Aaron Lewis (born April 13, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of the
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
band
Staind, with whom he released seven studio albums. Since 2010, he has pursued a solo career in
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
with his debut EP ''
Town Line
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
'', which was released in 2011. Lewis' first full-length solo release, ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'', was released by Blaster Records in 2012.
In 2006, Lewis was ranked at number 49 in the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" by ''
Hit Parader
''Hit Parader'' was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s ...
''.
Early life
Lewis was born in Rutland,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father of Italian, English and Welsh descent. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in a log cabin. Lewis moved to New Hampshire when he was 8, and lived there until he was 12. When his parents split up, he moved with his father to
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The population was 15,853 at the 2020 census.
History
Longmeadow was first settled in 1644, and officially incorporated October 17, 1783. The town was originally farm ...
, where he attended
Longmeadow High School
Longmeadow High School (LHS) is an American public high school located in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Founded in 1956, it enrolls approximately 1,000 students.Get The Feeling: Masacksic 1988, Vol. 32. The school's mascot is a Lancer.
It was ...
.
Career
Solo career
In July 2010, Lewis finished recording a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
EP entitled ''
Town Line
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
'' that was released on March 1, 2011, via
Stroudavarious Records
R&J Records is an American independent record label specializing in country music. It was founded in May 2011 by James Stroud and Rick Carter. Stroud is a record producer and former president of Giant Records and DreamWorks Records. In 2008, Stro ...
. It features seven tracks including three versions of the first single "
Country Boy" featuring
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...
,
Charlie Daniels
Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Dev ...
, and
Chris Young, as well as the songs "Massachusetts", "Vicious Circles", "The Story Never Ends", and a re-recording of "Tangled Up in You" originally from ''
The Illusion of Progress
''The Illusion of Progress'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Staind. It was released on August 19, 2008. ''The Illusion of Progress'' was produced by Johnny K and recorded in lead singer Aaron Lewis's home studio. It debuted at N ...
''. Lewis said in a July 2011 interview that he was introduced to country music as a child by his grandfather, but his interest was recently rekindled when he toured with fellow rock turned occasional country singer
Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...
.
![Aaron Lewis 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Aaron_Lewis_2013.jpg)
Lewis released his first full solo album, ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'', in November 2012. Its debut single, "Endless Summer", has also made the country charts. Lewis wrote every song on the ten track collection, except for "Granddaddy's Gun" which was penned by Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Bobby Pinson, marking the first time Lewis has recorded outside material for an album. In an interview with Broadway's Electric Barnyard, Lewis said he recorded "Granddaddy's Gun" as both a compliment to a friend, and because he was pressed for time.
Lewis wrote songs for his second solo album whilst touring in support of ''The Road'', often performing with Katz Von Brunenburg in his live sets. The album, dubbed ''Sinner'', was mostly recorded in a single 18 hour session, with many tracks done in one take. Aaron's daughter Zoe also provides guest vocals on one song.
On April 12, 2019, Lewis released his third solo album, ''
State I'm In''.
On July 4, 2021, he released "
Am I the Only One", a song protesting America's leadership and left-wing activists.
On October 21, 2021, Lewis released "Goodbye Town" and also announced that he would release his fourth solo album ''
Frayed at Both Ends'' on January 28, 2022.
Collaborations
Lewis was featured on the song "No Sex" by
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers. The band's music is marked by D ...
on their album ''
Significant Other
The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and in colloquial language. Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming ...
''. He was also featured on a remix of the song "
Crawling" on
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...
's first remix album ''
Reanimation'' (titled as "Krwlng" on the remix album). He contributed vocals to the song "Follow" by
Sevendust
Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lowery ...
from ''
Animosity
Animosity may refer to:
* ''Animosity'' (comic), an American comic book series published by AfterShock Comics
*Animosity (band)
Animosity was an American death metal band from San Francisco, California, formed in 2000. The band released three ...
'', and to the songs "Bleed" and "Send in the Clowns" by the band
Cold
Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...
from ''
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
Thirteen or 13 may refer to:
* 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14
* One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013
Music
* 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band
Albums
* ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013
* ...
''. He's also featured on
Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Jimmie's Chicken Shack is an American alternative rock band from Annapolis, Maryland. They are best known for their 1999 single "Do Right" off their album ''Bring Your Own Stereo''. In 1996 they Signed to Elton John's Rocket Records and release ...
's song "Falling Out", the only single off their 2004 album ''
re.present''. In December 2010, while promoting his ''
Town Line
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
'' album, Lewis collaborated with
Corey Taylor
Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the ...
for a one-night-only
acoustic duet show covering songs such as
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
's "Black",
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
's "
Comfortably Numb
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd from their eleventh album, ''The Wall'' (1979). It was released as a single in 1980, with " Hey You" as the B-side. The music was composed by guitarist David Gilmour. The lyrics were ...
", and
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
' "
Down in a Hole
"Down in a Hole" is a power ballad by Alice in Chains, and the fifth and last single from their album ''Dirt'' (1992). It is the twelfth song on most pressings of the album and fourth or eleventh on others. The song was written by guitarist and ...
".
Personal life
Married to Vanessa Lewis, they have three daughters. Regarding the commercial success of Staind's albums in the early 2000s, Lewis reflected, "A lot of other people made a shit load of money but we're the same as any of you. I have to work to pay my bills."
In a five-minute interview with ''
Outdoor Life
''Outdoor Life'' is an outdoors magazine about camping, fishing, hunting, and survival. It is a sister magazine of ''Field & Stream''. Together with ''Sports Afield'', they are considered the Big Three of American outdoor publishing by Money ...
'' magazine, Lewis said that he has been hunting
whitetail deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
since he was old enough to keep up in the "good old woods", around age four or five. He prefers to hunt deer with a
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
or
recurve bow
In archery, a recurve bow is one of the main shapes a bow can take, with limbs that curve away from the archer when unstrung. A recurve bow stores more energy and delivers energy more efficiently than the equivalent straight-limbed bow, giving a ...
, and he occasionally utilizes a
muzzleloader
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...
.
Lewis has been open about his struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues, writing about his problems in
Staind songs and his country music.
Politics
Lewis supported
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
before the
United States presidential election of 2016, although he said he was disappointed with his "bickering and name-calling". His last tours, from 2019 and 2020, featured him wearing a
Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" or MAGA is an American political slogan popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in ...
cap.
Lewis has been outspoken in his opposition to the
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
and
mask mandates.
Philanthropy
On November 4, 2006, Lewis performed at his old high school in
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The population was 15,853 at the 2020 census.
History
Longmeadow was first settled in 1644, and officially incorporated October 17, 1783. The town was originally farm ...
, and gave all the proceeds to the music department to fund the department's expenses to buy new equipment and supplies. Lewis's main focus, however, is the non-profit organization It Takes a Community, where he and his wife have started to reopen their daughters' elementary school in
Worthington, Massachusetts
Worthington is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,193 at the 2020 census, up from 1,156 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Worthington is dis ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Music videos
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
The Darkness Withinby
Jenny Eliscu
Jenny Eliscu is a radio host for Sirius XM and a contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. She also had a recurring presence on the TV program ''I'm from Rolling Stone'' and has been on other music programs, including ''Behind the Music' ...
, Rolling Stone, July 19, 2001 (In depth interview, includes birthplace)
Aaron Lewis lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Aaron
1972 births
Living people
Alternative metal musicians
American country rock singers
American country singer-songwriters
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American libertarians
American male singer-songwriters
American people of English descent
American people of Italian descent
American people of Welsh descent
American baritones
American rock songwriters
Jewish American musicians
Jewish heavy metal musicians
Massachusetts Republicans
Musicians from Springfield, Massachusetts
Singers from Vermont
Nu metal singers
People from Rutland (city), Vermont
R&J Records artists
Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts
Songwriters from Vermont
Guitarists from Vermont
Guitarists from Massachusetts
American male guitarists
American hunters
American fishers
Staind members
21st-century American singers
21st-century American guitarists
Country musicians from Massachusetts
21st-century American male singers
21st-century American Jews