31 Facts About King Diamond

King Diamond is the lead vocalist and lyricist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond.

King Diamond plays keyboards and guitars on studio recordings but uses live shows to focus solely on his vocal performance.

King Diamond is known for his distinctive shock stage persona.

King Diamond has been an influence for other rock and metal artists, including Metallica, Slayer and Cradle of Filth.

King Diamond left Brainstorm and began singing with local Danish hard rock band Black Rose.

King Diamond began experimenting with horror-themed theatrics and shaping a malevolent quasi-Satanic stage persona.

King Diamond left Black Rose and joined the punk-metal band Brats, where he met Hank Shermann.

In 2000, King Diamond decided to put Mercyful Fate on hold and continue on with his solo career.

In 2001, King Diamond worked out a deal with the band Usurper to sing backup vocals on the song "Necronemesis" in exchange for them shifting their recording schedule around to accommodate the recording of Abigail II: The Revenge.

In 2004, King Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot.

King Diamond guested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005.

King Diamond was forced to cancel a United States tour due to a herniated disk, causing severe back pain, which puts him in intense pain almost all of the time.

King Diamond made an appearance at Ozzfest on 9 August 2008 at Frisco, Texas alongside Metallica, performing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs previously released on Metallica's Garage Inc album.

King Diamond performed a cover of the Pantera song "A New Level" with Vinnie Paul, Scott Ian, Max Cavalera, and Nick Bowcott.

In 2009, King Diamond was revealed to be a playable character for the rhythm game Guitar Hero: Metallica, appearing with Mercyful Fate's song "Evil".

On 29 November 2010, Diamond was taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered several blockages in his arteries due to his heavy smoking habit.

On 7 December 2011, King Diamond appeared on stage with Metallica at the Fillmore in San Francisco to celebrate Metallica's 30th anniversary.

In June 2012, King Diamond performed his comeback concert at Sweden Rock Festival.

On Saturday 8 September 2012, King Diamond appeared along with Mark Tremonti on VH1 Classic's That Metal Show discussing his surgery and various details about upcoming events.

King Diamond was a special celebrity guest star in four episodes of the Warner Bros.

On stage, King Diamond uses a microphone stand consisting of a femur bone and a tibia bone in the shape of a cross.

King Diamond previously used a human skull, called Melissa, on stage.

King Diamond has changed the design of his make-up often over the years.

King Diamond cites Arthur Brown, David Byron, Alice Cooper, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Ozzy Osbourne and Robert Plant as his primary influences.

King Diamond follows LaVeyan Satanism, which he does not see as a religion, but a philosophy by which he lived even before reading occultist Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible.

King Diamond has expressed concern that religion has led so many people to kill and destroy each other.

King Diamond is married to Livia Zita, a Hungarian-born singer who has made appearances as a backup vocalist on the albums The Puppet Master and Give Me Your Soul.

King Diamond is his business partner, and is currently working with him to compile old footage for two planned DVD releases of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate live performances.

King Diamond helped him make remastered editions of the King Diamond albums The Spider's Lullabye, The Graveyard, Voodoo and House of God.

King Diamond has provided guest vocals for live performances of the medley at Metallica's concerts on three occasions: at the 1999 Gods of Metal festival in Milan, Italy ; at the 2008 Ozzfest in Dallas, Texas; and at a 2011 Metallica fan club gig in San Francisco, California.

King Diamond has appeared on the covers of many rock and metal magazines, and has influenced many artists, including Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Cradle of Filth, Cage, and Andy DiGelsomina of the Wagnerian opera metal project Lyraka.