Mandy Lion
Mandy Lion |
|---|
Mandy Lion (born 1972 in Germany) is a German heavy metal singer. He is the lead singer of World War Three (WWIII).
Biography
Early years
Lion first got his start in the music business when he was 11 years old. At that time he had chosen to use music as a way to express his feelings and
already strong opinions of the world.
After two years, he had already been the lead singer and songwriter in several popular bands in Germany. But the members tried time and again to alter his style to fit the current trends. Lion therefore took matters into his own hands and decided to start his own band in order to be able to express himself fully. The result was a band that shocked the public at the time with its raw intensity and blatant sexuality.
After a few years of constant touring, Lion decided to take his project onward which required a move, with the blessings from his mother, from Europe to
Los Angeles, California. He arrived in mid-1986, only to find that glam rock was in style at the time. He did what he had done all his life, he took World War Three (WWIII) to the streets of Los Angeles.
World War Three (1986 - 1989)
At the age of 16, Lion worked and by the end of 1986 - early 1987, Lion, formed World War III. With his new band, Lion took his band, World War Three (WWIII), to the streets of Los Angeles and within months was playing to sold out crowds. The bands success continued even though WWIII had gone through various line-up changes during the first three years. Lion, established and launched his professional music career by creating a new style of singing (extreme power vocal), adding to the music industry field, and inspiring many other artists to mimick his style.
Lion and WWIII were a force on the Hollywood Strip. They played venues such as Gazzari's, famous since the 1960's, where WWIII broke [[Van
Halen]]'s attendance record. They put on concert sets with songs like "Rock & Roll Machine", "Go Down", and "Call Me Devil".
Lion's popularity grew and caught the attention of manager Don Arden (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborne, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, [[Air
Supply]], etc.) who made several attempts to see Lion and WWIII shows but could not get in, due to the shows being sold out. As quoted by Lions in a September 2000 interview on Jake E. Lee's website, "My future manager Don Arden had trouble getting in to see me and when he finally did he saw,
liked, and took me under his wings."
World War Three (1990 - 1994)
Arden signed Lion immediately to a management contract after seeing his live performance. Then, within months, Lion was signed to Hollywood Records and with the help of Arden started auditioning celebrity players to create the line-up of the new World War III.
The chosen line-up was Jimmy Bain (Rainbow, Dio), Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), and Joe Floyd
(Warrior. Unfortunately, at that time, Floyd was unable to fully give WWIII the attention that it required, due to Floyd just starting his now legendary Silver Cloud Recording Studio.
At that point, further auditioning took place for a few unknown players and Tracy G., unknown at that time, was picked and made a name for himself by Lion choosing him to see if he could fill in for Floyd. In 1990 WWIII released their debut CD on the Hollywood Records and soon thereafter WWIII began
an extensive tour. They opened for famous bands like Iron Maiden and at times did the headlining themselves. WWIII toured huge arenas and many famous clubs such as the Whiskey A Go Go, in January 1991. They also made two music videos for "Love You to Death" and "Time for Terror", both of which were from their debut release.
Things were going along smoothly even though changes would occur once and again. Vinny Appice was replaced with James Kottack (Scorpins, Kingdom Come). Later, Kottack was replaced by Mikkey Dee (Moterhead). Trouble and disaster came with the
conniving schemes of Steve Jones, the A&R Director for WWIII, who tried to depict a false image on the band as Nazi's and this later caused label
failure. Deeply hurt, betrayed and outraged with this harmful negative image of his band WWIII, Lion stood up for himself and his band member's rights. Fighting to not be portrayed in a negative light for what WWIII does not represent.
As if this scheme wasn't enough for Lion, heavy friction and disagreements between band members began when he started a side project with George Lynch (Dokken, Lynchmob), on Electra Records. These problems weighed heavily on Lion and eventually caused him to step back
and put WWIII on hold.
Wicked Alliance (1994 - 2003)
Lion wasted no time, and in 1994 began a new project and set out on the road to tour with Jake E. Lee (Ozzy Osbourne, Badlands) as the phenomenal Wicked Alliance. After a few years on the back burner, Wicked Alliance joined a record label that represents them. The Wicked Alliance Twisted Beauty CD that Lee and Lion worked on finally came to the light in late 2002 or early 2003 on The Pony Canyon record label.
World War Three (2004 - present)
Besides working on his solo project doing the producing, writing and arranging, Mandy Lion has resurfaced his band WWIII. WWIII has recently signed
on with Sony Records and Reality Records and Lion and WWIII (Floyd, Geezer, and Ducey Moni) will be releasing
their new CD When God Turned Away in 2008.