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Jonathan Davis
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Jonathan Houseman Davis (born January 18, 1971) is the lead vocalist for the multiplatinum nu metal band Korn. He was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, where he lived with his father and stepmother. Davis, along with the rest of Korn, has been credited with playing a crucial role in the establishment of the nu metal subgenre.
As well as being Korn's lead singer, he has also recorded and played drums, guitar, and bagpipes. Davis took up the bagpipes while a student at Highland High School in Bakersfield, which featured a pipe band.
Davis was ranked 16th on Hit Paraders list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists"., a fitting recognition for his role in the mid 1990's revolution of Nu Metal.
s worked as a mortician's assistant at one time, and was the last member to join the band.
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Encyclopedia
Jonathan Houseman Davis (born January 18, 1971) is the lead vocalist for the multiplatinum nu metal band Korn. He was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, where he lived with his father and stepmother. Davis, along with the rest of Korn, has been credited with playing a crucial role in the establishment of the nu metal subgenre.
As well as being Korn's lead singer, he has also recorded and played drums, guitar, and bagpipes. Davis took up the bagpipes while a student at Highland High School in Bakersfield, which featured a pipe band.
Davis was ranked 16th on Hit Paraders list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists"., a fitting recognition for his role in the mid 1990's revolution of Nu Metal.
Biography
Davis worked as a mortician's assistant at one time, and was the last member to join the band. James 'Munky' Shaffer and Brian 'Head' Welch discovered him in a bar, initially intending to only stay for a few minutes. Upon seeing Davis performing with his then-band Sexart, however, they were compelled to stay for the whole set. Later David Silveria called Jonathan over the phone and asked him to join their then band L.A.P.D. At first he didn't accept the offer, but upon consulting a psychic, he agreed, and Korn was born. In early years, he was known for wearing a variety of normal and customized Adidas tracksuits onstage, which became a kind of "trademark" for all Korn fans.
Korn released their self-titled debut in 1994. It peaked at #72 on the billboard To date they have released eight studio albums, achieving Platinum certification for each, with the exception for their newly released Untitled Korn album. Davis is the older half brother of former Adema and Midnight Panic vocalist, Mark Chavez.
Davis suffered from asthma as a child, having a near fatal attack at the age of 5 which hospitalized him. He noted in a 2004 interview that he was in and out of the hospital frequently as a child. His asthma has improved greatly and he's "...pretty much outgrown it."
Davis' earliest musical inspiration as a child was the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". It was also during his childhood that he received his first drum kit and began his interest in music, eventually leading to a life-long passion and a professional career as the lead singer of Korn. His favorite bands as a child were Duran Duran and other New Romantic bands.
Jonathan's personal issues are a big influence in Korn lyrics, songs such as "Daddy" from Korn's self-titled album are an example how Davis puts all kinds of feelings like anger and sadness in the creation of songs. The song "Daddy" caused many to assume Rick Davis (Jonathan's father) had molested his son. It's a source of embarrassment for him, though his son has gone on the record in many interviews saying it was written about a family friend who sexually abused him. When a 12-year-old Jonathan tried to turn to his family, he said, they ignored him. (Neither Jonathan nor Rick will say who the person was, though both say it was a woman.)
Davis has married twice, marrying his high school sweetheart, Renee Perez, in 1998 in a Medieval themed ceremony. Together they had a son, Nathan Houseman Davis, but were divorced in 2001. On October 5, 2004, a decade after the release of Korn's first album he married again in Hawaii, this time to former pornstar actress Deven Davis. In 2005 his second child, Pirate Houseman Davis, was born. Davis's third son, Zeppelin Houseman Davis, was born on April 28, 2007.
Davis has been sober from alcohol and other drugs since August 22, 1998. He has stated that he gave them up. On the band's Deuce DVD, former bandmate Brian Welch says that he is proud of him for becoming
sober.
Jonathan has stated that Untouchables is his favorite Korn album and that "Do What They Say" and "Hollow Life" are his favorite Korn songs.
In late 2006, Davis was recognized and honored at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, Bakersfield, CA, by Buddy Alan Owens, son of the late Buck Owens. Both Buck Owens and Davis are considered by many among their hometown fans as heroes to the sound of Bakersfield, each having their own pioneer sound, contributing to mainstream music worldwide over years past.
While Korn performed at the Download Festival in 2006, Davis was unable to perform with them, as he had contracted a rare disease known as Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. This left him bedridden for days after his band's performance. Assorted other artists also at Download filled in singing for Korn during the performance including M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Matt Heafy of Trivium, and Corey Taylor of Slipknot.
Acting
He has a cameo in Queen of the Damned as a ticket scalper. Davis plays as Ricky in the film Seeing Other People but his appearance is minor; he plays a crackhead. Davis also has a role as a store clerk in the indie film The Still Life. Davis's most known acting role is in the upcoming horror film Sin-Jin Smyth where he will be playing the lead role. There is also a popular rumor that Davis will be in an upcoming horror/slasher film called Job but this has not been confirmed. According to Bloody-Disgusting, Jonathan Davis is currently working on a script with writer/director Clive Barker entitled Oblivion. Davis describes it as a "dark opera about the end of the world" and that it differs greatly from Korn's style of music.
He has also been featured in many other bands' music videos, sometimes with Korn and sometimes solo. He has appeared with Korn in Limp Bizkit's "Faith", Deadsy's "Brand New Love", Ice Cube's "Fuck Dying", and Sugar Ray's "Answer the Phone" as a cameo appearance. He has also appeared in Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff", Videodrone's "Ty Jonathan Down" (which he sings in), Cold's "Give", Busta Rhymes' "Fire."
Davis and the rest of Korn appeared in a 2005 episode of the comedy-drama television series Monk. The episode in which they appeared was the season 3 episode, "Mr. Monk Gets Stuck in Traffic". As well as appearing in Monk, Korn guest starred on Comedy Central's South Park in an episode entitled "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". Korn also made an appearance on "The Man Show" in which Jimmy Kimmell and Adam Carolla claimed to be two members that were kicked out of the band in the style of a "VH1 Behind The Music" special.
Equipment
Davis is usually seen with a microphone stand that was designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger during Korn's live performances and in their music videos. For his solo tour, Davis has not used the Giger stand.
An original fighting game created by Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis, Pop Scars pits popular musical personalities against one another in one-on-one combat. Participants include members of Limp Bizkit, Staind, Marilyn Manson, and Korn itself. Each celebrity has its own true life personality and sports character designs sketched by comic book artist Marty Emond (Sunglasses After Dark), while stages boast environmental traps that impede opponents as they fight. Pop Scars never made it past the early design stages as Davis himself pulled the plug on the project in late 2004.
Solo career
Davis' solo career started during his high school years as he had a solo project known as "Buck Naked", which featured musicians of what would later become Sexart. His music took influence from the new romantic movement. In 1993, Jonathan got together with Human Waste Project to record a cover of The Go-Go's song "This Town".
In 2002, Jonathan began composing the musical score for the movie adaptation of Queen Of The Damned with Richard Gibbs. He also performed six songs for the movie's soundtrack, although his performances were not allowed on the retail release, due to his contract with Sony. He also composed the theme music for the 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone and performed a cover of Neil Diamond's "Love On The Rocks" for the movie Wonderland.
Jonathan Davis announced in October 2007 that he would be embarking on an acoustic solo tour called Alone I Play in November 2007. He performed songs from the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, cover songs, rarely-performed Korn songs, and Korn classics. The tour was completely produced by Richard Gibbs. Davis has also been confirmed to play a solo set at the 2008 Download Festival at Donington Park
Jonathan Davis and the Simply Fucking Amazings is:
A CD–DVD package was released in 2007 titled Alone I Play. It is now out of print.
Davis will be bringing his solo tour to Europe. Once that concludes, he will release a studio album with the exact same band. They will be recording new, original songs and cover songs for this upcoming release. It was announced on Kornspace that Davis is referring to his solo band as The Simply Fuckin' Amazings.
In April 2008, Davis canceled numerous dates on his previously announced "Alone I Play" European tour slated to begin in late May due to "personal reasons". Some of the canceled shows included those in Sweden, Belgium, France, and most of the UK and Ireland leg of the tour.
Jonathan played at Ozzfest in August 2008 with The Simply Fuckin' Amazings, playing a variety of songs played on the Alone, I Play tour.
In September 2008, Jonathan Davis released a cover version of Lil Wayne's "Got Money" featuring Jim Root on guitar and Ray Luzier on drums.
While there has been no official news with regards to his solo album, in an interview at Ozzfest 2008, Jonathan said that he hoped to have it out by November or December 2008, and that a world tour would follow.
Discography
Korn
Solo
Other appearances
Singles
Solo
| Year | Title | Chart peak positions | Album |
|---|
U.S. | U.S.
Main. | U.S.
Mod. | U.S.
R&B | U.S.
Rap | UK | | 2003 | "Love on the Rocks" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Wonderland soundtrack | | 2007 | "Careless (Akasha's Lament)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | "Careless" - single | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or have yet to chart.
As featured performer
| Year | Title | Chart peak positions | Album |
|---|
U.S. | U.S.
Main. | U.S.
Mod. | U.S.
R&B | U.S.
Rap | UK | | 1999 | "Ty Jonathan Down" (Videodrone feat. Jonathan Davis) | — | — | — | — | — | — | Videodrone | | 2000 | "Year 2000" (Xzibit feat. Jonathan Davis) | — | — | — | 76 | 28 | — | Black and White soundtrack | | 2002 | "The Key to Gramercy Park" (Deadsy feat. Jonathan Davis) | — | — | — | — | — | — | Commencement | | 2003 | "Cut Throat" (Marz feat. Jonathan Davis) | — | — | — | — | — | — | Gorilla Pimpin | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or have yet to chart.
External links
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