Adam Wade Gontier (born May 25, 1978) is a Canadian singer and guitarist. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for
Saint Asonia,
but is best known as the former lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of the Canadian rock band
Three Days Grace.
Gontier left Three Days Grace on January 9, 2013. In addition to his work with Three Days Grace and Saint Asonia, he has been involved in collaborations with other bands including
Art of Dying,
Apocalyptica and
Breaking Benjamin
Breaking Benjamin is an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, formed in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band also included guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist ...
.
Early life
Gontier was born in
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...
, Canada on May 25, 1978. He was raised in
Markham, Ontario
Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...
.
Shortly after his parents divorced, he moved back to the Peterborough area, where he initially attended
Adam Scott Collegiate and Vocational Institute
Adam Scott Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Intermediate School, established in 1960, is a high school and middle school in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and was named for Adam Scott, Peterborough's first settler. , 222 students were en ...
.
In 1992, he moved to the Norwood area, and attended Norwood District High School, where he met and befriended Three Days Grace members
Neil Sanderson and Brad Walst.
Notable works and collaborations
Outside of Three Days Grace, Gontier has also written and collaborated with numerous writers, musicians and bands. Some of his collaborations include
Daughtry,
Ian Thornley, Max Martin,
Shaun Morgan,
Ben Burnley,
Art of Dying, Before the Curtain, and fellow musician and long time friends Kevin Brown, Grainne Ryan, and Kim Brown.
He has also contributed to a number of other albums. He contributed vocals and musical arrangement on "
I Don't Care" on
Apocalyptica's album, ''
Worlds Collide'' in 2007.
Gontier was also featured on the track "Raining" by fellow Canadian band Art of Dying on their album ''
Vices and Virtues''.
His cousin, Cale Gontier, is the bass player for Art of Dying.
In 2006, Gontier was a member of the rock supergroup
Big Dirty Band
The Big Dirty Band was a one-off Canadian supergroup composed of Rush's Geddy Lee (bass) and Alex Lifeson (guitar), Thornley's and Big Wreck's Ian Thornley (vocals and guitar), Three Days Grace's Adam Gontier (vocals and guitar), Die Mannequi ...
along with
Geddy Lee,
Alex Lifeson,
Jeff Burrows,
Ian Thornley and
Care Failure, covering "I Fought the Law", as part of the ''Trailer Park Boys'' movie soundtrack.
In 2009, Adam Gontier worked with Daughtry on their second studio album ''
Leave This Town''. The song "Back Again" was featured on the physical copy of Daughtry's ''
Leave This Town: The B-Sides'' EP.
In 2011, Gontier created the record label, Sludge Factory Records, and has signed three acts, one of which is fellow Peterborough band, Before the Curtain.
On January 9, 2013, Gontier resigned from Three Days Grace.
He left as the band was about to embark on a co-headlining tour.
Matt Walst from
My Darkest Days, the brother of bassist Brad Walst, became the new lead singer.
During 2015, Gontier worked with
Staind guitarist Mike Mushok on a supergroup called
Saint Asonia. The band released their
self-titled, debut album on July 31, 2015.
On January 24, 2020,
Breaking Benjamin
Breaking Benjamin is an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, formed in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band also included guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist ...
released their
compilation album
A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...
, ''
Aurora'', that included Gontier on the track "Dance with the Devil".
In 2021, Gontier released a song for
PUBG Mobile titled, "Tidal Wave".
Solo career
Gontier joined singer and songwriter
Martin Sexton
Martin Sexton Born March 2, 1966 is an American singer-songwriter and music producer.
Early life
Born in 1966, Sexton grew up in Syracuse, New York, the tenth of twelve children in a working class Irish-American family. He acquired his first ...
on the road during his 2012 "Fall Like Rain" tour, providing opening support as a solo artist. He also joined
Citizen Cope for a few shows as a solo act. Gontier continued to do shows and concerts as a solo artist. Several songs have been released, but not as singles. In early March 2013, Gontier publicly announced and launched his Adam Gontier Solo Live Tour.
Awards
Gontier has won two
BMI pop awards as well as ''Billboard''s "Rock Single of the Year". Michael Bell handed him the "Big Time Award", at the 2012 "Wire Awards". Gontier was inducted into the Norwood District High School Hall of Honor in July 2022 along with Brad and Matt Walst.
Personal life
Gontier married Naomi Faith Brewer in 2004. The couple divorced in 2013. He married Jeanie Marie Larsen in March 2015.
In 2005, he went into rehabilitation at the
CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto, where he wrote many of the songs for ''One-X'', including "
Never Too Late", which was co-written by Adam's ex-wife, Naomi Faith Brewer. Both Gontier and Brewer wrote the video for the song, and she also appears in the video. While in CAMH in Toronto, Gontier wrote "
Pain
Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...
", "
Animal I Have Become
"Animal I Have Become" is a song by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. It was released on April 10, 2006, as the first single from their second studio album, ''One-X''. The song was released digitally on April 18, 2006. The song spent seven we ...
", "Get Out Alive", "Over and Over", and "Gone Forever".
A docu-drama about his addiction, ''Behind the Pain'', was released in 2007.
[
Gontier has been open about his struggles with mental health. He stated that he relapsed in 2017 and went into a treatment center. Since then, Gontier has been sober and stated that he has "no plans on going back to a dark place anytime soon."
Gontier is a fan of the ]Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
and Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...
.
Discography
with Three Days Grace
* '' Three Days Grace'' (2003)
* ''One-X
''One-X'' is the second studio album by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. It was produced by Howard Benson and is the band's first album recorded as a four-piece band, as Barry Stock joined the group and took over lead guitar from lead singe ...
'' (2006)
* ''Life Starts Now
''Life Starts Now'' is the third studio album by the Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. The album was released on September 22, 2009. It was produced by Howard Benson. It was the second time in a row that the band has worked with him, after the ...
'' (2009)
* ''Transit of Venus
frameless, upright=0.5
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a tr ...
'' (2012)
with Saint Asonia
* '' Saint Asonia'' (2015)
* '' Flawed Design'' (2019)
* ''Introvert/Extrovert'' (2022)
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Other appearances
References
External links
Adam Gontier
on Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gontier, Adam
1978 births
Living people
Canadian baritones
Franco-Ontarian people
Canadian rock guitarists
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian rock singers
Musicians from Peterborough, Ontario
Canadian heavy metal singers
Nu metal singers
20th-century Canadian male musicians
21st-century Canadian male musicians
20th-century Canadian male singers
20th-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian male singers
Big Dirty Band members
Three Days Grace members
Saint Asonia members