Ernie Cunnigan (born June 10, 1959), better known by his stage name Ernie C, is an American musician best known as the guitarist of

rap metal Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables. History Origins and early ...

band

Body Count A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...

Early life

Cunnigan grew up in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

and attended

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls aroun ...

with Ice-T. Cunnigan was one of the few students attending the school who was interested in rock music. His uncle was an important influence. He introduced Cunnigan to different groups and a diverse number of styles in the genre. Cunnigan became an enthusiastic fan, eventually buying a guitar from his local music store. He dedicated himself to learning, starting at 12. He was entirely self-taught. Cunnigan's guitar playing and showmanship earned him respect among his fellow students, including members of the

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...

gang. He also taught guitar to fellow students, including D-Roc the Executioner, who later joined Body Count.

Career

Cunnigan and Body Count bandmate Ice-T co-wrote the song " Cop Killer". Cunnigan also produced demo tapes that led to the signings of

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kretz ...

and

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...

, as well as the '' Forbidden'' album for

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 ...

. As part of the Body Count, Cunnigan received his first

Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

nomination in 2017 at the

60th Annual Grammy Awards The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 28, 2018. The CBS network broadcast the show live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was moved to January to avoid coinciding with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongc ...

for the song "Black Hoodie" from the band's sixth studio album, ''

Bloodlust Bloodlust may refer to: *Homicidal ideation * Human hematophagy * '' Bloodlust!'', a 1961 thriller film * ''Bloodlust'', the home video title of the 1981 film ''Docteur Jekyll et les femmes'' * ''Bloodlust'' (1992 film), a 1992 Australian vampire ...

''. He managed to win at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

ceremony, which was held on March 14, 2021, when he was nominated for the second time for the song "Bum-Rush" from the group's seventh album ''

Carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

''.

Discography

* '' The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!'' (1989) * ''

'' (1992) * '' Born Dead'' (1994) * '' Violent Demise: The Last Days'' (1997) * ''

Murder 4 Hire ''Murder 4 Hire'' is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Body Count. Released on August 1, 2006, this was the first album from Body Count in nine years. It is the band's first album following the deaths of drummer Beatmaster V ...

'' (2006) * ''

Manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

'' (2014) * ''

'' (2017) * ''

'' (2020)

Videography

*Murder 4 Hire (2004) *Live in LA (2005) *Smoke Out Festival Presents: Body Count (2005)

Awards and nominations

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, "Bum-Rush" , , , -

References

External links

Ernie C
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Ernie C
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Ernie C
on Myspace 1959 births Living people Lead guitarists Grammy Award winners American male guitarists Body Count (band) members Guitarists from California African-American guitarists Crenshaw High School alumni African-American rock musicians American heavy metal guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Musicians from Compton, California {{US-metal-guitarist-stub