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|Name = Gerard Way
|Name = Gerard Way
|Nationality = [[USA|American]]
|Nationality = [[USA|American]]
|Img =
|Img = File:Gerard Way Berlin.jpg
|Img_size = 275
|Img_size = 275
|Img_capt = Gerard Way, lead singer of [[My Chemical Romance]], arrives at the [[Scream Awards]] on Saturday Oct. 18, 2008 in [[Los Angeles]].
|Img_capt = Gerard Way, lead singer of [[My Chemical Romance]], in Kesselhaus, Berlin.
|Background = solo_singer
|Background = solo_singer
|Birth_name = Gerard Arthur Way
|Birth_name = Gerard Arthur Way
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==Career==
==Career==
===Music===
===Music===
[[File:Gerard Way Berlin.jpg|thumb|left|Gerard Way, 11/3/2010 in Berlin (Kesselhaus).]]
[[File:GerardWay.png|thumb|left|Gerard Way, 10/23/2010 at the HMV Apollo, London.]]


As teenagers, Gerard and his brother [[Mikey Way]] were influenced by the bands [[Iron Maiden]] and [[Misfits (band)|The Misfits]] as well as British artists such as [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]], [[Blur (band)|Blur]] and [[Morrissey]] and [[The Smiths]]. Way originally wanted to be a guitarist. His grandmother bought him his first guitar at the age of eight and he played in short-lived bands such as Ray Gun Jones and Nancy Drew with future bandmate Ray Toro, but when he was not successful (one band kicking him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he turned his back on music and concentrated on his art career.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}
As teenagers, Gerard and his brother [[Mikey Way]] were influenced by the bands [[Iron Maiden]] and [[Misfits (band)|The Misfits]] as well as British artists such as [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]], [[Blur (band)|Blur]] and [[Morrissey]] and [[The Smiths]]. Way originally wanted to be a guitarist. His grandmother bought him his first guitar at the age of eight and he played in short-lived bands such as Ray Gun Jones and Nancy Drew with future bandmate Ray Toro, but when he was not successful (one band kicking him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he turned his back on music and concentrated on his art career.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

Revision as of 16:35, 10 February 2011

Gerard Way

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American musician and comic book writer who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001. He is also the writer of the Eisner Award-winning comic book The Umbrella Academy.

Early life

Gerard Way was born April 9, 1977 in Summit, New Jersey[1] to Donna Lee (née Rush) and Donald Way. He has Italian (from his maternal grandmother) and Scottish ancestry. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and first began singing publicly in the fourth grade, when he played the role of Peter Pan in a school musical production. His maternal grandmother, Elena Lee Rush, was a great creative influence who taught him to sing, paint, and perform from a young age; he has said that "she has taught me everything I know".[2]

At the age of 15, Gerard was held at gunpoint, as he said in an April 2008 Rolling Stone interview: "I got held up with a .357 Magnum, had a gun pointed to my head and put on the floor, execution-style." He went on to say that "no matter how ugly the world gets or how stupid it shows me it is, I always have faith."[3]

Gerard Way attended Belleville High School until he graduated in 1995. Deciding to pursue a career in the comic-book industry,[4] he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.[2][5]

Career

Music

File:GerardWay.png
Gerard Way, 10/23/2010 at the HMV Apollo, London.

As teenagers, Gerard and his brother Mikey Way were influenced by the bands Iron Maiden and The Misfits as well as British artists such as Pulp, Blur and Morrissey and The Smiths. Way originally wanted to be a guitarist. His grandmother bought him his first guitar at the age of eight and he played in short-lived bands such as Ray Gun Jones and Nancy Drew with future bandmate Ray Toro, but when he was not successful (one band kicking him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he turned his back on music and concentrated on his art career.[citation needed]

Way was working as a comic book store clerk in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Seeing the effects of the attacks first-hand prompted Way to change his views on life in the following weeks. He told Spin magazine, "I literally said to myself, 'Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference.'"[6] To help deal with the emotional effects the attacks had on him, Way wrote the lyrics to the song "Skylines and Turnstiles", which has since been identified as the first song by My Chemical Romance.[7] Soon after, My Chemical Romance began to assemble as a band.

Way has contributed vocally to bands such as Every Time I Die's 'Kill The Music', Head Automatica's 'Graduation Day', Say Anything's "In Defense Of The Genre", and The Oval Portrait's "From My Cold Dead Hands" and "Barnabus Collins Has More Skeletons In His Closet Than Vincent Price".

In many interviews Way has stated that music turned out to be an effective outlet to deal with his longtime battles against depression, alcoholism and prescription drug use. The use of music as a way to resolve personal battles has caused Way to create deeply personal songs such as "Helena,"[8] which was written in memory of his late grandmother.

In early 2009, Way and Japanese rock singer Kyosuke Himuro co-produced the new theme song for Advent Children Complete, the Blu-Ray director's cut of the movie sequel to the popular video game franchise, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. He is also credited with writing the lyrics, and singing alongside Himuro. The song is entitled "Safe and Sound," and according to Himuro's website, will be available on iTunes on April 29, 2009.[9] "Safe and Sound" is only heard on the Japanese release of the film; the English release uses Himuro's "Calling" (the original ending theme for Advent Children) in place of it.

Writing

Gerard Way's first attempt at writing a comic was at the age of 16, writing a short-lived comic series called 'On Raven's Wings', which was cancelled after Issue 2 due to losing the art team; he was credited as Garry Way.[10]

In 2007, Way began writing the comic-book miniseries The Umbrella Academy. Way wrote the story and illustrated the original version, but cartoonist Gabriel Ba recreated all of Way's original drawings in the final version. A few of Way's first drawings of the characters can be seen in the last few pages of the first book in the series, "The Apocalypse Suite".

The Apocalypse Suite was first released by Dark Horse Comics in their Free Comic Book Day issue on May 5, 2007.[11] Since then, an eight-page story has been published on MySpace, entitled "Safe & Sound".[12] The first official issue was released on September 19, 2007.[13] The first issue to sell out and consequently there was a second printing released on October 17, 2007.[14] The next installment was released on November 26, 2008.[15]

He and fellow artists Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan are currently in the process of developing and creating a new comic-book series titled "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys", which Way announced at Comic Con 2009.

Cartoons

In 2001 Way co-created a cartoon with Joe Boyle called The Breakfast Monkey. They pitched it to Cartoon Network, but the network declined to pick up the concept on the grounds that it was too similar to the existing property Aqua Teen Hunger Force.[16]

Personal life

Way has struggled with alcoholism and prescription drug addiction for many years and has now been sober since August 2004.[17]

On September 3, 2007 after a concert in Colorado, Way got married to LynZ of Mindless Self Indulgence backstage on the final date of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour. A member of Live Nation's touring staff that was also an ordained minister performed the low-key ceremony.[18] He currently lives with his wife in Los Angeles, California.[19] Their daughter, Bandit Lee Way, was born in California on May 27, 2009.[20]

Discography

My Chemical Romance

Year Album details Chart peaks Certifications
(sales thresholds)
US
[21] 		AUS
[22] 		AUT
[23] 		CAN
[21] 		GER
[24] 		IRL
[25] 		JPN
[26] 		MEX
[27] 		NZL
[28] 		SWE
[29] 		UK
[30]
2002 I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love — — — — — — 250 — — — 129 UK: Gold[31]
2004 Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 28 38 73 — 57 36 73 — 30 — 34
2006 The Black Parade
  • Released: October 23, 2006
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Format: CD, CS, DD, Enhanced CD, 2×LP
 2 3 4 2 11 5 10 35 1 4 2
2010 Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
  • Released: November 22, 2010
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Format: CD, DD
 8 10 15 13 18 14 8 9 4 — 14
"—" denotes a release that did not chart

References

  1. ^ "Radio 1 Presents... My Chemical Romance". BBC Radio 1.From the radio interview
  2. ^ a b "Gerard's Biography". ImNotOkay.net. Retrieved April 8, 2007.
  3. ^ "Future of Music: Gerard Way". rollingstone.com. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
  4. ^ Geeks become No1 emo stars, The Sun, October 23, 2006. "His is taken from the 1995 yearbook for Belleville High School, New Jersey, when Gerard, then 18, posed for the camera alongside other students in his leaving year."
  5. ^ Gustines, George Gene. "Superhero Stylings From Stars of Pop", The New York Times, October 20, 2007. Accessed November 27, 2007. "For Mr. Way, “Umbrella Academy” was another way to be productive when he wasn’t recording with the band. It also used skills he developed as a student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan."
  6. ^ SPIN Magazine Cover Stories My Chemical Romance, Spin magazine, May 31, 2005 “I literally said to myself, ‘Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference.’”
  7. ^ "My Chemical Romance Biography". Yahoo.com. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
  8. ^ "My Chemical Romance Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
  9. ^ "Safe and Sound - KYOSUKE HIMURO feat. GERARD WAY". Retrieved April 18, 2007.
  10. ^ "Exclusiver First Look at MCR's Gerard Way's On Raven's Wings". pulpsecret.com.
  11. ^ "Free Comic Book Day 2007". darkhorse.com.
  12. ^ "Dark Horse Presents". myspace.com.
  13. ^ "Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #1". darkhorse.com.
  14. ^ "Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #1 2nd printing". darkhorse.com.
  15. ^ "The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #1 (of 6)". darkhorse.com. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  16. ^ "Gerard Way Biography". TV.com. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  17. ^ "Im Not Okay.net".
  18. ^ "MCR: Gerard ties the knot". Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  19. ^ KROQ interview with Kevin & Bean, July 14, 2008
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ a b "My Chemical Romance - Charts & Awards - Billboard Albums". allmusic. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  22. ^ "Australian Album Charts Search for My Chemical Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  23. ^ "Austrian Album Charts Search for My Chemical Romance" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  24. ^ "Chartverfolgung: My Chemical Romance - Longplay" (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  25. ^ "Irish Charts Search for My Chemical Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  26. ^ "マイ・ケミカル・ロマンス" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  27. ^ "Mexican Album Charts Search for My Chemical Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  28. ^ "New Zealand Album Charts Search for My Chemical Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  29. ^ "Swedish Album Charts Search for My Chemical Romance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  30. ^ "UK Chart Log Search for M". Zobbel. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  31. ^ a b c "BPI Certified Awards Search for "My Chemical Romance"". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  32. ^ a b "Discos de Oro y Platino: Buscar de Nombre del Intérprete "My Chemical Romance"" (in Spanish). Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  33. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2006 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  34. ^ a b "CRIA Gold & Platinum Certification Database Search for "My Chemical Romance"". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  35. ^ a b "Certificaciones encontradas buscar por "My Chemical Romance"" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  36. ^ a b "Top 40 Albums". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
  37. ^ a b "RIAA Gold & Platinum Certification Database Search for "My Chemical Romance"". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  38. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2007 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  39. ^ "2006 Certified Awards: Platinum". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  40. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 2010-09-20.

Notes

  1. ^ "Teen Titans" — Rolling Stone (2005-07-14)

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