radio show,"The House Of Hair," that Strangeland: Disciple will go ahead and is set to begin shooting in the fall of 2009 and is slated for a 2010 release.

From June 1999 to August 2003, Snider hosted a morning radio show on a Hartford, Connecticut Clear Channel station, Radio 104 (104.1 FM WMRQ), called Dee Snider Radio. His show returned to the air at night in August 2004 on 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until June 2005. He fondly referred to his listeners as his "Peeps," and "DEE" euro stickers, printed by the station, could be seen on the bumpers of his fans' cars throughout Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Other members of the morning show included Nick Lentino, Beth Lockwood, "Psycho Dan" Williams, Sean Robbins, and "Darkside Dave" Wallace. He frequently featured high-profile guests, including Ozzy Osbourne, pro wrestler Mick Foley, and KISS singer/bassist Gene Simmons.

In 2001, Snider was the voice of Gol Acheron, the main villain for the PlayStation 2 video game Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The following year, he rejoined with the reunited Twisted Sister. Snider also played himself in the 2002 TV-movie Warning: Parental Advisory. In 2003, he appeared with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his drive to recall incumbent California Governor Gray Davis. Snider sang the Twisted Sister hit, "We're Not Gonna Take It," which was adopted by the Schwarzenegger campaign.

Snider also voiced Angry Jack in the episode "Shell Shocked" for the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. He admitted to being a huge fan of the show during an hour-long 10th anniversary documentary of the show in 2009, and to be asked to voice a character on the show was a real honor. He changed the lyrics of his famous "I Wanna Rock" to "Goofy Goober Rock" for the 2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

Snider narrates and hosts many shows and specials on VH1, movie trailers, behind the scenes segments, and DVD special features. He was featured as the 'voice' in the bumpers for MSNBC's 2001/2002 "Fiercely Independent" branding campaign. Every year since 2004, Snider has narrated a live show known as Van Helsing's Curse which tours the US around Halloween giving a mix of famous music with dark overtones and an occasional part of a storytelling to accompany the music. The concert has also been released on CD. Snider hosted VH1's 2008 "Aftermath" concert in remembrance of the victims and survivors of the 2003 Station nightclub fire.

Snider returned to radio in June 2006 with Fangoria Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 102 from 9-12 Eastern.

During winter of 2008, Snider was featured as a contestant on CMT's Gone Country. The show recruited famous musical celebrities who competed against each other to win a chance to release a country song. Also in 2008, Snider appeared on the first episode of season two's Kitchen Nightmares who Gordon Ramsay had recruited as part of the marketing for the re-launch of the Handlebar restaurant. On the show, Snider donated a motorcycle for auction in which customers of the Handlebar were able to bid on through the Handlebar restaurants website.

Dee hosts DEAD ART on Gallery HD, a show about the beauty and art of cemeteries. He also hosts House of Hair, a radio show that plays heavy metal music. Snider has made appearances on the IFC Channel's original series Z Rock as himself playing the character of a "rock guru."

On July 27, 2010., Dee Snider and his family began appearing in the reality television show "Growing Up Twisted," airing on the Arts and Entertainment Network.

Snider has been married to his wife Suzette, a costume designer, since October 21, 1981. They have four children, Jesse Blaze (September 19, 1982), Shane Royal (February 29, 1988), Cody Blue (December 7, 1989), and Cheyenne Jean (October 31, 1996). His eldest son Jesse hosted MTV2 Rock, a music video countdown program in 2003, and was the runner-up in MTV's 2008 show Rock the Cradle. Dee appeared on the show as Jesse's mentor. Jesse is also the lead singer of the punk metal band Baptized By Fire.

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.

Faces Behind The Hair: Nikki Sixx

Nikki Sixx was born Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana, Jr. on December 11, 1958 in San Jose, California. He was raised by his mother, Deana Richards, and by his grandparents after his father left the family. Nikki later moved in with his grandparents after his mother abandoned him. Sixx relocated several times while living with his grandparents.

While living in Jerome, Idaho, he got into troubles , breaking into neighbors' homes, shoplifting, and being expelled from school for selling drugs. After that his grandparents sent him to live with his mother, who had moved to Seattle where he was located for for a short time, and learned how to play the bass guitar - having bought his first instrument with money gained from selling a prior guitar he had stolen.

At the age of 17, Nikki moved to Los Angeles and auditioned for bands. He eventually joined the group called Sister, led by Blackie Lawless (later of W.A.S.P.). Soon after recording a demo, Nikki was fired from the band.

Along with his former Sister bandmate Lizzie Grey Nikki formed the group London soon afterwards, in 1978 and legally changed his name to Nikki Sixx. Nikki left the group after recording another 16-track demo.

In 1981, Sixx founded Mötley Crüe with drummer Tommy Lee, later being joined by guitarist Mick Mars through an ad in the local newspaper he was reading, then by singer Vince Neil with whom Tommy had attended high school. The band decided to self-record their debut album, Too Fast for Love, which was subsequently released in November 1981 on the band's own Leathür Records label. After signing with Elektra Records they re-released the album. The band then went on to record and release Shout at the Devil, raising the band to national fame. During the early 80's Sixx dated female rocker, Lita Ford and they lived together for a short while. Next two albums made the band even bigger, Theatre of Pain in 1985 and Girls, Girls, Girls in 1987. From December 1986 to September 1987, Sixx dated singer/actress/model Vanity. They had a rocky and drug-oriented relationship, which is chronicled in Sixx's book The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. During this time, Vanity would tell the press that they were engaged, while Sixx would always deny her claim.. Around these time Nikki had become addicted to heroin and on the night of December 23, 1987, after partying with Guns N' Roses axeman Slash, Sixx was declared dead for two minutes after a heroin overdose, only to be revived by paramedics with two adrenaline shots to the heart (this incident was the inspiration for the song "Kickstart My Heart").

Soon after his overdose, he and his bandmates went into rehab. In 1989, the band produced their most successful record, Dr. Feelgood, with producer Bob Rock. The album stayed on the charts for 114 weeks after its release.

From May 1989 to November 1996, Sixx was married to former Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt they have three children. One month after the divorce from Brandt, Sixx married another former Playboy Playmate, actress Donna D'Errico. Sixx and D'Errico have one daughter but separated shortly after their daughter's birth, and reconciled months later when Sixx completed rehab. They separated again on April 27, 2006 and divorced in June 2007, with D'Errico claiming irreconcilable differences.

In the beginning of the nineties Vince Neil left the band and was replaced by Jon Corabi, with whom the band released one self titled album , in 1994, before firing him and releasing Generation Swine with Neil return as lead vocalist. Next to leave the band was drummer Tommy lee, he was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo. The group reissued all for their studio albums, all were remastered, as well as the a new album, titled New Tattoo in 2000.

In 2000, Sixx formed the internet based side project 58 with producer Dave Darling, guitarist Steve Gibb (formerly of Black Label Society and Crowbar) and drummer Bucket Baker. They released one single, titled "Piece of Candy", and their debut album, Diet for a New America, also in 2000 through Sixx's Americoma label and Beyond Records. The group did not tour and was described by Sixx as "strictly an artistic thing.

Two years later Brides of Destruction were formed by Sixx and Tracii Guns, initially with the name Cockstar after Mötley Crüe went on hiatus and Guns left L.A. Guns. Sixx also invited former Beautiful Creatures guitarist DJ Ashba to join the group however he declined to focus on his solo band, ASHBA. Ashba would eventually join Sixx in Sixx:A.M..

After a few lineup changes, that included Sixx's former Mötley Crüe band mate John Corabi, keyboardist Adam Hamilton and drummer Kris Kohls of Adema, the group was composed of Sixx, Guns, singer London LeGrand and drummer Scot Coogan formerly of Ednaswap and Annetenna. After signing a deal with Sanctuary Records, the group released Here Come the Brides in 2004 and a tour of the US, Europe, including an appearance at Download Festival in the United Kingdom,[38] and Australia followed. On October 25, 2004 it was announced that the group were to go on hiatus while Sixx reunited with Mötley Crüe for a reunion tour. The group continued without Sixx, however, with Guns adding former Amen bassist Scott Sorry to the group as Sixx's replacement. The second Brides of Destruction album, titled Runaway Brides, released in 2005 featured three songs co-wrote by Sixx during the Here Come the Brides sessions.

Sixx formed the group Sixx:A.M. in 2006, initially to record an audio accompaniment to his autobiography The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, with friends producer/songwriter James Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba (Guns N' Roses, formerly of Beautiful Creatures and BulletBoys). They recorded and released The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack in August 2007 through Eleven Seven. The single "Life Is Beautiful" received strong radio and video play peaking at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.With the formation of Sixx:A.M. and the release of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx teamed up with an already existing charity known as the Covenant House and created his own branch called Running Wild in the Night. In addition to partially funding the services the Covenant House provides on its own, Sixx’s division also provides a creative arts and music program, allowing the beneficiaries of this program to discover an answer to their problems that is better than drugs. Sixx has negotiated with people in his industry to provide the program with musical instruments and software. Sixx has arguably prevented thousands of potential drug users and rehabilitated teenage addicts from continuing to dabble in the world of drugs, as the Covenant House helped almost 78,000 youth at risk last year.



This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Nikki Sixx and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.