M. Shadows
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| M. Shadows | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Matthew Charles Sanders |
| Born | July 31, 1981 Huntington Beach, California, USA |
| Genre(s) | Heavy Metal, Hard rock, Post-hardcore |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Records |
| Associated acts | Avenged Sevenfold Death by Stereo Good Charlotte Bleeding Through The Confession |
| Website | AvengedSevenfold.com |
M. Shadows (born Matthew Charles Sanders on July 31, 1981), is the vocalist/lead singer for the American hard rock/metalcore band Avenged Sevenfold. He is from Huntington Beach, California but presently lives elsewhere in Orange County.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
In his youth, Matthew Charles Sanders was notorious for his disorderly conduct and misbehavior. He was kicked out of two different Huntington Beach schools, one for smashing a woman's car windows after a sixth-grade pizza party and another for defacing campus property in seventh grade with his friend Johnny DeGuzman.
On the A7X (nickname for Avenged Sevenfold) DVD, while all of the members were talking about how they got their stage names, M. Shadows said that he got his name because when he attended and graduated El Modena High School and the band was just starting out, he was a darker kid (hence the name "Shadows") but he also wanted to incorporate his name, Matt, into his stage name. Matt was reduced to M and since has been known as M. Shadows.[1]
[edit] Personal Life
During high school, Matt began dating Valary DiBenedetto, who was a year his junior. They had been friends since the sixth grade. Throughout high school, Matt has been heard to say, they broke up but always came back to each other. April 7, 2006, Matt proposed to Valary on her birthday. They have no set a date as of yet, but do plan in the near future to get married.
[edit] Music career
In following years, Shadows formed a number of bands with Avenged Sevenfold's rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance. He was previously a member of a punk group called 'Successful Failure'. While in this band he penned the song "Streets," which would later be recorded after Avenged Sevenfold was formed, and released on their first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet.
Shadows feels a strong support for the troops serving the United States, having very close friends who are currently in service in Iraq. The song "M.I.A." ("Missing In Action") was written in tribute to these friends. The song "Gunslinger" from Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album further expresses these feelings (though it was stated in the album's extra MVI that it's not just about troops - "it can be about anyone away from home, missing their families.")
[edit] Vocal style
In the band's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, M. Shadows' vocals had a heavy metalcore influence and consisted mostly of screaming and guttural roars. This style gradually decreased in later albums into more conventional clean singing and had been completely jettisoned by the release of City of Evil, the band's mainstream debut. Despite having minor throat surgery this was not a cause for change and in an interview on All Excess, manager Larry Jacobson states that Shadows had decided several years before the making of City of Evil that it would be an all singing album. He had made it clear to their producer, Mudrock, that the album they were working on at the time Waking the Fallen would be half singing and half screaming, and that the next would be all singing. Some of Shadows' biggest musical influences are Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, and Guns N' Roses. He is also very fond of Phil Anselmo's super group Down as well as strongly appreciating their first album NOLA [1]
[edit] Featured Guest appearances
| Year | Song | Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Buffalo Stampede" | Cowboy Troy | Black in the Saddle |
| 2007 | "The River (Good Charlotte song)" (with Synyster Gates) | Good Charlotte | Good Morning Revival |
| 2007 | "Like Always" | Kisses For Kings[1] | Demo |
| 2006 | "Falling Away from Me" (Live) (temporarily replaced Jonathan Davis (due to medical attention)) | Korn[2] | Download Festival 2006 |
| 2002 | "Savior, Saint, Salvation" | Bleeding Through | Portrait of the Goddess |
[edit] References
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