King Diamond
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| King Diamond | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kim Bendix Petersen |
| Born | 14 June 1956 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Genre(s) | Heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards |
| Label(s) | Roadrunner, Metal Blade |
| Associated acts | King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Black Rose, Brats |
| Website | Official Website |
King Diamond (born Kim Bendix Petersen, June 14, 1956, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Grammy Award nominated heavy metal musician known for his striking face painted image. As a vocalist, he is known for his use of falsetto, mixed with mid-range vocals in most of his music. As the frontman for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond, his music has had an influence on many bands across a variety of metal sub-genres.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Mercyful Fate
Diamond's first band aka "Whitefish", with whom he played guitar & panflute, was reportedly called Brainstorm. Feeling creatively dissatisfied, Diamond left Brainstorm and began singing with local Danish hard rock band Black Rose. It was during this time in Black Rose that Diamond began experimenting with horror themed theatrics as well as shaping the malevolent quasi-Satanic stage persona that he would become known for in the future. In 1980, he left Black Rose and joined the punk-metal band Brats. It was in Brats that Diamond met the three musicians (Hank Shermann, Michael Denner, Timi Hansen) that would join with Diamond in 1980 and become Mercyful Fate. Because of the group's stage presence, make-up and occult lyrics, their musical style is somewhat reminiscent of heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal and rock opera. Following the 1984 release of Don't Break the Oath and the subsequent tour (which saw them play in the U.S. for the first time), Diamond split ways with Mercyful Fate, as a result of frustration over creative differences with Hank Shermann. With him, he took two of his bandmates (Hansen and Denner) to pursue a solo career under his own name.
Mercyful Fate re-united in 1992 (while King Diamond simultaneously continued his solo career), but were disbanded by Diamond in 1999, as King decided to put Mercyful Fate in retirement and continue on with his solo career. In an interview with Metal Israel in 2005, King elaborated on the decision to retire Mercyful Fate, as he claimed that "it's impossible for me to live off Mercyful Fate... I can still live from King Diamond."
In 2005 King said that while Mercyful Fate still has a contract and could record another record, it would have to be done only as a hobby since Fate does not earn enough money to support itself.[1]
[edit] King Diamond
With his solo act, King often uses the lyrics and music to create characters and tell stories in the form of concept albums. Albums meld together as one story (features present already in the Fatal Portrait album), but carry to more intricate levels (with the albums, Abigail, "Them" , and The Eye) to the dramatic story (Conspiracy). Typical of both the Abigail and Conspiracy tours was how King Diamond re-enacted much of the scenarios on stage, using special effects in the show much in the style of metal-musician Alice Cooper, of whom Diamond is a fan. King Diamond albums also often feature dueling guitar solos. On the CD inserts, the performer of each solo is credited, often using a symbol.
In 2001, King Diamond worked out a deal with the band Usurper to sing backup vocals on the song "Necronemesis" in exchange for them shifting their recording schedule around to accommodate the recording of Abigail II: The Revenge. In 2004, King Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", which was the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot. In late 2005, King Diamond appeared on the Roadrunner United - The All-Star Sessions album, contributing vocals to the song "In the Fire", which featured multiple Roadrunner Records musicians (past and present) working together to create individual songs. King Diamond also guested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005.
In April 2006 King reunited with old friend Mikkey Dee (current Motörhead drummer) at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Gothenburg, Sweden.[2] In 2001 King referred to Dee as "one of the best [drummers] of all time and that's something that has bothered us since he left."[3]
King Diamond released his new album, Give Me Your Soul...Please, on June 26, 2007. Following the release in December the band received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill".[4] He was forced to cancel an upcoming United States tour due to a herniated disk, causing severe back pain, which puts him in intense pain almost all of the time.".[5] He attributes the problem to the long stressful hours spent working on the album.
Stage Presence
On stage, Diamond uses a trademark microphone handle consisting of two femur bones in the shape of a cross. A live trademark was also Melissa, a full human skeleton which Diamond would sing to. In the mid-1980s Melissa's skull was stolen after a performance in the Netherlands. It was claimed to have been finally returned in 2006.[6]; however, this was denied by King Diamond himself.[7] Kiss bassist Gene Simmons claims to have sent Diamond a cease-and-desist letter over Diamond's makeup design, which Diamond complied with.[8]
Diamond has changed the design of his make-up often over the years. With Conspiracy, he wore a mesh of black and white line war paint, with some red "blood" made to look like a wound coming out of his forehead. With his album The Puppet Master, he used very little white and mainly had black inverted crosses going up and down his face.
[edit] Satanism
During a spring 1984 interview with British heavy metal magazine Kerrang! correspondent Dave Dickson, who, after some introductory remarks and questions about the then-current Mercyful Fate album Don't Break The Oath, took Diamond to task regarding his Satanic beliefs.[citation needed] Dickson made frequent references to infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, by whom Diamond denied being influenced. Diamond expressed his admiration of Anton Szandor LaVey (founder of The Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966) in the interview, which has been cited by some as influential in the demise of Mercyful Fate (although Diamond has always denied this). In the same interview he claimed to have cursed Manowar, as Fate had briefly toured as a support act to Manowar in the UK, and there were personality conflicts between the two bands.
He adorns himself with inverted crosses, the sigil of Baphomet (from the LaVeyan perspective) and has written lyrics openly hostile to Christianity (as evidenced in "The Oath" with lyrics including "I deny Jesus Christ, The Deceiver, and I abjure the Christian faith holding in contempt the whole of its works"). However, with the albums released under his own name, he has downplayed the overt Satanism in favour of a "horror movie" approach, though he still wears inverted crosses as jewellery and makeup.
In an interview from 2006, King Diamond reveals that he does not follow any specific religion, and expresses concern that religion has led so many people to kill and destroy each other. According to himself, he has problems comprehending why religion has caused so much death and destruction, when it is logically impossible to prove the presence or absence of any god (for example, the Holocaust, Crusades, etc.). He reveals that he has reached a point in his life where he has completely given up believing in anything religious and that he simply does not know what to answer when asked whether he is a Satanist or not.[9]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Awards
[edit] References
- ^ "Time Will Tell", Blabbermouth.net, October 28, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "MOTÖRHEAD's MIKKEY DEE Jams With KING DIAMOND In Sweden", Blabbermouth.net, April 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "Diamonds Are Forever: An Exclusive Interview With King Diamond", KNAC, December 31, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "KING DIAMOND Comments On GRAMMY Nomination", Blabbermouth.net, Dec. 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ "KING DIAMOND On Tour Cancellation", Blabbermouth.net, November 24, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ "King Diamond's Melissa Recovered", anus.com, August 27, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "KING DIAMOND Is Still Looking For 'Melissa' Skull", Blabbermouth.net, August 30, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "Fan Stories", genesimmons.com, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "King Diamond Interview", heavymetal.dk, 27.02.06. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ "KING DIAMOND Comments On GRAMMY Nomination", Blabbermouth.net, Dec. 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
[edit] External links
- Coven Worldwide – Official website
- The United States Coven – The U.S. Fan Club
- King Diamonds Darkness Coven – King Diamonds Darkness Coven
- King Diamonds Image Factory – King Diamonds Image Factory
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