Corey Taylor

Heavy metal band Slipknot decked themselves out in matching overalls and masks, and took metal to new depths of violent, nasty, jaw-dropping lunacy in the 1990s and 2000s. Front man Corey Taylor - born in Des Moines, Iowa on December 8, 1973 - was raised by a single mother. He was introduced to music through MTV, his babysitter's punk tapes, and his grandmother's collection of Elvis Presley records before discovering Black Sabbath, Metallica, and horror movies in his teens. His troubled upbringing included sexual abuse, drug addiction, and a suicide attempt, but he found a release in music when he formed Stone Sour in 1992 and began purging his demons into scarred, melodic, post-grunge barrages. By 1997, Stone Sour had built up a solid following on the underground rock scene and made some demo recordings. During a break when Corey Taylor was working in a late-night adult store, he started hanging out with local metal upstarts Slipknot and ended up becoming the band's lead vocalist on their self-titled debut album in 1999. Notorious for their daring stage dives, unhinged hellraising, and ferocious, psychotic shows, they went on to release landmark albums Iowa (2001) and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) and were quickly recognized as the most controversial band of their generation. Corey Taylor was the first member to unmask and reveal his true identity when he and Stone Sour recorded the atmospheric, melancholy ballad “Bother” (2001) for the soundtrack to the movie Spider-Man. He also reignited Stone Sour for their self-titled debut album in 2002. Based on heartfelt songwriting and more traditional rock hooks, Stone Sour found success with albums such as Come What(ever) May (2006), Audio Secrecy (2010), House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 (2012), House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013), and Hydrograd (2017). but it was Slipknot who remained a gloriously demonic, guttural, chaotic force and topped the US charts with All Hope Is Gone (2008), .5: The Gray Chapter (2014), We Are Not Your Kind (2019), and The End, So Far (2022). Over the years, Corey Taylor has collaborated with numerous acts - including the Rollins Band, Korn, and Apocalyptica - tried his hand at acting in film and TV, performed stand-up comedy, and has written a comic book as well as novels and an autobiography. Although busy with many projects, he also found time to release the solo album CMFT (2020) and the EP CMFB… Sides (2022) and prepare tracks for his second solo release CMF2 (2023).