KING DIAMOND "The Candle" @ The Eldorado Saloon in Sacramento, CA 1998...also on the bill were THE COUNCIL & PITBULL DAYCARE http://capitalchaos.net Kim Bendix Petersen, June 14, 1956, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a heavy metal musician known for his shock rock image. As a vocalist, he is known for his use of falsetto, mixed with mid-range vocals in most of his music. As the frontman for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond, his music has had an influence on many bands across a variety of metal sub-genres.
Career
[edit] Mercyful Fate Diamond's first band, with whom he played guitar, was called Brainstorm. Feeling creatively dissatisfied, Diamond left Brainstorm and began singing with local Danish hard rock band Black Rose. It was during this time in Black Rose that Diamond began experimenting with horror
themed theatrics as well as shaping the malevolent quasi-Satanic stage persona that he would become known for in the future. In 1980, he left Black Rose and joined the punk-metal band Brats. It was in Brats that Diamond met the three musicians (Hank Shermann, Michael Denner, Timi Hansen) that would
join with Diamond in 1980 and become Mercyful Fate. Because of the group's stage presence, make-up and occult lyrics, their musical style is somewhat reminiscent of heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal and rock opera. Following the 1984 release of Don't Break the Oath and the subsequent tour
(which saw them play in the U.S. for the first time), Diamond split ways with Mercyful Fate, as a result of frustration over creative differences with Hank Shermann. With him, he took two of his bandmates (Hansen and Denner) to pursue a solo career under his own name. Mercyful Fate re-united in 199
2 (while King Diamond simultaneously continued his solo career), but were disbanded by Diamond in 1999, as King decided to put Mercyful Fate in retirement and continue on with his solo career. In an interview with Metal Israel in 2005, King elaborated on the decision to retire Mercyful Fate, as he c
laimed that "it's impossible for me to live off Mercyful Fate... I can still live from King Diamond." King claims that Mercyful Fate still has a contract and could record another record, but it would have to be done only as a hobby and when he isn't touring, because he can't make any money off the F
ate record and has to support himself through his solo venture. [1] [edit] King Diamond With his solo act, King uses the lyrics and music to create characters and tell stories in the form of concept albums. Albums meld together as one story (features present already in The Fatal Portrait album), b
ut carry to more intricate levels (with the albums, Abigail, Them , and The Eye) to the dramatic story (Conspiracy). Typical of both the Abigail and Conspiracy tours was that King Diamond re-enacted the scenarios on stage, using special effects in the show much in the style of metal-musician Alice C
ooper, of whom Diamond is a fan. King Diamond albums also often feature dueling guitar solos. On the CD inserts, the performer of each solo is credited, often using a symbol. In 2004, King Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", which was the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy met
al side project Probot. In late 2005, King Diamond appeared on the Roadrunner United - The All-Star Sessions album, contributing vocals to the song "In the Fire", which featured multiple Roadrunner Records musicians (past and present) working together to create individual songs. King Diamond also gu
ested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005. King Diamond is scheduled to release his new album, Give Me Your Soul... Please, on June 26, 2007. [edit] Stage Presence On stage, Diamond uses a trademark microphone handle consisting of two femur bones in the shape of a cross. A live
trademark was also Melissa, a full human skeleton which Diamond would sing to. In the mid-1980s Melissa's skull was stolen after a performance in the Netherlands. It was claimed to have been finally returned in 2006.[2]; however, this was denied by King Diamond himself. KISS bassist Gene Simmons, c
laims to have sent Diamond a cease-and-desist letter over Diamond's makeup design, which Diamond complied with [3]. Diamond has changed the design of his make-up often over the years. With Conspiracy, he wore a mesh of black and white line war paint, with some red "blood" made to look like a wound
coming out of his forehead. With his last album The Puppet Master, he used very little white and mainly had black inverted crosses going up and down his face. [edit] Satanism Despite numerous claims otherwise, Peter H. Gilmore, The High Priest in The Church Of Satan, has confirmed in an interview
on the news show "The Hour" that King Diamond is in fact a member of the Church (LaVeyan Satanism is an atheistic religion influenced by Nietzsche and other individualist philosophers, and should not be confused with Theistic Satanism and/or Devil Worship). Many familiar with Fate's mid-1980s perio
d will recall a spring 1984 interview with British heavy metal magazine Kerrang! correspondent Dave Dickson, who, after some introductory remarks and questions about the then-current Fate album Don't Break The Oath, took Diamond to task on his Satanic beliefs. Dickson made frequent references to inf
amous occultist Aleister Crowley, of whom Diamond denied being influenced by. Diamond expressed his admiration of Anton Szandor LaVey (founder of The Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966) in the interview, which has been cited by some as influential in the demise of Mercyful Fate (though Diamond
has always denied this). In the same interview he claimed to have cursed Manowar, as Fate had briefly toured as a support act to Manowar in the UK, and there were apparent personality conflicts between the two bands. He adorns himself with inverted crosses, the sigil of Baphomet (from the LaVeyan
perspective) and has written lyrics openly hostile to Christianity (as evidenced in "The Oath" with lyrics including "I deny Jesus Christ, The Deceiver, and I abjure the Christian faith holding in contempt the whole of its works"). However, with the albums released under his own name, he has downpla
yed the overt Satanism in favour of a "horror movie" approach, though he still wears inverted crosses as jewelery and makeup. In an interview from 2006, King Diamond reveals that he does not follow any specific religion, and expresses concern that religion has lead so many people to kill and destro
y each other. According to himself, he has problems comprehending why religion has caused so much death and destruction, when it is logically impossible to prove the presence or absence of any god. He reveals that he has reached a point in his life where he has completely given up believing in anyth
ing religious and that he simply does not know what to answer when asked whether he is a Satanist or not

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