Corey Taylor

Corey Todd Taylor, popularly known as ‘The Boogie Knight’ and ‘The Grim Chopper’, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor and author. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the heavy metal band ‘Slipknot’ as well as the hard rock band ‘Stone Sour’. He has also worked with other bands, including Korn, Disturbed, Junk Beer Kidnap Band, Anthrax, Apocalyptica and Soulfly. The talented musician has released several albums and has even acted as a guest musician on many. His famous collaborative works include the albums ‘Soularium’, ‘Primitive’, ‘Rise Above’, ‘New Found Power’, ‘Give the Drummer Some’ and ‘The Serenity of Suffering’, to name a few. Taylor has also done a handful of movies, the popular ones being ‘Fear Clinic ‘and ‘Bullied’. Coming to the singer’s achievements, he had been ranked at position 86 in Hit Parader's list of ‘Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time’. He was also honored by NME as the 7th greatest heavy metal frontman. Not just this! He even holds the record of possessing the second-widest vocal range in contemporary popular music.

Music Career

Corey Taylor, along with some of his friends, formed the hard rock band Stone Sour and recorded a demo album in 1993. In the year 1997, the musician cum singer was approached by another band, Slipknot, due to which he abandoned Stone Sour for a short duration of time. Corey Taylor joined Slipknot as its 6th member after being invited by Mick Thomson, Shawn Crahan and Joey Jordison to join them. His first gig with the band was in August 1997 where he performed without any mask. A month later, he performed again, this time while wearing a mask. After this, Taylor and his fellow mates released the band’s self-titled debut album. This album debuted at #1 on Top Heatseekers chart.

Soon after this, the band’s second album, ‘Iowa,’ came out in August 2001. This album charted at #1 on UK Albums Chart and at #3 at the Billboard 200.

In 2002, Taylor came back to Stone Sour and recorded the band’s debut album which was released on August 27, 2002. The band’s second album ‘Come What(ever) May’ was released in 2006. Four years later, Stone Sour released their third album named ‘Audio Secrecy’. After this, Taylor started working on the band’s double album ‘House of Gold And Bones’. The first part of the album was released in October 2012 followed by the second one in April 2013.

Acting Career

Corey Taylor first appeared on the big screen in 1999 when he was cast in ‘Welcome to Our Neighborhood’. This was followed by ‘We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll’ and ‘Rollerball’ in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Then from 2006 to 2011, the singer cum actor did a handful of projects, such as ‘Voliminal: Inside the Nine’, ‘Get Thrashed’, ‘Audible Visions of (sic)nesses’ and ‘Goat’. In 2013, Taylor joined the team of ‘Fear Clinic’. He also got featured in the horror flick ‘Bullied’. After this, he appeared in the episode ‘Before the Flood’ of the TV series ‘Doctor Who’. The following year, he did ‘QI - Nosey Noisy’ and ‘Officer Downe’.

Other Works

Taylor has also guest-starred in albums of various artists. He has worked with the bands Korn, Disturbed, Junk Beer Kidnap Band, Anthrax, Apocalyptica and Soulfly. In July 2011, he released his book titled ‘Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument between Born Bad and Damaged Good’.

Personal Life

Corey Todd Taylor was born on December 8, 1973 in Des Moines, Iowa. In the absence of his father, he was raised by a single mother. He also has a sister. At the age of fifteen, Taylor became a drug addict. He later on moved to his grandmother's house after she took his legal custody. At age 18, the singer cum musician made an unsuccessful suicide attempt. He met his father for the first time at the age of 30.

In 2002, Taylor's then-lover, Scarlett Stone gave birth to their son. The couple got married in 2004 and separated three years later. In 2009, Taylor married Stephanie Luby. Note that the singer also has two daughters from a previous relationship.