Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973)[2] is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist, and sole continuous member of the rock band Stone Sour.[4]
Taylor co-founded Stone Sour with drummer Joel Ekman in 1992, playing in the Des Moines, Iowa area, and working on a demo. He joined Slipknot in 1997 to replace their original lead singer Anders Colsefni and has subsequently released seven studio albums with them. After the first two Slipknot albums went Platinum, Taylor revived Stone Sour to record an album and tour in 2002. His debut solo studio album, CMFT, was released in 2020. His second solo studio album, CMF2, was released on September 15, 2023.
Corey Todd Taylor was born on December 8, 1973, in Des Moines, Iowa.[5][6] He was mostly raised by his single mother in Waterloo, Iowa, and described it as a "hole in the ground with buildings around it".[6] He is of German, Irish and Native American descent on his father's side, and Dutch and Irish on his mother's side.[7] Taylor along with his mother and younger half-sister would often move around the country in search for job prospects. By the time he was 15, he had "already lived in 25 states".[8] Around 1979, Taylor and his mother saw the sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Before the series, there was a trailer for the 1978 horror film Halloween. Taylor said this "developed some sense of Slipknot in [himself]".[6] While Halloween introduced Taylor to masks and horror themes, Taylor's grandmother introduced him to rock music, showing him a collection of Elvis Presley records from the 1950s to 1970s. He especially found songs like "Teddy Bear", "In the Ghetto", and "Suspicious Minds" to appeal to his interests the most, describing them as "good times".[6] Taylor also began listening to Black Sabbath at a young age, beginning with their early work.[6] He decided he wanted to become a singer when he and his cousin were singing along to Journey's "Separate Ways".[9]
In 1983, when he was nine years old, his mother and her boyfriend moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to become security guards for Burt Reynolds' ranch. However, as they were driving there, they got stranded in Georgia and lost some of his possessions.[8] By age 15, he had developed a drug addiction and had overdosed on cocaine twice.[10][11] By this time, he was living in Waterloo, but some time after this overdose, he returned to visit his grandmother in Des Moines, and according to Taylor, "stayed and never went back [to his mother's house]." She took legal custody of him so that he could continue going to school, and she helped him buy musical equipment. He would later describe his grandmother as his "strongest influence" as well as his "rock, foundation and stability."[12][1][13] When Taylor was 18, he left his grandmother's house and went to various places in Iowa, Des Moines being a place to which he frequently returned.[14] Taylor attended Lincoln High School in Des Moines but did not graduate. He later earned his GED.[15][9]
In 2017, on an episode of Viceland's The Therapist, Taylor revealed that he was sexually abused at the age of 10 by a 16-year-old friend. Taylor stated that he never told anyone about the incident until he was "probably 18" because his abuser had "...threatened to hurt me and threatened to hurt my mom".[16] At age 18, when Taylor was living with his grandmother, he attempted suicide by way of overdose. His ex-girlfriend's mother drove him to the hospital in Des Moines and doctors were able to resuscitate him.[1] He describes this as the lowest point in his life.[17] Taylor first met his father when he was 30 years old, and now has a relationship with him, although he said their paths do not cross that often. He has two half-brothers and one half-sister from his father's side.
Taylor is a founding member of American hard rock band Stone Sour. After he formed the band in 1992[18] with drummer Joel Ekman, Shawn Economaki joined filling in the bass position, leaving the electric guitar position to be filled by Josh Rand. Stone Sour recorded a demo album in 1993, and another in 1994. In 1997, Taylor was approached by the metal band, Slipknot, resulting in him abandoning Stone Sour while they were recording a demo album with Sean McMahon at SR studios.[19][20] Taylor did not return until five years later to record their debut album, Stone Sour in 2002. Both Taylor and guitarist Josh Rand contacted Jim Root, Slipknot's guitarist, and Shawn Economaki, Stone Sour's original bassist, to begin writing songs for their debut album.[21] Drummer Joel Ekman came back on board as well.[22][23] This "reformation" later resulted in Stone Sour recording at Catamount Studios in Cedar Falls, Iowa.[22][24]
Taylor performing with Stone Sour in 2013
Their self-titled debut album was released August 27, 2002, and it debuted at number 46 on the Billboard 200.[25] Their second album, Come What(ever) May debuted at number four on the Billboard 200.[25] It was released August 1, 2006, and charted on several different charts.[25][26][27]Live in Moscow is currently their only album specifically released only for download.[28] During the recording of the album, drummer Joel Ekman left the band for personal reasons. As a result, drummer Roy Mayorga was recruited, taking his place.[29] The group released their third studio album, Audio Secrecy, on September 7, 2010.
Later, Corey Taylor announced the release of a concept double album with Stone Sour. The albums are titled "House of Gold & Bones". During the process of making the double album, bassist Shawn Economaki left the band. He was temporarily replaced for touring purposes by Johny Chow. The first part was released in October 2012 and the second part in April 2013. There are 23 songs in total, 11 on the first part and 12 on the second. In addition to these two albums is a four-part comic book series written by Taylor and published by Dark Horse Comics, which went on sale in 2013. With these albums came a story that was written by Taylor that coincide with the album. Fans can also construct a miniature "house of gold and bones" from the packaging design of the physical versions of the two albums. Taylor has also said that he would like to finish off the project by making the story into a movie but nothing has come of this yet.[30][31][32]
In Des Moines, Iowa, Joey Jordison, Shawn Crahan, and Mick Thomson approached him asking him to join Slipknot.[19] He agreed to go to one of their practices, and ended up singing in front of them. Of Slipknot's nine members, Corey was the sixth to join the band. Performing with Slipknot, he would also come to be known as "Number Eight", since the band follows a numbering scheme for its members, ranging from 0–8. According to Shawn Crahan, Corey wanted number eight, because it symbolizes infinity.[33]
Feeling he could expand more inside Slipknot than in Stone Sour, Taylor temporarily quit Stone Sour, even though they were recording an album with Sean McMahon.[20] Taylor's first gig with Slipknot was on August 24, 1997,[34] which according to band members did not go well. During his first gig, Taylor was performing with facepaint instead of a mask; however, for his second show on September 12, he wore a mask that resembles his debut album mask.[35]
Taylor has recorded with Slipknot since the release of their second demo album, a self-titled demo used to promote the band to prospective labels and producers.[36] As their permanent vocalist, he recorded with Slipknot at Indigo Ranch in Malibu, California, and released Slipknot, the band's debut album that peaked at number one on the Top Heatseekers chart,[37][38] went double platinum in the United States,[39] and was included in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[40] Taylor was accused of copyright infringement regarding the lyrics of the song "Purity", but no action was taken.[41] Taylor began recording for their second studio album, Iowa, in 2001 at Sound City and Sound Image in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.[42] It was released August 28, 2001, and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart,[43] as well as number three on the Billboard 200.[44] While writing Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), Taylor decided to write lyrics that would not warrant an explicit label.[45] It peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.[46]All Hope Is Gone was the first Slipknot album to peak at number one on the Billboard 200.[47]
Other work
Taylor has appeared as a guest musician on albums by Soulfly, Apocalyptica, Damageplan, Steel Panther, and Code Orange. At one point, he was heavily involved in the recording of thrash metal band Anthrax's album, Worship Music, but the sessions remain unreleased.[48] He also contributed to the Roadrunner United all-star album in 2005, providing vocals for the song "Rich Man".[49] Taylor also made a brief appearance in Steel Panther's singles "Death to All but Metal", "Eyes of a Panther", and "Asian Hooker".[50] In 2006, Taylor founded the record company Great Big Mouth Records.[51] Taylor has produced two albums: Facecage's self-titled album and Walls of Jericho's Redemption.[52][53] Taylor provided guest narration on the track "Repentance" for Dream Theater's 2007 album Systematic Chaos. In an interview with Billboard, Taylor confirmed that on January 13, 2009, he was planning on making a solo album, as well as returning to his side project Stone Sour after Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone World Tour.[54] Taylor has stated that he was writing songs that "don't fit either of his main bands."[54] He describes them as a cross between Foo Fighters, Johnny Cash, and Social Distortion, saying that there's "a country background that comes built-in with living in Iowa".[54]
On March 30, 2009, it was confirmed that Taylor and the Junk Beer Kidnap Band would be performing at Rockfest in 2009.[55] The group performed on April 24, 2009, at People's Court in Des Moines, Iowa, marking Taylor's first official solo show.[56] Taylor performs with his band the Dum Fux with Denny Harvey, who make covers for 1970s punk rock and 1980s hair metal.[57] Taylor also performs with Audacious P, a band that is primarily a Tenacious D cover band.[58] Rapper Tech N9ne confirmed that Taylor was to perform on his album K.O.D., but was removed because Taylor did not submit his vocals in time,[59][60] though he would later make an appearance on Tech's 2015 album Special Effects, on the song "Wither". Taylor recently admitted that he tried out for the vacant singer spot in the band Velvet Revolver, but said that it just did not work out.[61] However, according to a recent Billboard article, it seems likely that he may in fact become the vocalist for Velvet Revolver, though no official confirmation has been made.[62]Duff McKagan added that they can neither "confirm or deny" Taylor's membership in the band but believes that Taylor is the "real deal".[63]Slash has since ruled Taylor out as the possible new vocalist explaining that "[it] just wasn't right" although he does love him.[64] Taylor has, however, recorded 10 new songs with the band, although drummer Matt Sorum stated it is unlikely they will ever be released.[65] Taylor explained to Mark Hoppus on Hoppus on Music that he and McKagan were writing new music for a possible new supergroup.[66]
On June 21, 2018, Taylor featured on the track "The Hunt" by metallic hardcore band Code Orange, the second track of the three-track EP The Hurt Will Go On. In April 2019, Taylor collaborated on the song "Drugs" by the band Falling in Reverse. In September 2019, he was featured on Nostalgia Critic's parody album of Pink Floyd's The Wall on a cover of the opening theme for SpongeBob SquarePants.[67]
Taylor released his solo album, CMFT, on October 2, 2020, via Roadrunner Records.[68][69] The first two singles, "Black Eyes Blue" and "CMFT Must Be Stopped", were released on July 29, 2020.[70] Despite charting relatively well, he would later accuse Roadrunner of doing little to promote CMFT.[71]
Taylor mentioned in an October 3, 2020, interview about a followup album entitled CMF2, which would be completed prior to a tour supporting both it and CMFT.[72] He contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Holier Than Thou" to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021.[73]
Between January 18 and March 6, 2023, Taylor spent time at various studios working on CMF2.[74][75] On April 27, 2023, Taylor signed a new record deal with BMG Rights Management to distribute CMF2, which will be released through his own imprint label, Decibel Cooper Recordings.[76] The first single from the album, "Beyond", was released on May 16, 2023.[77]
Style and influence
Taylor performing with Slipknot in 2011
Taylor told Loudwire in 2015 that if it were not for Faith No More, he "wouldn't be here today". While recovering from an attempted suicide, he saw the band perform "Epic" live on the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards and the performance inspired him to begin writing and performing music again.[1] He has also stated that Pearl Jam had hugely influenced and inspired his music, saying that the group was "one of the biggest and best rock bands of all time".[78]
The first two Slipknot albums with Taylor's vocals, Slipknot and Iowa, both contain substantial explicit content. Many critics claimed Taylor relied on profanity, culminating in Slipknot's third album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) largely lacking the use of swearing, as such did not warrant the explicit label.[45] Compared with the previous vocalist for Slipknot, Anders Colsefni, Taylor has a vocal style that was characterized by the late, ex-drummer Joey Jordison as "really good melodic singing".[79] Taylor's vocal style, which contains at times melodic singing, growling, screaming, shouting, and rapping, led him to place at number 86 on the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time and is often compared to other vocalists such as Ivan Moody, John Bush, Phil Anselmo, and Jamey Jasta.[80]
Personal life
On September 17, 2002, Taylor's then-fiancée, Scarlett, gave birth to their son.[81] Taylor also has a daughter from an earlier relationship.[81] Taylor and Scarlett married on March 11, 2004, and divorced in 2007.[82] On November 13, 2009, Taylor married Stephanie Luby at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas.[82] They had a daughter, but separated in 2017.[83] On April 7, 2019, it was announced on his Instagram page that he became engaged to Alicia Dove, creator of the dance and performance group "Cherry Bombs".[84] On October 6, 2019, the pair married.[85]
Taylor has had problems with alcoholism, which Scarlett helped him through as well as keeping him from completing suicide.[86] In 2006, Taylor told MTV that he had attempted to jump off a balcony of the eighth floor of The Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard in 2003, but "somehow [Scarlett] stopped me". This was later recanted by Taylor in an interview with Kerrang! radio and stated that it was, in fact, his friend Thom Hazaert who physically stopped him from jumping.[87] Scarlett then told him that either he would have to get sober or she would annul their marriage.[86] Before Stone Sour started recording Come What(ever) May in January 2006, Taylor was sober.[86][88]
On August 3, 2009, he co-hosted the 2009 Kerrang! Awards alongside Scott Ian of Anthrax.[89][90] The following year, they both once again co-hosted the Kerrang! Awards, where Taylor collected the K! Services to Metal award on behalf of Paul Gray, who died after an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl.[91][92]
In early September 2010, Taylor announced that his book, Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good, would be released on July 12, 2011, through Da Capo Press.[93]
In August 2021, Taylor tested positive for COVID-19 after the conclusion of a solo tour in support of his album CMFT. He was symptomatic despite being vaccinated, and credited the vaccine for preventing him from becoming seriously ill.[94]
He divides his time between homes in Des Moines, Iowa and Las Vegas, Nevada.[97]
In 2016, he had to have surgery in his neck after, in his own words, "broke [his] neck a while back [and] didn't realize it".[98][99]
Feuds
Limp Bizkit
While on tour in April 1999 promoting Slipknot's upcoming self-titled album release, Taylor expressed his disgust with Korn drummer David Silveria's photo campaign for Calvin Klein. Taylor had noticed multiple magazine issues of Silveria modeling in the campaign, and promptly purchased multiple copies of the magazine issues and publicly burned them during several Slipknot live performances. Limp Bizkit turntablist DJ Lethal and frontman Fred Durst (who was a friend of Silveria's) took offense to the gestures, later making retaliatory remarks directed at Slipknot's fans in May 1999, referring to them as "fat, ugly kids".[100] Slipknot singer Corey Taylor responded during an appearance in Sydney on Channel V Australia by claiming that the fans of Slipknot "for the most part, enjoy all kinds of music, like Limp Bizkit… maybe." Taylor went on to claim that insulting fans of Slipknot could also be insulting fans of Limp Bizkit.[101] In October 2000 during a VH1 interview, Durst responded to Taylor's comments with praise toward Slipknot's music but also expressing his desire to quell the hate between the two sides. Taylor acknowledged Durst's comments in June 2001, but continued to attack Limp Bizkit; telling Much Music: "Fred Durst is a great businessman, but he is NOT an artist. I don't feel that from him, I don't give a fuck if he's got ten-gajillion dollars, he is not an artist to me; and ya know it has nothing to do with him as a person, it is what he is doing, he is pre-packaging, and processing a lot of music that these kids feel".[102]
Taylor and Durst eventually found themselves in a friendlier relationship in 2010, while recording the album Gold Cobra; Durst included a line on the song 90.2.10 shouting out Taylor.[103] According to Taylor during a 2011 interview; Durst's children are allegedly fans of Slipknot's music.[104] Taylor during a 2013 interview claimed he and numerous Slipknot members held strong admiration for Limp Bizkit's Three Dollar Bill, Y'all album.[105] Taylor also claimed that the two bands were on the same bill for the 2009 Download Festival, in which Durst approached him, informing Taylor that his children were fans of Slipknot's music, to which Taylor offered to sign them several autographs. Limp Bizkit was later booked on the 2014 Japanese leg of Slipknot's Knotfest tour along with Korn.[106]
In 2021, following the death of ex-drummer Joey Jordison, Limp Bizkit paid tribute to him at one of their shows in Des Moines.[107]
Nickelback
The feud between Taylor and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger extends back to 2002 whilst Stone Sour and Slipknot were under the same label as Nickelback; Roadrunner Records. During a 2002 interview, Taylor expressed his anger towards the label's promotion of Nickelback as opposed to Stone Sour's, claiming "I'm glad they could use our money to make Nickelback happy. That's a very bitter subject for me and if I see any of those fuckers, it's going to be brutal". Despite the comments, Taylor later claimed he had a cordial relationship with the other members of Nickelback during most of the following decade. In 2017 during an interview by Swedish rock website Metal Covenant; Kroeger attacked Taylor after being asked his opinion of Stone Sour, claiming "They're trying to be Nickelback [...] they're okay; they're not as good as Nickelback, they sound like Nickelback-lite", decrying Taylor for attacking him in the press and noting that he was unable to release a number one hit, calling Slipknot's stage image and masks a "gimmick".[108] During an interview on June 19, 2017; Taylor responded to Kroeger's comments, proclaiming "You know what? I've never said it was easy to write a hit song, I don't know what the hell planet he's living on. Apparently it's Planet Kroeger, and there must be good weed there, 'cause he's an idiot". Taylor later highlighted how he respected the other members of Nickelback but solely harbored animosity towards Kroeger, later referring to him as "Face like a Foot".[109] During Stone Sour's July 2017 performance in Chicago, multiple fans began chanting "Fuck Nickelback" prior to the band's entrance onto the stage. Taylor later humorously addressed the crowd claiming: "I can't take you guys anywhere can I? You guys are fucking insane, Come on, get it out of your system, make some fucking noise out there. Beautiful, crazy bitches. I'll tell you what, we're going to play you a 'non-hit song'".[110]
Machine Gun Kelly
In 2021, Taylor engaged into a feud with rapper Machine Gun Kelly in response to the rapper shifting his public image and musical ambitions to pop punk as opposed to rap following his widely publicized feud with Eminem. During an interview Taylor openly poked fun as Kelly's transition to rock claiming: "I hate all new rock for the most part — well, the artists who failed in one genre and decided to go rock. And I think he knows who he is, but that's another story."[111] During Riot Fest in September 2021, Kelly and Slipknot were scheduled to perform on the same day and time, albeit at different stages. Kelly utilized the opportunity to express retaliatory remarks to Taylor's comments, opening his set by asking the crew to light the audience so he could "see who chose to be here instead of with all the old weird dudes with masks." He later attacked the band again, exclaiming "You wanna know what I'm really happy that I'm not doing? Being 50 years old, wearing a fuckin' weird mask on a fuckin' stage, talking shit."[112][113]
Shortly afterwards, Kelly revealed on Twitter that Taylor was originally intended to feature on "Can't Look Back", a song off of his 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall, but the collaboration did not come to fruition due to Kelly's dissatisfaction with the verse, calling it "fucking terrible" before claiming Taylor was bitter about being removed as a feature.[114] Taylor responded to the tweet by uploading screenshots of emails between himself and Travis Barker, co-producer of Tickets to My Downfall, highlighting that he respectfully declined to appear on the track due to creative differences with Kelly. In response, Kelly stated that he requested for Taylor to rewrite his verse, reiterating his previous assertion that it was "really bad".[115]
Taylor later addressed the feud during a fan Q&A in January 2022 where he claimed that Kelly instigated the conflict. He went on to insult Kelly's change in musical direction and told him to "suck every inch of my dick."[116][117]
During an interview in July 2022, Kelly admitted in his Life in Pink documentary that he regretted his feud with Taylor and wished that both of them conducted themselves in situation better than acting "ridiculous".[118]
Solo band members
Current members
Corey Taylor – vocals, guitar (2009–present), piano (2020–present)
^Corey Taylor on future of Slipknot - Sirius XM, Youtube, Oct. 3 2020: "[...] I'm actually thinking about going in and recording CMF2, and then going out and touring on two albums."
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