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| CATEGORIES ABOUT KING DIAMOND | |
| 1956 births | |
| living people | |
| danish musicians | |
| falsettos | |
| danish rock singers | |
| male singers | |
| mercyful fate members | |
| heavy metal singers | |
| satanists | |
King Diamond (born '''Kim Bendix Petersen''', June 14 , 1956 , Copenhagen , Denmark ) is a Heavy Metal Musician known for his Shock Rock 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. CAREER Mercyful Fate Diamond's first band, with whom he played guitar, was 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 King Diamond With his solo act, King often uses the lyrics and music to create characters and tell stories in the form of Concept Album s. 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 . 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 Motorhead drummer) at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Gothenburg, Sweden .2 In 2001 King referred to Dee as "one of the best {Link without Title} 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 . 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 2006.4; however, this was denied by King Diamond himself.5 Kiss bassist Gene Simmons , claims to have sent Diamond a Cease-and-desist letter over Diamond's makeup design, which Diamond complied with.6 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 last album ''The Puppet Master'', he used very little white and mainly had black inverted crosses going up and down his face. His visual appearance, probably, inspired by image of Baron Samedi . SATANISM Despite numerous claims otherwise, Peter H. Gilmore , The High Priest in The Church Of Satan , has confirmed in an interview on the news show "The Hour" that King Diamond is in fact a member of the Church ( LaVeyan Satanism is an atheistic religion influenced by Nietzsche and other Individualist philosophers, and should not be confused with Theistic Satanism and/or Devil Worship ). Many familiar with Fate's mid-1980s period will recall a spring 1984 interview with British heavy metal magazine Kerrang! correspondent Dave Dickson, who, after some introductory remarks and questions about the then-current Fate album '' Don't Break The Oath '', took Diamond to task regarding his Satanic beliefs. 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.7 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 jewelery 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. 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.8 DISCOGRAPHY POPULAR CULTURE REFERENCES
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