Blackie Lawless
Blackie Lawless (born Steven Edward Duren; September 4, 1956) is an American songwriter and musician best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist (formerly bassist) for the heavy metal band W.A.S.P. He began his music career playing with bands such as Black Rabbit and Orfax Rainbow. In 1975, after Johnny Thunders left the glam rock band New York Dolls in the middle of a tour of Florida, the band started auditioning for guitarists. He was hired but only stayed for the remainder of the tour. After the tour, he went to California with bassist Arthur Kane and helped found Killer Kane. At that time, his stage name was "Blackie Goozeman" as stated on the back of Killer Kane's only EP. About a year later, Kane returned to New York City but Lawless decided to stay in West Los Angeles. In 1976, he formed Sister, which also featured future W.A.S.P. guitarist Randy Piper. Around 1978, a new lineup was assembled which included Nikki Sixx as bassist and Lizzie Grey on guitar. Later, Chris Holmes joined. Sister evolved into Circus Circus in 1979, with Piper again appearing in the lineup. In 1981, following Circus Circus' failure, Lawless joined Lizzie Grey and Nikki Sixx's band London, with whom he played a few gigs and recorded two songs as demos, though by this time Sixx had already departed to form Mötley Crüe. In 1982, he switched to bass after firing original member bassist Rik Fox, later of Steeler fame who had joined the band only 4 months prior, and had named W.A.S.P. over personal issues. The lineup also included Randy Piper and was soon completed with Chris Holmes on lead guitar and Tony Richards on drums. W.A.S.P. underwent numerous lineup changes, with Lawless being the last remaining original member and chief songwriter. Many of his songs tended to deal with religious or apocalyptic themes, due to his Christian upbringing. The band achieved their greatest success from 1985 to 1988, with several hit singles including "L.O.V.E. Machine", "I Wanna Be Somebody", and "Wild Child".
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The Dungeonmaster
as W.A.S.P. Singer / Bassist (segment "Heavy Metal")Paul, a computer whiz who spends more time with his machine than with his girlfriend, finds that...
Movie pageDevil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground
as Self [W.A.S.P.] (archive footage)Geraldo Rivera investigates allegations of a widespread Satanic underground in the United States.
Movie pageThe Hear 'n Aid Sessions
as Self [W.A.S.P.]Hear 'n Aid was a one-time collaboration of various individual hard rock and heavy metal artists...
Movie pageW.A.S.P. | ReIdolized (The Soundtrack to the Crimson Idol)
as Narrator (voice) / SelfA mostly black-and-white, narrated dramatization of WASP's 1992 album The Crimson Idol, filmed...
Movie pageHard 'N Heavy Volume 7
as SelfVideo magazine with interviews and video clips. Featured on this volume is: Judas Priest,...
Movie pageW.A.S.P.: The Sting: Live at the Key Club L.A.
as HimselfThe Sting is a live album and DVD by the band W.A.S.P. Originally released as a DVD/CD set, it...
Movie pageHard 'N Heavy Volume 5
as SelfVideo magazine with interviews and video clips. Featured on this volume is: Deep Purple, Brian...
Movie pageRockthology Presents: Hard 'N' Heavy, Volume 8
as SelfThis compilation DVD features music videos with rarely seen footage of up-close and in-depth...
Movie pageW.A.S.P. | Live at the Lyceum, London
as SelfIn September and October of 1984, within weeks of the release of their self-titled debut album,...
Movie pageW.A.S.P. | First Blood... Last Visions...
as SelfA very rare Japan-only video with eleven promo clips.
Movie pageCircus Circus: Los Angeles 1980
as SelfCircus Circus was a rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California, USA and was formed by...
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