Happy Birthday today (Jan. 14) guitarist Zakk Wylde. He's 52. Other rockers celebrating include former Queensryche singer Geoff Tate (60), singer Mike Tramp of White Lion (58), and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters (50).
Zakk Wylde is best known as the former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. He's also the founder of heavy metal band Black Label Society. I've had the opportunity to see the great Zakk Wylde on many occasions with Ozzy, Black Label Society, and most recently last year with BLS and with his Black Sabbath tribute Zakk Sabbath. Always a kick ass show from Zakk and company. Cheers to Zakk on his birthday today!
Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Geoff Tate rose to fame as lead singer of Queensryche in the 1980’s. The band has sold over 20 million records worldwide and gained critical acclaim for their 1988 concept album Operation: Mindcrime. The band’s follow up album Empire in 1990 went triple platinum and featured the hit single “Silent Lucidity”. The band earned two Grammy Award nominations for “Silent Lucidity” 1992 in the categories of Best Rock Song and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.Tate left Queensryche in 2012 and formed a new band that is now known as Operation: Mindcrime.
White Lion formed out of New York City in 1983 with Danish singer Mike Tramp on lead vocals and guitarist Vito Bratta. The band released their debut album Fight to Survive in 1985 and achieved success with their second album Pride in 1987. Pride went double platinum for the band and featured top 10 hit singles “Wait” and “When the Children Cry”. The album remained on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart for a full year. Success continued with the band’s third album Big Game which went gold, and their fourth album Mane Attraction. The band disbanded in 1992. Mike Tramp formed a hard rock band called Freak of Nature after White Lion split and he has since pursued a solo career.
Dave Grohl is the founder, frontman , and rhythm guitarist for the band Foo Fighters. He also was the longest-serving drummer for Nirvana from 1990-1994.