John Corabi

John Corabi (2013)

John Nicholas Corabi (born April 26, 1959 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) is an American guitarist and singer. He gained international fame as the successor to Vince Neil as the singer of the rock band Mötley Crüe and was singer and guitarist of the band Union, which was founded together with Bruce Kulick .

Life

Corabi grew up with at least three siblings (Anna, Janet, and Todd) in Philadelphia. As a child, his parents gave him a guitar for Christmas, but he was annoyed by having to practice all the time, so he neglected the instrument. After his parents split up, who divorced when John Corabi was ten years old, his mother had to go to work to support the family. The children's uncle, a firefighter, was stationed a few blocks from the family home and looked after the children while the mother was away. In fact , he abused Corabi's sisters and his younger brother, who was around six years old at the time. When Corabi was twelve years old, he happened to come into his sister's room while his uncle was forcing her to have oral sex .

Corabi mentions the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as musical influences . Because he liked songs like Black Dog and Smoke on the Water , he took out his guitar again to play these and other songs himself. At this time, as a teenager, he identified himself so strongly with popular artists of the time ( David Bowie , Deep Purple ) that he dropped out of school, looked for a job and began making music professionally. He became the singer of the band Angora, for which he also played the harmonica .

In 1985 he traveled to Los Angeles to see the scene around the Sunset Strip . Because there was no comparable scene in Philadelphia, he decided to move to Los Angeles with his then-wife Valerie, to whom he had been married since 1977, which the couple did in 1986. In 1987 their son Ian Karrac Corabi was born, who is now a drummer and member of the group Mureau, which released the album Rumors and Reputations in 2011 . 1992 Corabi replaced Vince Neil who had left the glam metal band Mötley Crüe as singer . After John Corabi, who at the time lived with his partner in a deprived area where gunshots could often be heard, one evening after buying a bag of milk in a supermarket on the street, three Mexicans attacked him, brutally beaten him and with a screwdriver After his back had been stabbed, the three original members of Mötley Crüe financed a move to the town of Thousand Oaks for their new singer . In addition, the wealthy rock band gave him a new Harley-Davidson of the Heritage Softtail Classic model . Shortly thereafter, however, Valerie and John Corabi separated and the marriage ended in divorce. In 1994 Corabi met Robin Nance, with whom he started a relationship that lasted two years. His song Robin's Song, which appeared on Union's self-titled debut album , was dedicated to her. From 1998 to 2005 Corabi was married to Layla Norris.

Musical work

Angora

Angora was formed in Philadelphia and the group consisted of Corabi (vocals and harmonica), guitarist Jimmy Marchiano, bassist Frank Scimeca, and drummer Robert Iezzi. When Corabi moved to Los Angeles, the entire band followed him. Angora managed to record a song at Rock Steady Studios in Hollywood that was produced by Rob Cavallo. The song, Shake, Shake , appeared on a compilation CD entitled Son Of Pure Rock released by the Los Angeles radio station KNAC . At that time, Angora often appeared in the opening act for bands like Racer X or Shark Island. Ultimately, however, the group broke up, with Jimmy Marchiano returning to Philadelphia while Corabi, Scimeca and Iezzi stayed in Los Angeles.

The Scream

After the end of Angora, John Corabi met the guitarist Bruce Bouillet, who had left Racer X. With him and two other ex-members of Racer X (John Alderete and Scott Travis ) he formed the group Saints or Sinners. The band got a record deal, but before the recording of their first album, Travis left the band and switched to Judas Priest . He was replaced by Walt Woodward III († June 8, 2010; previously with the band Shark Island). The band changed their name to The Scream and recorded the album Let It Scream , which was released on the Hollywood Records label, under the direction of producer Eddie Kramer . Let It Scream was released in 1991, the single I Believe in Me was released, and the song Young and Dumb appeared in 1992 on the soundtrack for the film "Encino Man" (German title: " Steinzeit Junior "), on which the title Your ' re Invited (But Your Friend Can't Come) by Vince Neil, the shot singer of Mötley Crüe.

In a 1992 interview with Spin magazine, Nikki Sixx answered the question about his musical favorites by saying that he was enthusiastic about The Scream, and John Corabi called Mötley Crüe management on February 14, 1992 to thank them . After he hung up, his phone rang and Nikki Sixx informed him that Vince Neil had left the band and that the Crüe needed a new singer. He accepted Sixx's invitation, auditioned on February 17 and 18, 1992, and got the job as singer for Mötley Crüe.

The Scream hired singer Bill Fogarty to replace Corabi and recorded another album ( Takin 'it to The Next Level ), which was not released because Hollywood Records canceled the contract.

Mötley Crüe

Corabi was introduced to Mötley Crüe in September 1992 as the successor to Vince Neil, but had already written numerous songs with the band for the next Crüe album (working title: Til Death Do Us Part ). Tommy Lee said in interviews that John's voice surpasses that of Vince Neil, which is true (in fact, the voices of the two singers are incomparable). Corabi processed the abuse experience from his childhood in the song Uncle Jack . The 1994 album, which was now simply called Mötley Crüe and produced by Bob Rock , was not commercially successful, however, mainly because the band's fans were changing the band's sound away from the glam and towards the harder, more contemporary Sounds did not decrease. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 7 on April 2, 1994 , but ended up at number 194 after ten weeks and then disappeared from the charts entirely.

With his first solo album Exposed, Vince Neil had stylistically continued the path that Mötley Crüe had with the albums Dr. Feelgood and Decade of Decadence had hit . His debut album only reached number 13 on the Billboard 200, but was able to stay there for 13 weeks.

While working on the album Generation Swine in 1997, the record label insisted that Vince Neil should return to the band for commercial reasons. He accepted, also because his own career was fizzling out, accepted the offer, which meant the end of John Corabi at Mötley Crüe. The titles Flush and Let Us Prey on Generation Swine were created with the help of Corabi.

union

After being kicked out, he founded the band Union in 1997 with Bruce Kulick (1984-1995 lead guitarist of Kiss , which was reunited in 1996 ), Brent Fitz (drums), and Jamie Hunting (bass) .

Corabi and Kulick wrote the songs for the album, which was released in 1998 and was simply called Union . They toured the USA in pairs and played their songs acoustically. Shortly afterwards the whole band made their way through the clubs around the world, especially Japan being toured very successfully. The second album, Live from the Galaxy (1999), contained the original Union songs as well as Man in the Moon by Corabi's band The Scream, a cover version of Cheap Tricks Surrender , Power to the Music , which Mötley Crüe recorded in 1994 with Corabi as singer and the Beatles' studio-recorded You've Got To Hide Your Love Away . The third and (for the time being) last Union album, The Blue Room, was recorded a little more “radio-compatible” than the first studio CD.

Union was never officially dissolved. In an interview in June 2011, Kulick hinted that there might be an interesting announcement later that year about something he and John Corabi would do under the Union name. However, this project has not yet been implemented.

After Union ended, Corabi played and sang for the Eric Singer Project (ESP), Twenty 4 Seven, Brides of Destruction (as guitarist), and Karl Cochran on his project Voodooland (album Give Me Air ).

Rat

In 2000, Corabi was surprisingly introduced to the hard rock band Ratt as the new rhythm guitarist. This engagement lasted until 2008. Corabi left the group after the concert on September 5th in Virginia Beach and then pushed on with his solo career.

The Dead Daisies

The Dead Daisies were founded in 2012 by Jon Stevens and David Lowy. The singer and guitarist got together after the former INXS manager David Edwards introduced them to each other. In February 2015, they were the first western rock group to perform in the Caribbean country since the USA's trade ties with Cuba were loosened. During this tour, John Corabi appeared as a singer with the band because the previous singer Stevens was unable to perform. With Corabi, the recordings for the second studio album Revolución began in February 2015 . On April 16, 2015, the band announced that Corabi would stay with the group as a singer and that Stevens would no longer be a member of the band. In August 2019, John Corabi was replaced by Glenn Hughes, which ended his engagement with the Dead Daisies.

Others

In March 2010 the Union guitarist Bruce Kulick released the third solo album, BK3 , for which Corabi co-wrote and sang the song No Friend Of Mine . Corabi planned to publish a book and a solo album in 2010. In an interview he announced that he was also planning to put together a compilation that would include songs from all of the bands he played in professionally, including Angora, The Scream, Mötley Crüe, Union and Ratt.

In 2012 Corabi released a solo album recorded at Rivergate Studios , which contained old and new titles. In the 22nd calendar week of 2011, the singer announced via Facebook that he would finish work on the album this week. In April 2012 a CD single was released which, in addition to the song If I Never Get To Say Goodbye ..., which will be included on the solo album, also contained a live recording of the song Father, Mother, Son , which was the last Concert of The Scream was recorded.

Corabi is known as an interpreter of numerous cover songs and has worked on many so-called tribute albums for other artists.

Trivia

• Union played in Tokyo , Japan in January 2005 and toured Europe in November and December 2005.
• In the spring of 2008, John Corabi took part in the Mötley Cruise, a four-day cruise through the Caribbean (Miami, Key West and Cozumel, Mexico); There were artists like Vince Neil, Skid Row , Ratt , Slaughter , Endeverafter and Lynam. On this trip Corabi came to Vince Neil on stage to Highway to Hell by AC / DC to sing with him. This performance was a one-off event because the fans saw both Mötley Crüe singers together on stage for the first time.
• Corabi could also be heard as the singer of the Eric Singer Project in February 2009 on German stages, namely in Kaiserslautern, Freiburg, Oberhausen and Memmingen. The band also played in Pratteln (Switzerland), as well as in Italy, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Finland. The band also included Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick and Chuck Garric (bassist with Alice Cooper ).

Discography

Angora

• Shake, Shake (song as part of the sampler Son Of Pure Rock )

The Scream

• Let It Scream (1991)

Mötley Crüe

• Mötley Crüe (1994)
• Quarternary EP (1994)
• Generation Swine (1997) already recorded guitar and vocal tracks; no credits
• Red, White & Crue (2005)

Eric Singer Project

• Lost and Spaced (1998)
• ESP (1999)
• Live in Japan (2007)

union

• Union (1998)
• Live in the Galaxy (1999)
• The Blue Room (2000)

Twenty 4 Seven

• Destination Everywhere (2002)

Brides of Destruction

• Here Come the Brides (2004) (guitar tracks)

Karl Cochran

• Voodooland - Give Me Air (2004)

Bruce Kulick

• Transformer (2003)
• BK3 (2010)

Solo project

• If I never get to say Goodbye ... (Single, 2012)
• Unplugged (November 2012)

The Dead Daisies

• 2015: Revolución
• 2016: Make Some Noise
• 2017: Live & Louder ( Live album )
• 2018: Burn It Down

DVDs

Mötley Crüe

• Greatest Video Hits (2003)

union

• Do Your Own Thing live! (2005)

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Interview with John Corabi from October 20, 2012 , accessed on November 1, 2012
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Corabi interview at screamermagazine.com , accessed January 14, 2013
3. ↑ ^{a b} Interview with famemagazine.co.uk ( Memento of the original from November 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 1, 2012  
4. ^ Message at Blabbermouth.com , accessed November 1, 2012
5. ^ Mötley Crüe : The Dirt . Autobiography of the glam metal band Mötley Crüe, co-authored with Neil Strauss , from the American by Kirsten Borchardt , Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 2nd edition, 2002. p. 283
6. ↑ Unfinished John Corabi Biography at http://www.kissfaq.com
7. ↑ John Corabi interview for Inner City Rocks Podcast (episode 56), published June 25, 2010
8. ↑ 1991, Intercord Ton GmbH, Hollywood INT 845.173
9. ↑ Information about The Scream and the album "Let it Scream" on allmusic.com
10. ↑ John Corabi in an interview for Inner City Rocks Podcast (episode 56), published June 25, 2010
11. ↑ John Corabi biography on kissfaq.com ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Motley Records / Beyond 724384779726
13. ↑ Chart history for Mötley Crüe on billboard.com
14. ↑ 1993, Warner Bros. 9362-45260-2
15. ↑ Booklet on Generation Swine
16. ↑ Spitfire Records SPITCD006 GAS 0000006 SPR 553.0006.20
17. ↑ Spitfire Records SPITCD018 GAS 0000018 SPR 553.0018.20
18. ↑ Spitfire Records SPITCD015 GAS 0000015 SPR 553.0015.20
19. ↑ rockmusicstar.com; Interview with Bruce Kulick, June 12, 2011 ( Memento of the original from June 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ^ ESP , Rock Hard Records 061970238-2
21. ↑ Bravewords.com: RATT Working on New Material; Album Planned for Early 2009.
22. ↑ John Corabi interview for Inner City Rocks Podcast (episode 56), published June 25, 2010
23. ↑ http://www.sleazeroxx.com/news/00417.shtml Article on Sleazeroxx.com
24. ↑ List of cover songs sung by John Corabi (allmusic database)