James LaBrie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kevin James Labrie | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Born | May 5, 1963 | |
| Origin | Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada | |
| Genre(s) | Progressive metal | |
| Associated acts |
Dream Theater Winter Rose Ayreon Mullmuzzler True Symphonic Rockestra Fates Warning |
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| Website | Official site | |
Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian vocalist who is best known for being the lead singer in progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
He was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada and started singing and playing drums at age 5. By his mid-teens, LaBrie was a member of several bands as a singer and/or drummer, and in 1981, at age 18, he moved to Toronto to further his musical pursuits. He currently still resides in Toronto, with his wife Karen, daughter Chloe, and son Chance.
After stints with various bands, he became the vocalist for glam rock band Winter Rose, who released a self-titled album in 1987.
In 1991 he learned that a relatively unknown American progressive metal band called Dream Theater was in the market for a singer, so he sent down a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The trial went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in that band. [1]
Having two Johns (Myung and Petrucci) in the band already, and with another Kevin in the band, LaBrie dropped his first name and adopted the stage name James LaBrie.
In 1993, he was the first choice consideration to replace departed Iron Maiden vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, as well as a consideration to replace Rob Halford in Judas Priest. (Dream Theater went on to record Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" at the BBC radio studios with Bruce Dickinson, as well as perform an Iron Maiden medley live with Bruce in Los Angeles.) James has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but continues to have little input into the musical side of Dream Theater. To date he has written lyrics for at least one song on each album (excluding Images and Words) Dream Theater has released with him in the band.
On December 29, 1994, while vacationing in Cuba, LaBrie suffered a severe case of food poisoning and while vomiting, ruptured his vocal cords. He saw three throat specialists who all said there was nothing they could do for him and the only thing he could do was rest his voice as much as possible. However, on January 12, 1995, and against doctor's orders, he was on the "Awake" tour in Japan with his voice far from normal. James has said he didn't feel vocally "normal" until at least 1997.
His musical inspiration comes from many different genres, including such artists as Metallica, Ludwig van Beethoven, Nat King Cole, Queen and Sting, whose inspiration, according to LaBrie, is shown on Dream Theater's latest release, "Octavarium".
Throughout his career with Dream Theater, he has lent his voice to many other artists' records as well as tribute albums to some influential artists. He has appeared on many Trent Gardner releases (including Leonardo: The Absolute Man and Explorer's Club), as well as appearing on albums by such artists as Ayreon (The Human Equation, released 2004), Shadow Gallery, Tim Donohue and Frameshift.
With Matt Guillory and Mike Mangini, LaBrie has released three solo albums under various names (Mullmuzzler, James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler, and simply James LaBrie). His latest, Elements of Persuasion, was released in March, 2005. A fourth solo album is widely rumored to be in the works.
Since 2004, LaBrie has been working with the True Symphonic Rockestra project, along with Thomas Dewald, Vladimir Grishko, Dirk Ulrich, Christopher Jesidero, Sandro Martinez, Paul Mayland, Marvin Philippi, and Igor Marin. Their 2006 album, TSR, has been finished since early July, with Brainworx and Marinsound working on a release.
LaBrie is also a featured vocalist on Henning Pauly's "Babysteps" project released in 2006, LaBrie plays the role of the arrogant doctor.
James has said in many older interviews that he is Christian, and actively practices the religion. [1] However, more recent interviews, along with some of his lyrics (including "Undecided" on Elements of Persuasion) imply a more spiritual and deist perspective, separate from any form of organised religion.[2]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Solo albums
- Keep It To Yourself (1999) (under the name "MullMuzzler")
- MullMuzzler 2 (2001) (under the name "James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler")
- Elements of Persuasion (2005)
[edit] With Dream Theater
- Images and Words (1992)
- Live at the Marquee (1993)
- Awake (1994)
- A Change of Seasons (EP, 1995)
- Falling into Infinity (1997)
- Once in a LIVEtime (1998)
- Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
- Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York (2001)
- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
- Train of Thought (2003)
- Live at Budokan (2004)
- Octavarium (2005)
- Score (2006)
- Systematic Chaos (2007)
[edit] As a guest
- Shadow Gallery - Tyranny (1998)
- Explorer's Club - Age of Impact (1998)
- Trent Gardner - Leonardo: The Absolute Man (2001)
- Explorer's Club - Raising The Mammoth (2002)
- Ayreon - The Human Equation (2004)
- Henning Pauly - Babysteps (2006)
- True Symphonic Rockestra - TSR (2007)
[edit] Other
- Winter Rose - Winter Rose (1987)
- Frameshift - Unweaving the Rainbow (2003)
- Tim Donahue - Madmen & Sinners (2004)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.dtfaq.com/question/114
- ^ mms://mediaserver.kataweb.it/katanew/musica/interviste/james_la_brie_250k.wmv
[edit] External links
- Dream Theater official web site
- James LaBrie official web site
- Voices - James LaBrie's official message board
- MullMuzzler official web site
- Frameshift web site
- TSR official web site
