Corey Taylor

Corey Taylor

Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8,1973) is the lead vocalist of the bands Slipknot and Stone Sour.

Battles with alcoholism

Known as "the guy that was always ready to go out and do shots", Taylor's drinking became more and more problematic as time went by. Eventually it reached a point where Taylor would begin to drink as soon as he got up in the morning and generally would not stop until blacking out. According to Taylor, the problem began to eat away at his family life as he became more and more apathetic to the people and things surrounding him. Taylor made several attempts at suicide. All this culminated to the night of November 14, 2003. On this night, Taylor was about to jump off of the eighth story balcony of the Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard but his wife, Scarlett, managed to talk him down. After this incident Scarlett told him either he had to sober up and start being a father and husband or she was leaving with their kids. Taylor chose to quit drinking and go sober rather than lose his family. The next year would prove to be "the worst year of [his] life" as Taylor struggled to redefine himself as a person and give up his partying persona and repair the damage that he had done to his body. He spent the year in self-imposed isolation, claiming that he "pushed [his] wife away for a while and was a really selfish, cold dick". In the process, the struggle would fuel some of his songs with Stone Sour, such as "Socio" and "Zzyzx Rd.". Finally, Taylor would come to grips with his sobriety and began to use it as a source of inspiration.

Death rumour

In September 2004, fans of Taylor were alarmed by quickly circulating rumors that he had died. The rumors were started by a website that had declared Taylor's death on the Friday of September 10, 2004. Further fanning the flames of the speculation into the matter, radio personality Mancow Muller discussed the subject of Taylor's death on his show on the following Tuesday, September 14.

According to Scarlett, the rumors first attributed Taylor's death to a drug overdose, then later to a fatal car crash. The whole incident happened to coincide with a birthday for Taylor's son on the following Friday (September 17). The sudden and unexpected influx of people going into the Taylor household for Taylor's son's birthday party only caused even higher heights of concern, causing even Taylor's manager to call them and confirm that Taylor was alright. Finally Taylor decided to put the issue to rest, walking out onto his front patio and yelling to the crowd "I am not dead!"

Meeting his father

Taylor grew up not knowing his father. His father left prior to his birth and, at the request of Taylor's mother, remained absent from Taylor's life. The Slipknot song Eyeless was even written by Taylor to show his hatred towards his dad for leaving his family when he was so young. They didn't meet until just after Taylor's 32nd birthday. Scarlett took it upon herself to confront Taylor's mother about the issue, demanding that she reveal to Scarlett whatever she could about Taylor's father. When Taylor's mother finally agreed, Scarlett hired a private detective to find Taylor's father.

When the two of them finally met, the reunion turned out very well, starting off with the two of them having reportedly "cried for about 20 minutes". Taylor was overjoyed by the reunion saying that "a whole new chapter in [his] life has opened".

Differences between Slipknot and Stone Sour

Corey stated that their are major differences between Slipknot and Stone Sour in his mind. ---"Slipknot is like a family reunion, it's good to see those people, but you can't wait to get away from them. It's the tension between the nine of us that helps us make the music. Because we don't get along, and I'll be the first to fucking admit it. People keep wanting me to candy-coat it, like we're some fucking fraternity that lives together when we're at home. That's not what happens. We love each other, but we also stay the fuck away from each other, you know? Stone Sour is such the antithesis of Slipknot. We love hanging out together. If tension fuels Slipknot, cohesiveness is what fuels the creativity in this band, and it's been like that since day one."

Masks

Corey Taylor's mask, which was originally made from a crash test dummy-style Halloween mask, is equipped with green dreadlocks made from his real hair. It is said that his latest mask is inspired by Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface. His most recent looks like a face covered in burns, scars and stitches, as well as a large line of staples.

Trivia

• Corey has always been a huge fan of Spider-Man, wears a large Spider-man head ring, and has a Spider-man tattoo.
• Corey also has a band with former Slipknot member Josh Brainard called Audacious P (A Tenacious D Tribute Band).
• Corey is also in a cover band called Dum Fux, genres include punk, metal, 70s rock, 80s synth, "whatever the band feels like doing."
• He is well known for his kindness towards fans, often going to chat with them before shows.
• Corey's mask (as of Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses) had a tooth implanted at the edge of the mouth on the left cheek.
• In Corey's highschool years, he joined a band titled "Criminal Mischief".
• Corey appeared as a guest vocalist on the Damageplan song "Fuck You."
• He is a guest vocalist on the Soulfly track Jumpdafuckup.
• Has been working with the metal band "Slytherin".
• Founder of "Great big mouth records". A recordlabel supporting bands such as the Des Moines Iowa band "Facecage" which has currently released one album called "Facecage III".

External links

• Official Stone Sour site
• Official Slipknot Site
• Slipknot's MySpace
• Stone Sour's MySpace
• Corey Taylor at IMDb

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