Steven Edward Duren (born September 4, 1956), better known by his stage name Blackie Lawless, is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist (formerly bassist) for heavy metal band W.A.S.P.Blackie Lawless & W.A.S.P. ''The Weekender (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)''. April 15, 1997, p. 8.

Early life

Duren was born in Tampa, Florida, and raised in Staten Island, New York City. He had a fundamentalist

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

upbringing, but has also claimed Jewish ancestry."W.A.S.P.: Blackie Lawless"
''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

''. Gannett Company. January 21, 2005. Retrieved 2014-06-10. He has said that he was "very active" in church as a youth and was born again at age 11. In his late teens, Duren strayed from the church and became interested in the occult. Although he would only study occultism for a short time before leaving that too,"How W.A.S.P.'s Blackie Lawless Went From F-King Like A Beast To Smiting The Beast"
Loudwire. February 22, 2018. he continued to use themes of occultism up until his return to the

Christian faith Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popul ...

in recent years. He has Irish, French and Native American ancestry (his mother is one-quarter Blackfoot). He is the nephew of the late

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher,

Ryne Duren Rinold George "Ryne" Duren (February 22, 1929 – January 6, 2011) was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was known for the combination of his blazing fastball and his very poor vision. With his thick eyeglasses, few batters ...

. Lawless himself considered pursuing a professional baseball career; however, he ultimately opted for music. He credits his older brother with introducing him to the guitar.

Career

Lawless began his career in music playing with bands such as Black Rabbit and Orfax Rainbow. In 1975, after Johnny Thunders left the

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band New York Dolls in the middle of a tour of Florida, the band started auditioning for guitarists. Lawless was hired but only stayed for the remainder of the tour. After the tour, he went to California with bassist Arthur Kane and helped found Killer Kane. At that time, Lawless' stage name was "Blackie Goozeman" as stated on the back of Killer Kane's only EP. About a year later Kane returned to New York City but Lawless decided to stay in

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

. In 1976, he formed

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

, which also featured future W.A.S.P. guitarist Randy Piper. Around 1978, a new lineup was assembled which included

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a me ...

as bassist and Lizzie Grey on guitar. Later, Chris Holmes joined.Infamous heavy-metal band matures: W.A.S.P. finds its mark with rock opera. ''The Greenville News (Greenville, South Carolina)''. January 29, 1994, p. 16. Lawless later formed a band called Circus Circus in 1979, with Piper again appearing in the lineup. In 1981, following Circus Circus' failure, Lawless joined Lizzie Grey and Nikki Sixx's band

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, with whom he played a few gigs and recorded two songs as demos, though by this time Sixx had already departed to form Mötley Crüe. In 1982, Lawless switched to

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

and along with Randy Piper formed W.A.S.P. The lineup was soon completed with Chris Holmes on

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

and Tony Richards on drums.Dunkin, Zach. Rocker advises D.C. self-appraisal. ''The Indianapolis News''. January 10, 1986, p. 42.

W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. underwent numerous lineup changes,Hunt, Dennis. Heavy Metal W.A.S.P.: Not Yet a Stinging Success. ''Los Angeles Times''. February 7, 1986, p. 121. with Lawless being the last remaining original member and chief songwriter. Many of his songs tend to deal with religious or apocalyptic themes, due to his Christian upbringing. Lawless has stated in recent interviews that he has returned to the Christian faith and considers himself a born-again Christian. Blackie Lawless of W

Lawless cites influences which include AC/DC,

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

, and

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

. His stage theatrics were influenced by Alice Cooper and Kiss, and he often imitated Gene Simmons and/or Paul Stanley very closely during his performances. W.A.S.P. was no stranger to controversy, and Lawless found himself defending heavy metal music against a cadre of politicians (and their wives) in the mid-1980s. But beyond headlines and drama, W.A.S.P. enjoyed their biggest run of success during this period, releasing several singles over three albums from 1985 to 1988, the best known of these being "L.O.V.E. Machine", "I Wanna Be Somebody", and "Wild Child".Lawless and the Law. ''Asbury Park Press''. August 23, 1998, p. 86. W.A.S.P. was also heavily under scrutiny specifically for their single "

Animal (F**k Like a Beast) "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" is a song by American heavy metal band W.A.S.P. It was originally intended to be the opening track on their self-titled 1984 debut album, but was dropped before the album's release, although it appears as a bonu ...

", led by P.M.R.C. lyric watchdogs.

References

External links

Official W.A.S.P. websiteBlackie Lawless interview
at 2010 Sleaze Roxx *

at HardRadio.com

at Full In Bloom Music
Interview with Loudwire Magazine, 2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, Blackie 1956 births Christians from New York (state) American heavy metal guitarists American heavy metal singers American male singers Glam metal musicians Living people People from Staten Island American people of Jewish descent W.A.S.P. members American multi-instrumentalists American people of Blackfoot descent American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American Christians American people of Irish descent American people of French descent