James LaBrie

James LaBrie

LaBrie in 2012
Background information
Birth name Kevin James LaBrie
Born (1963-05-05) May 5, 1963
Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada
Genres Heavy metal, progressive rock
Instruments Vocals
Labels Roadrunner
Associated acts Dream Theater, Winter Rose, Ayreon, MullMuzzler, True Symphonic Rockestra, Sebastian Bach, Fates Warning, Shadow Gallery, Explorers Club, Trent Gardner, Henning Pauly, Frameshift, Tim Donahue
Website jameslabrie.com

Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian vocalist and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.

Early life

Kevin James LaBrie was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada and started playing drums at age 5. By his mid-teens, he was a member of several bands as a front man that attempted singing and/or drumming. He stopped playing drums at age 17[1] and in 1981, at age 18, he moved to Toronto.

Career

Winter Rose

After stints with various bands, LaBrie became the vocalist for the glam metal band Winter Rose, who released their self-titled album in 1989.

Dream Theater

In 1990, LaBrie learned that American progressive metal band Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The trial went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in that band.[2]

LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but until recently has had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater's music - 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on eight of the twelve albums Dream Theater has released with him in the band, Images and Words, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Dream Theater and The Astonishing containing none of them.

Asked by Prog-Sphere.com what is his favorite Dream Theater song to play live, James says "The favorite song for me is Scarred, I love performing that live. And... well, Octavarium, that whole freakin’ thing."[3]

Solo

With Matt Guillory, LaBrie has released five solo albums under various names (Mullmuzzler, James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler, and simply James LaBrie).

In an interview from Beyond The Dark Horizon on June 12, 2010, James LaBrie stated that his next solo album entitled Static Impulse, is in the mixing stages and will contain 12 tracks. James stated "It's very heavy and I'm really excited."[4]

On July 27, 2010 it was announced on Dream Theater's website that Static Impulse would be released on September 27, 2010 through InsideOut Music. It features longtime collaborator Matt Guillory on keyboards, Marco Sfogli ("Elements of Persuasion") on guitars, Peter Wildoer from DARKANE on drums/screaming vocals, and Ray Riendeau on bass.

James LaBrie stated "The release of Static Impulse is one that the whole band is psyched about. This is modern metal and as heavy and relevant as any other band out there going in a similar musical direction. There are riffs that will blow your head off and melodies both musically and vocally that are hypnotic. Get in the driver's seat and let the ears bleed. Enjoy and see you out there with a tour to follow up and support this release."[5]

In 2011's interview for Prog-Sphere.com, LaBrie stated that the US tour got cancelled, saying "Because it was so disorganized last time. That's why I basically said, 'You don't have the visas yet. Where we're at this point, by the time you get the visas processed, we're gonna have one rehearsal and then we're gonna go out.' And I said, 'I'm not doing that.'"[3]

In July 2013, LaBrie's album Impermanent Resonance was released.

Other projects

Throughout his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie has lent his voice to many other artists' records as well as tribute albums. In 1991, not long after joining Dream Theater (and before ever appearing on a Dream Theater recording), he sang background vocals on the song "Life in Still Water" on Fates Warning's Parallels album.[6] He has appeared on many Trent Gardner releases (including Leonardo: The Absolute Man and Explorer's Club), as well as appearing on albums by such artists as Shadow Gallery, Tim Donahue and Frameshift.

LaBrie provided the lead vocals for the main character in the rock opera album The Human Equation by Ayreon; in 2015, he reprised his role for a live version, The Theater Equation. He will be featured in an upcoming new album of Ayreon as a character nammed The Historian.

LaBrie is also a featured vocalist on Henning Pauly's "Babysteps" project released in 2006; LaBrie plays the role of the arrogant doctor.

Since 2004, LaBrie has been working with the True Symphonic Rockestra project, along with Thomas Dewald, Vladimir Grishko, Dirk Ulrich, Christoph Wansleben, Sandro Martinez, Paul Mayland, Marvin Philippi, and Igor Marin. Their album, Concerto In True Minor - 3 Rock Tenors was released on iTunes and for download on Amazon on March 28, 2008 by Brainworx and Marinsound.

Personal life

Religious views

James had said in many older interviews that he was Christian, and actively practiced the religion. However, in 2005 he revealed that he's since strayed from organized religion, and now considers himself "a more spiritual-directed person."[7][8]

Singing

Influences

His musical inspiration comes from many different genres, including such artists as Sebastian Bach, Aerosmith, Don Dokken, Metallica, The Doors, Ludwig van Beethoven, Nat King Cole,[9] Queen, Sting, and Muse whose inspiration, according to LaBrie, is shown on Dream Theater's album, Octavarium.

Reception

LaBrie is widely known for his lyric tenor style singing voice.[10] He was voted by fans to #15 on MusicRadar's "The greatest vocalists of all time" in 2010.[11] During his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie's singing voice has received both praise and criticism. In response to detractors of his vocal abilities, LaBrie has said, "These people are pathetic and need to move on. I say get a life and maybe work on making your life a better one instead of thinking the answer lies in cutting someone else up to raise your miserable spirit."[12]

Food poisoning incident

On December 29, 1994, while vacationing in Cuba, LaBrie was stricken with a severe case of food poisoning from contaminated shrimp and while vomiting, he ruptured his vocal cords. He saw three throat specialists who all said there was nothing they could do except have him rest his voice as much as possible. However, on January 12, 1995, and against doctor's orders, he was on the Waking Up the World Tour in Japan promoting Awake album with his voice far from normal.[13] LaBrie has said he did not feel vocally "normal" until at least 2002. LaBrie has said that this was a very hard time for him as a singer, and depression as a result caused him to consider departing from the band, although his bandmates supported him and told him to stay. After the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence's World Tourbulence he discovered that his voice had fully returned. He has said that his voice was fully healed by time and training.[13]

Discography

Dream Theater

MullMuzzler

Solo

References

  1. ↑ "An interview with James LaBrie on Prog-Sphere.com". Prog-sphere.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  2. ↑
  3. 1 2 "Resurfacing – an interview with Kevin LaBrie". Prog Sphere. 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  4. ↑ "Vocalist James LaBrie on DREAM THEATER, touring and upcoming solo album :". Beyondthedarkhorizon.com. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  5. ↑ "DREAM THEATER Singer To Release New Solo Album In September". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Fates Warning - Island in the Stream (Parallels)". Fateswarning.info. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  7. ↑ "LaBrie In Religion - DPRP Specials: James LaBrie : Interview 2005". Dprp.net. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  8. ↑ Archived July 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Archived December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "Vocalist James LaBrie's One More Time Ignites Controversy Among Fans". Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  11. ↑ "The 30 greatest lead singers of all time | James LaBrie (Dream Theater)". MusicRadar. 2010-12-07. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  12. ↑ "Frameshift, a new progressive super group is born". Dutch Progressive Rock Page. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  13. 1 2 "LaBrie on how he almost once lost his voice". Dprp.net. Retrieved 2013-08-07.


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