Guy Speranza (March 12, 1956 – November 8, 2003) was an American singer best known as New York City-based metal band
Riot's original frontman from 1975 to 1981.
He played at the first
Monsters of Rock
Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, ...
festival in 1980 and sang on their first three albums, 1977's ''
Rock City'', 1979's ''
Narita'' and 1981's ''
Fire Down Under'', before leaving the band in 1981.
In 1982,
Scott Ian
Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax. Ian is the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroo ...
called Speranza to offer him the position as the lead singer for
Anthrax. Speranza declined the offer, saying he was done with the music business.
["I'm the Man," by Scott Ian, page 44]
After retiring from music, Speranza worked as an exterminator in Florida until being diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer, from which he died on November 8, 2003.
References
External links
*
Riot – Official Website
1956 births
2003 deaths
20th-century American singers
American heavy metal singers
American people of Italian descent
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Riot (band) members
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