Joey Belladonna

Joey Belladonna at Wacken Open Air 2013

Joey Belladonna (* 13. October 1960 in Oswego , NY as Joseph Anthony Bellardini ) is a rock musician from New York, among others in the band Anthrax plays and sings.

biography

Growing up in the state of New York, Belladonna hired his first spurs as a singer with various cover bands and the demo band Bible Black . His singing has often been compared to that of Steve Perry from Journey .

Joey Belladonna replaced Neil Turbin as singer with Anthrax in 1984 . His first release with this band was the Armed & Dangerous - EP . In total he sang four full albums and various compilations , EPs and singles with the band . It was the most commercially successful and best-known phase of the band for Anthrax. In addition to his typical, well-known singing style, he also experimented with spoken singing , such as with Bring the Noise , the collaboration with Public Enemy , and with Startin 'Up a Posse . During this time he also starred in the movie Pledge Night .

In the 1990s Belladonna had to leave the band and was replaced by John Bush of Armored Saint . The band wanted to go in a different direction and saw no chance with the vocal limited Belladonna.

Belladonna then formed a band under his own name. After several line-up changes, his solo debut Belladonna was recorded together with guitarist Darin Scott, bassist Joe Andrews and drummer Scott Schroeter . The Belgian label Mausoleum Records released it in 1995. The band toured the USA in support of Motörhead .

With the new line-up Peter Scheithauser (ex-Killing Machine), bassist Fleisch (later in Silent Force ) and drummer Stet Howland (formerly WASP ) the second album Spells of Fear was supposed to be created, but the record company had to file for bankruptcy during the recording. The band broke up again, but the album was released on the Derock label in 1999, although a wrong line-up was given.

In 2003 the album 03 was created with Matt Zuber (bass and guitar) , which was to be the last Belladonna album to date. Belladonna also recorded the drum tracks.

In 2004 there was a surprising anthrax reunion with the successful line-up of Ian , Bello , Spitz and Belladonna. The live shows were a great success, but they weren't meant to be permanent. Although there were plans for Belladonna to become a permanent singer again with Anthrax, he returned to his solo project in 2006, with which he tours regularly with a changing line-up. A new solo album is planned.

The two compilations Artifacts 1 (2005) and Artifacts 2 (2006) brought together different Belladonna sessions from 1993 with Paul Crook on guitar, Paul Mocci on bass and Jeff Tortara on drums .

Since May 2010 Belladonna has been part of the official Anthrax line-up again . In December 2013 he will also go on a special Christmas Metal Symphony Tour with the Magnum Opum Rockestra under the direction of Marcel Heijnen. It is a 32-person orchestra. Other singers in this project are Udo Dirkschneider , Michael Kiske , Chuck Billy , Joacim Cans and Floor Jansen .

Discography

Studio albums with anthrax

• 1985: Spreading The Disease
• 1987: Among The Living
• 1988: State Of Euphoria
• 1990: Persistence Of Time
• 1991: Attack of the Killer B's
• 2011: Worship Music
• 2016: For All Kings

Solo albums

• 1995: Belladonna
• 1999: Spells of Fear
• 2003: 03
• 2005: Artifacts 1
• 2006: Artifacts 2
• 2010: Deadly Night Shade

Web links

Commons : Joey Belladonna  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Joey Belladonna in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} biography in the All Music Guide
2. ↑ Interview with Joey Belladonna 2006
3. ↑ Biography on Musicmight.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ http://blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=192541