Ivan L. Moody

Ivan L. Moody (Ivan Lewis Greening)
Ivan Moody performing at Rock on the Range 2010 in Columbus, Ohio.
Background information
Also known as	Ghost
Born	(1980-01-07) January 7, 1980 Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Genres	Heavy metal, groove metal, alternative metal, nu metal, hard rock, progressive rock, experimental rock, industrial metal
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, music producer, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Firm Music/EMI
Associated acts	Five Finger Death Punch, Motograter, Ghost Machine, Black Blood Orchestra, Toiz

Ivan L. Moody, (born January 7, 1980) also known by the pseudonym Ghost, is the singer for American metal group Five Finger Death Punch from Los Angeles, California. He had performed for several bands before settling down with Five Finger Death Punch (often abbreviated to FFDP or 5FDP.) He also starred in The Devil's Carnival as The Hobo Clown.

Career

Moody performed with a few small bands before joining the nu metal band Motograter in 2002. They released their self-titled album Motograter on June 24, 2003. They gained some mainstream success playing the second stage at Ozzfest 2003 and touring with bands like Korn, Disturbed, Marilyn Manson, Nothingface, Slipknot, Mushroomhead, and Killswitch Engage. Motograter went on a hiatus in 2006 but then Motograter played a one-time re-union show in 2006 at the Delicious Rox Festival in Moody made it perfectly clear to fans and band members alike that he was finished with the band. Moody also made songs with old roommates and family members, Ryan Morrow (bass), Bill Stonebraker (guitar), and Jim "Dugan" Demongey (drums), calling themselves Black Blood Orchestra.

Soon after, Moody joined the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch and his side project Ghost Machine released their debut self-titled album on July 26, 2005. Ghost Machine released their second album, Hypersensitive, on November 21, 2006. On the same year, Five Finger Death Punch entered the studio to record their debut album at Next Level Studios and Complex Studios in Los Angeles, California with Steve Bruno and Mike Sarkisyan. The album was produced by guitarist Zoltan Bathory and drummer Jeremy Spencer and was mixed by former Machine Head and Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader. He also starred in the 2009 horror film Bled, playing the role of Incubus.

They achieved rapid commercial success: their debut album, The Way of the Fist (2007) has currently sold over 600,000 copies in the United States and spawned three top 10 hit singles. Their second album, War is the Answer (2009), sold more than 44,000 copies in its first week of release, spawned 5 top 10 singles and has gone on to sell more than 700,000 copies to date. Their even more successful third record American Capitalist debuted #3 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 90,000 copies in its first week of release. It was the band's third consecutive RIAA-certified Gold record. They have played many major tours and festivals including Korn's Family Values and Bitch We Have a Problem Tours, the Jägermeister Stage (second stage) at Mayhem Festival in 2008 and the main stage at Mayhem Festival in 2010 and 2013. They also performed at Download Festival during 2009, 2010 and 2013 and the Monster Stage (main stage) at "Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio" in 2008, 2010, and 2012 as well as at Rockfest 2012 in Kansas City.

He is featured in the new book Full Metal: The 50 Most Influential Heavy Metal Songs of the 1980s and the True Stories Behind Their Lyrics. In a new interview conducted exclusively for the book, Moody discusses the impact of Metallica's “Fade to Black” on him as a lyricist, in a full chapter about the song that also examines its social and cultural significance, both back during 1984 and today.

Moody co-starred with Shawn Crahan in Darren Lynn Bousman's short horror musical film The Devil's Carnival, to be screened on tour beginning in April 2012.^[1]

Awards and nominations

Motograter was voted the best band of 2003 by Hit Parader.^[2] Five Finger Death Punch has won several awards including The Best New Band award at the 2009 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, the Most Promising Artist award from FMQB’s 2009 year-end Metal poll. They were also nominated for the Best International Newcomer award at 2009 Kerrang! Awards and won the Best Breakthrough Band award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.

Discography

Motograter

• 2003: Motograter

There are also three Motograter Demos with Moody on Vocals: "Flesh Burns (1999 Demo)", "Balls (2000 Demo)", and "Failure (Live 2004)"

Ghost Machine

• 2005: Ghost Machine
• 2006: Hypersensitive

After "Hypersensitive", Ghost Machine started working on a Remix album that they had to put on the back burner because of the success of Five Finger Death Punch. Four Remixes were released for stream on the band's MySpace Music Remix page: "God Forbid (Black Cape Remix)", "Vegas Moon (Pete Murray Remix)", "Siesta Loca (Steven's Organic Drum Remix)" and "Burning Bridges (Depression Remix)".

Five Finger Death Punch

• 2007: The Way of the Fist
• 2009: War Is the Answer
• 2011: American Capitalist
• 2013: The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1
• 2013: The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2

Guest appearances

Filmography

• Bled (2009) (as Incubus)
• The Devil's Carnival (2012) (as The Hobo Clown)

References

External links

• Five Finger Death Punch's official website
• Ivan L. Moody on Myspace
• Black Blood Orchestra on Myspace
• Five Finger Death Punch on Myspace
• Ghost Machine on Myspace
• Motograter on Myspace