Scooter Ward

Scooter Ward
Background information
Birth name Ronald Ward Jr.
Also known as Kevin Ward[1]
Born May 7, 1970
Jacksonville, Florida
Genres Alternative metal, heavy metal, hard rock, post-grunge
Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Drums
Years active 1986–present
Labels Geffen, Lava, Eleven Seven Music, SonicStar
Associated acts Cold
The Killer and the Star
Sierra Swan
Reveille

Scooter Ward (born Ronald Ward Jr. on May 7, 1970) is an American musician, founding member and lead singer of the Jacksonville, Florida hard rock band, Cold.[2] He has also performed occasional guitar duties both in the studio and live. Before joining Cold he formed and named the band Grundig in 1986. Ward has been ranked in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader (#61).[3]

Career

In 1986, Ward formed the band Grundig along with several other students; Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall, and Matt Loughran at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida. The band played their first gig in 1990 at a club called the Spray. In 1992, the band released an 8-song EP called "Into Everything" and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Three and a half years later in 1995, Grundig broke up and Ward moved back to Jacksonville, where he, McCandless, Kelly Hayes, and Pat Lally formed the band Diablo. Diablo would only last about 3 months. At the end of that three-month period, Grundig reformed under the name Cold and signed a 6-album record deal with A&M Records. Ward would remain in Cold until February 2006 when, after several line-up changes and battles with record labels, the band decided to break up. Scooter Ward and McCandless promptly began working on their new project The Witch, which McCandless has since left. The project has been renamed twice, When November Falls and now The Killer and The Star. The debut album was released in July 2009. In early 2009, Cold reformed for a reunion tour. They have finished recording a brand new album called SuperFiction which was released on July 19, 2011.

Personal life

Ward is married and has two daughters, Raven and Cameron (as mentioned in the liner notes for Cold's fourth album, A Different Kind of Pain). He was previously engaged, but his fiance broke it off in 2004 just as Ward was dealing with his sister's bout with cancer. During this time, Ward was dealing with drug and alcohol addiction and entered himself into rehabilitation.[4] While in rehab, Ward, who was raised Southern Baptist, found relief through spirituality and embraced Christianity.[5]

Ward has been a serious Spider-Man and Marvel Comics fan since childhood and has collected Spider-Man merchandise. He wrote the song "What Happens Now" with the hopes that it would be featured in the upcoming Spider-Man film; the track is accompanied by artwork of a Spider-Man-inspired character in the album's booklet.[6]

Instruments

Scooter Ward played both guitar and piano in Grundig and on Cold's debut album, but stopped playing guitar when the band recruited Terry Balsamo, only to pick it up again during the recording of Superfiction nearly ten years later. Ward usually uses Gibson SG guitars and DR DDT strings.[6]

Discography

Main article: Cold (band)
Album information
Cold
  • Released: June 2, 1998 (U.S.)
  • Label: A&M Records
  • Chart Positions: -
  • RIAA Certification: -
  • Singles: "Go Away", "Give"
Oddity EP
  • Released: 1998 (U.S.)
  • Label: Flip Records
  • Chart Positions: -
  • RIAA Certification: -
  • Singles: -
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
  • Released: September 12, 2000 (U.S.)
  • Label: Geffen Records
  • Chart Positions: #98 (U.S.), #1 (Heatseekers)
  • RIAA Certification: Gold
  • Singles: "Just Got Wicked", "Confession", "End of the World", "No One", "Bleed"
Year of the Spider
A Different Kind of Pain
  • Released: August 30, 2005 (U.S.)
  • Label: Lava Records
  • Chart Positions: #26 (U.S.)
  • RIAA Certification: -
  • Singles: "Happens All the Time", "A Different Kind of Pain"
Superfiction
  • Released: July 19, 2011 (U.S.)
  • Label: SonicStar
  • Chart Positions: #37 (U.S.)
  • RIAA Certification: -
  • Single: "Wicked World"

Guest vocals

In addition to his releases with Cold and Grundig, Ward has also been a guest vocalist on the songs:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nndb.com/people/222/000030132
  2. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography: Cold". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  3. ↑ "Hit Parader’s Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time". Hearya.com. 2006-12-04. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  4. ↑ "Cold gets hot again". Illinoistimes.com. 2005-09-15. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
  5. ↑ CT (2005). Retrieved on 04-17-14.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hart, Josh (August 2011). "Cold's Scooter Ward Discusses 'Superfiction'". Guitar World. Retrieved 2015-04-17.

External links