32 Facts About Jon Oliva

John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva was born on July 22,1959 and is an American singer and musician.

Jon Oliva is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva.

Jon Oliva's family moved around a lot when Jon and Criss were young, living in California for four years until moving to Florida in 1976.

Much like his brother Criss, Jon Oliva found music his calling during the family's time in California.

Jon Oliva saw Criss play at a local high school and was blown away.

Jon Oliva felt restrained by playing instruments and subsequently stuck to being the band's lead vocalist.

Jon Oliva himself refers to the record as Fight for the Nightmare.

Jon Oliva had however described the album as a good "musical and life experience".

The commercial failure of Fight for the Rock nearly broke up the band, during which Jon Oliva auditioned for Black Sabbath and Criss had considered joining Megadeth; however, Jon Oliva decided that he and Criss "didn't want to split up", and were encouraged by Paul O'Neill to continue Savatage.

Jon Oliva altered the band's direction into a more progressive sound, and the resulting record was Gutter Ballet, released in 1989.

Many of the songs on the album Jon Oliva came up with while in rehab, including "Thorazine Shuffle" and "Mentally Yours".

Jon Oliva has stated that his favorite song of all-time was recorded on Streets: Tonight He Grins Again.

However, after a tour in support of the album, Jon Oliva left the band.

Jon Oliva's last show was at the first ever Tampa Music Awards in 1992 and in 2006, footage was released onto the internet of this last performance.

Jon Oliva hand-picked his Savatage replacement, former Wicked Witch lead vocalist Zachary Stevens and the band recorded their follow-up to Streets, Edge of Thorns in 1993.

Jon Oliva since admitted that he never wanted to be Savatage's only vocalist, and said he left to "take care of myself".

Originally, Jon Oliva was to leave the band, then return as a lead vocalist on the follow-up record to Edge of Thorns.

Around this same time, Jon Oliva was approached by one-time Savatage guitarist, Chris Caffery, who recorded with the band on Gutter Ballet.

Doctor Butcher played a couple of shows in the Tampa area in 1993, one of which included an appearance by Criss Jon Oliva who joined the band on stage for a rendition of "Sirens".

Jon Oliva however was hurt that Atlantic Records chose not to release the Butcher record.

Jon Oliva was happy for the band, but had mixed emotions, and began to think that he might have been the one holding Savatage back.

Jon Oliva chose to continue the band, although he has since admitted that the band was pretty much over after Criss's death, but only kept going because of his memory and to "keep his music alive".

Jon Oliva recorded the album along with Stevens and Alex Skolnick, formerly of Testament.

Jon Oliva made a return to the fore of Savatage on their live release Japan Live '94 which saw him take up lead vocal duties for the first time since 1992, performing a duet on "Gutter Ballet".

Jon Oliva returned to perform vocal duties for Savatage's 1995 album Dead Winter Dead, supplying vocals to the tracks "I Am" and "Doesn't Matter Anyway".

However, Jon Oliva was not prepared for the success the band would finally achieve, albeit indirectly.

Jon Oliva has stated however that he was saddened about the success of the record, citing the fact that the same song was released by both bands, yet TSO's rendition became a bigger hit.

Jon Oliva was featured on the album WWF Full Metal in 1996, singing the song "We're All Together Now" with several WWE professional wrestlers as part of the Slam Jam.

In 2000, Jon Oliva contributed the song "Perfect Christmas Night" to the Jim Carrey vehicle The Grinch.

In 2001, after Stevens left the band citing family reasons, Jon Oliva returned to provide lead vocals for Savatage's new album, Poets and Madmen.

Rumors of a permanent reunion of Savatage persisted for several years until April 2023, when Jon Oliva confirmed to Rock Hard magazine that the band was planning to release a new album, to which he said would "probably be the last album [they] ever do" and revealed Curtain Call as its working title.

In March 2021, Jon Oliva revealed that he had a battle with COVID-19 for two months the year before.