1. Kerry Ray King was born on June 3,1964 and is an American musician, best known for being the co-lead guitarist and songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer.
37 Facts About Kerry King
1. 2.
Kerry King co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and is one of two members to stay with the band for its 44-year existence, along with Tom Araya.
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The youngest of three children, Kerry King was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
4.
Kerry King's father was an aircraft parts inspector, and his mother worked for a telephone company.
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Kerry King learned guitar on his father's Gibson ES-175 and later had a Fender Stratocaster which he traded for a BC Rich Mockingbird, beginning a long relationship with BC Rich guitars.
6.
Kerry King formed his first band with another guitarist who had been teaching him lessons, and this guitarist introduced him to Tom Araya.
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Kerry King discovered that he and Araya lived only a block away from each other, and they agreed to start jamming together.
8.
In 1981, Kerry King was at an audition for a southern rock band which Jeff Hanneman was auditioning for.
9.
Kerry King heard Hanneman playing guitar near the reception desk and approached him, soon learning that they liked a lot of the same music, and they decided to jam together.
10.
In 1984, Kerry King was invited by former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine to join his new band Megadeth.
11.
Slayer's future was briefly in doubt as Kerry King played several shows with Megadeth, though he ultimately did not join full-time due to his commitment to Slayer.
12.
Kerry King still lived with his parents and has said that the desire to not spend time at home with his family caused him to spend more time rehearsing with the band, which helped his musicianship improve tremendously.
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Kerry King says at that time their music was viewed simply as heavy metal and the term "thrash" emerged later.
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Kerry King was becoming heavily influenced by the band Venom, which helped shape Slayer's dark image.
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Kerry King says that after releasing Haunting The Chapel and Hell Awaits and seeing the band's audience grow steadily, he knew Slayer would be his career.
16.
The controversy surrounding Slayer's 1986 song "Angel Of Death" fueled Kerry King to dedicate himself to songwriting.
17.
Kerry King almost stopped writing music entirely due to how offensive he believed the music scene had become at that time.
18.
Rubin felt the track "No Sleep till Brooklyn" needed a guitar solo, so he called in Kerry King to lay down the part.
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Kerry King has since commented that his playing ability "certainly wasn't that of a virtuoso".
20.
The video for "No Sleep till Brooklyn", whose title was a spoof on Motorhead's 1981 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, was originally intended to feature Kerry King being knocked offstage by a gorilla, but Kerry King refused.
21.
Kerry King replied, "If there's gonna be anyone knocking anyone offstage, it'll be me knocking the gorilla", which was what subsequently happened.
22.
On Licensed to Ill, Kerry King played the guitar solo on the song "Fight For Your Right ".
23.
Kerry King contributed the main lead guitar solo and outro part to Pantera's song "Goddamn Electric", which appeared on the 2000 album, Reinventing the Steel.
24.
Kerry King's rig was set up in Pantera's bathroom backstage just after Ozzfest 1999 in Dallas, as the group still did not have their own dressing room, on top of not appearing on the festival bill.
25.
On October 21,2010, the final date of the Jagermeister Music Tour, Kerry King joined Megadeth on stage at the Gibson Amphitheater in Hollywood to perform "Rattlehead" which was the first time in 26 years that Kerry King had shared the stage with Megadeth.
26.
Kerry King contributed a guitar solo on the title track for the 2010 album Witchkrieg by the Swedish blackened thrash band Witchery.
27.
Kerry King appears in the music video playing his solo.
28.
Kerry King made an appearance in the 2009 movie Brooklyn's Finest as a member of SWAT team led by Ethan Hawke's character.
29.
Kerry King's first experience with a guitar was when he was a child.
30.
Kerry King described his and Jeff Hanneman's guitar solos as "wildly chaotic".
31.
Kerry King listed Venom, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath as his favorite bands during his teen years.
32.
Kerry King mentioned Eddie Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Ronnie Montrose, Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Randy Rhoads as other influences.
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Kerry King relocated to Phoenix, Arizona around 1987, and while living there, he was a neighbor of Judas Priest singer Rob Halford.
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Kerry King is known to oppose and strongly criticize organized religion by expressing his views in his songwriting.
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Kerry King is an avid snake collector who owns a reptile house and herpetology nursery called Psychotic Exotics.
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Kerry King has largely avoided politics, although he displayed sympathy for conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in the past.
37.
Kerry King's body has grown increasingly tattooed over his career, with Blender Magazine once producing a tour of his body ink.