18 Facts About Tom Araya

Tom Araya was ranked 58th by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time.

Tom Araya was employed as a respiratory therapist in the early 1980s and used his earnings to finance Slayer's debut album Show No Mercy.

Tomas Enrique Araya Diaz was born in Vina del Mar, Chile, but his family moved to the US when he was five.

Tom Araya's father insisted he either find a job or enroll in the course.

Tom Araya enrolled in a two-year technical course, learning about air mixture ratios, drawing blood, and how to intubate.

In 1981, Tom Araya was approached by Kerry King, who asked Tom Araya to join his band, Slayer.

Tom Araya accepted, using his earnings as a respiratory therapist to finance the band's 1983 debut album Show No Mercy.

Tom Araya requested time off of work from his employer, the Brotman Medical Center, for Slayer's first European tour in 1984 and was denied; 'We need you to come in today.

In 2006, Tom Araya underwent gallbladder surgery, which disrupted The Unholy Alliance tour.

Tom Araya was unable to finish the vocals for a song entitled "Final Six", which was to be included on Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion; later released on the special edition of the album.

In 2014, Tom Araya made a cameo in the heavy metal horror film Hairmetal Shotgun Zombie Massacre: The Movie, directed by Joshua Allan Vargas.

Tom Araya wrote the lyrics for the Grammy Award-winning song "Eyes of the Insane" from Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion.

Tom Araya has a brother, Juan "Johnny" Tom Araya, who currently plays bass in the melodic death metal band Thine Eyes Bleed.

Tom Araya has occasionally worked as a roadie for Slayer.

In 2011, Tom Araya received the keys to the city of his birth, Vina del Mar.

Tom Araya suffers from sleep apnea and uses a CPAP machine regularly at home and on tour.

In 2016, Tom Araya further explained that the main reason Slayer used satanic imagery was to scare people, in particular, the "Hollywood people", wanting to separate themselves from the "androgynous Sunset Strip metal scene of the 1980s".

Tom Araya was one of the first bassists to have a signature ESP bass series.