Top 10 Metal Musicians with the Greatest Personalities
People on this list are great and talented musicians with great personalities. 2 in 1.
Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona; July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010) was an American heavy metal singer, songwriter and musician. He fronted and/or founded numerous groups including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. He is credited with popularizing the "metal horns" hand gesture in metal culture and is known for his medieval themed lyrics. Dio possessed a powerful versatile vocal range capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads; according to Rainbow/Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore upon hearing him sing, "I felt shivers down my spine." Dio sold over 47 million albums throughout his career.
He died from stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 67. Mr. Golden Voice was also a great person. R.I.P. Dio.
A nice guy with impeccable ethics. Also wise, friendly, accessible.
Known for talking with fans for hours after live shows. Never left a fan without an autograph no matter how long the line was and paid attention to every fan who approached him.
Dio and his wife didn't have own children and adopted a boy.
Dio probably didn't do drugs.
Paul Bruce Dickinson, known professionally as Bruce Dickinson, (born 7 August 1958) is an English musician, airline pilot, and broadcaster. He is most well known for being the lead singer in heavy metal band Iron Maiden and his solo career.Outside his career in music, Dickinson has pursued a number ...read more.
Matthew 'Matt' Barlow is an American heavy metal singer and police officer. He was the lead singer for Iced Earth in the 1990s and 2000s. He is currently the lead singer for Ashes of Ares. After the September 11 terrorist attacks Matt Barlow decided to become a police officer and contribute to the "real world" instead of living the illusion of a "rock star." In 2007 he returned to music. He's got a great powerful voice and he's a very interesting person, too.
He left a major metal band (Iced Earth) to help the US after September 11 terrorist attacks - he became a police officer in the police department in Georgetown, Delaware. Thank god, he returned to music in 2007.
Hansi Kürsch, born Hans Jürgen Kürsch, is the lead singer, lyricist, co-composer and bassist for German power metal band Blind Guardian . Heavily influenced by Freddie Mercury, he creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping vocal harmonies. He records each vocal track individually because harmonizers and "perfect pitch" programs don't work with his voice due to distortion and the natural double layer effects his vocal cords have .His early technique made use of a more aggressive and harsher, "screaming" technique . ...read more.
A god given voice and unique personality. Intelligent, friendly, wise, honest, hard working. He reads a lot and plays video games, most often - D&D.
He doesn't smoke and doesn't look like a person who does drugs or drinks too much. When on tour, he calls his wife every day. He's been married for over 20 years and is known for not cheating on his wife. Some fans, musicians and bloggers from different sites make fun of him for not cheating on his wife and call him stupid.
He played for charity with Blind Guardian.
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist, primary songwriter and founder of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He formed one of the most iconic metal bands and wrote one of the most iconic metal songs ever - Hallowed Be Thy Name.
Every time I watch him on videos (music or interviews) I feel this guy just can't be a bad person.
Jon Ryan Schaffer is an American heavy metal musician. He is best known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of the Florida-based heavy metal band Iced Earth, which he formed in 1985 under the name "Purgatory". A very solid rhythm guitarist and amazing songwriter who's probably the most patriotic metal musician.
He's a rebel but he's got a very good heart. He's also a fighter with very strong character that helped him save Iced Earth several times during crisis situaltions when key members were leaving (Matt Barlow became a cop and so on).
I've read interviews with his wife and she obviously knows personally many metal musicians even outside Iced Earth and I conclude Jon Schaffer doesn't keep her away from his professional life.
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner (1967-2001) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the founder and vocalist, guitarist and bassist of the American heavy metal band Death. He is considered the most influential figure in Death Metal, with some publications referring to Chuck as the "Godfather of Death Metal". Schuldiner died in December 13, 2001 of brain cancer, his death subsequently leading to the disbandment of Death, but has remained influential among many aspiring metal artists.
He was also known for his polite and life loving attitude and openly condemned stereotypes of metal musicians being harmful and evil. Death metal pioneer. He was one of the nicest guys in metal.
Mike Mangini is an American drummer. Since 2010, he has been a member of progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy. One of the best metal drummers who's very smart and very friendly during interviews. You just feel this guy is very nice.
He's got a university degree in computer sciences and was an Associate professor at a percussion department.
Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian vocalist, best known as the former lead vocalist and one of the founding members of the Canadian metal band, The Agonist, and current lead vocalist for the Swedish melodic death metal group, Arch Enemy. She's an animal rights activist and a vegan.
And a persons rights activist too =)
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. Best known as lead guitarist and founding member of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, he has been the band's sole continual member and primary composer. At age 17, he accidentally lost the fingertips of his middle ...read more.
Ian Fraser Kilmister, known as Lemmy, was an English musician, singer and songwriter who founded and fronted the rock band Motörhead. He was a bassist and a singer known for his raspy voice. He died in 2015 from cancer and other health problems. Shouldn't really be on here. He's not metal.
Jarkko Kalevi Ahola is a Finnish performing artist, composer and singer, best known as a metal singer. He is the vocalist, bass player and one of the three songwriters of the metal band Teräsbetoni. He also started a solo career as Ahola, a metal band. He's got a great voice and amazing personality. He often plays for charity all over the country (Finland).
Thomas Gabriel Fischer, earlier known by his stage name of Tom G. Warrior, is a Swiss metal musician. He best known as the frontman for extreme metal bands Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon. Pretty clean guy. He's a vegetarian and doesn't drink, smoke or take drugs.
He also doesn't try to get involved in Celtic Frost's influence on modern artists, stating that it's not a healthy thing. I agree because I think it'll just make you think you're above every band of today just because you influenced them.
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest and famed for his powerful wide ranging operatic voice. Very down to earth guy. He doesn't have some manager controlling his Instagram, and he would always preform with American Idol contestants and comedians
John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Compared to his level of skill, John Petrucci is relatively unknown in the modern music industry.
Ian Gillan is an English singer and songwriter. He originally found success as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple, and the original singer on the rock opera concept album Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber, where Gillan had the leading role (Jesus Christ).
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. He was killed in a plane crash. Humble little kid
Yes I know he is technically adult but I can call any teen a kid
Adrian Frederick "H" Smith is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Iron Maiden, for whom he writes songs and performs live backing vocals on some tracks.
Clifford Lee "Cliff" Burton (February 10th 1962 - September 27th 1986) was an American musician, best known as the second bass guitarist for the American thrash metal band Metallica, recording three studio albums. ...read more.
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and songwriter for the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus.
Brian Hugh Warner, better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician, songwriter, actor, painter, multimedia artist, author, and former music journalist.
Jørn Stubberud is a Norwegian musician best known as the bassist in the black metal band Mayhem under the stage name Necrobutcher. He is one of Mayhem's founding members, along with Euronymous, Manheim and Messiah. Necrobutcher stands out as the most "normal" member of Mayhem during the Second-Wave Black Metal movement. By that, he was the only member who didn't act weird or questionable. In fact, he left Mayhem after the suicide incident because he felt that Euronymous was crossing moral boundaries by that point. He only returned after Euronymous's murder.
For real. You should see him in an episode of What's in My Bag? where he actually likes different types of music besides metal. At first I thought he was gonna be a creepy guy since he was part of Mayhem but he's actually a pretty nice and mild mannered person. Never really knew that to be honest.
Olve Eikemo, better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta, is a Norwegian musician who best known as the former frontman of black metal band Immortal and the current frontman of the band Abbath.
James Alan Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica.
Kai Michael Hansen is a heavy metal guitarist and vocalist. Hansen is the founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also the co-founder and former member of German metal band Helloween.