Jeffrey Wayne Tate, born 14 January 1959 in Stuttgart, West Germany, is an American vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and saxophonist who grew up in Tacoma, Washington. After early involvement with bands such as Babylon and The Mob, he joined the progressive metal group Queensrÿche, where his first major recording was the 1982 demo that later became the EP Queensrÿche and led to a 15‑year contract with EMI, producing the concept albums Operation: Mindcrime (1988) and Empire (1990) and contributing to worldwide sales of over 20 million albums. He released solo projects Geoff Tate (2002) and Kings & Thieves (2012) while continuing touring. In 2012 he was fired from Queensrÿche, prompting a lawsuit that culminated in a settlement whereby he retained the rights to Operation: Mindcrime but surrendered the band name. He formed Operation: Mindcrime, issuing the concept trilogy The Key (2015), Resurrection (2016) and The New Reality (2017). His work earned him a 2012 Vegas Rocks! award for “Voice in Progressive Heavy Metal,” a ranking of 14th on Hit Parader’s list of metal vocalists, and recognition as a hard‑rock vocalist of the 1980s by That Metal Show. In 2026, he released the album Operation: Mindcrime III under his own name.
