What is the name of the lead singer of the skeleton group. Group Skillet

Group Skillet was founded in 1996 by John Cooper. The team promotes the Christian faith and the evangelical position. The band's discography includes 9 successful albums. During their career, the musicians have been nominated for two dozen different awards.

Creation of a team

The founder of the group has always dreamed of a team in which he could be the frontman. In the mid-1990s, people's musical preferences changed a lot. Heavy and pop metal are gone, replaced by grunge. This musical direction was to John's liking. The dream of creating your own team could come true. Because of his Christian preferences and the influence of different people, John named Skillet team. The band's biography begins in Memphis, Tennessee. Here the first performances of the musical group took place.

The pastor has always admired the musician's talent. One day, he offered to form his own band with Fold Zandura lead singer Ken Sturt. After a joint performance, the pastor decided to become a producer of the group and create a Christian musical group. Trey McLarkin later joined them. He was not a fan of rock and decided to help the guys until they find a real fanatical drummer. At the same time, John began to practice his voice with grunge vocals. But due to the strong influence of Christian music, the result was a vocal hybrid. The vocals were reminiscent of the music of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. The name Skillet ("frying pan") denoted an admixture of different musical directions.

Ardent records label and recording of the first albums

The Skillet group quickly became famous and won the hearts of the first fans. A month later, the Ardent records label offered the team cooperation and recording of the first album. Paul Ambersold helped them to record their debut album. In November 1996, the band released their self-titled debut album Skillet. The songs "Saturn", "Gasoline" and "I Can" gained particular popularity. After the decline in popularity to grunge, the band decided to change the style of performance. They added an electronic sound to their new songs. Skillet began to be compared to Nine Inch nails.

During the recording of the second collection "Hey You, I Love Your Soul", the band's staff imagined in what rhythm, genre of performance they needed to compose songs. After that, the musicians tried to collaborate with a major label. They worked with all the companies, but due to the Christian content of their tracks, Skillet was never able to sign a contract. The super hit "Locked in a Cage" won the hearts of many fans. But as soon as the labels found out that the Skillet team were Christians, they immediately refused to cooperate. As a result, the next release of the group was released on Ardent records.

Dramatic changes and first glory

In 1998, John Cooper's wife, Corey Cooper, joined the band. She invited the team to go on tour to Europe. Participants supported this risky idea. And the risk was justified - the concerts went off with a bang. After the tour ended, John and Cooper continued to lead worship at the Memphis church. In 1999, there were cardinal changes in the team. Ken left the band and was replaced by Kevin Haland. Later, the musician admitted that he devoted too little time to his beloved wife and two children, so he left the band and found a less busy job.

Already together with Kevin, the musicians began recording the third collection. In early 2000, Skillet released their third album, Invincible. In this collection, the post-industrial sound has become the most pronounced and modern. The song "Rest with Invincible" entered the top five tracks of the year, according to CHR. musical composition"Best kept secret" received airplay on MTV. It is this song that is called the biggest hit of the band.

After the release of this album, Skillet began to gain popularity high speed. The team was noticed by the media, their videos were played on channels, the tracks were played on radio stations. For the kindness and sincerity of the songs, the group fell in love with millions of fans.

Modern team Skillet

To date, the Skillet group has 4 members. Founder John Cooper and his wife Corey Cooper are considered the main ones. The backing vocalist and drummer is now Jen Ledger. Seth Morrison is the lead guitarist.

The band's discography includes 9 successful albums. The team was awarded a Grammy for the best Christian albums. In 2011, Skillet received a music award for best album And best performer on annual award Billboard Music Awards. The band was awarded the prestigious Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards 6 times.

Group Founder Skillet- John Cooper. Since childhood, he was obsessed with Christianity, accepting his teachings as the only true one, this is what was reflected in the near future on the work of his group. IN early years he began to master the guitar, trying to write the first songs. It is worth considering in detail precisely his biography, as if it were not for John Cooper, then the groups Skillet didn't exist.

He took part in the first team at the age of 15 (actually like). Then he began to play in a group founded at a church parish. The decisive role was played by the local priest, who invited him to form his own band and record the first demo. So the group got together Skillet. Shortly before that, John had an idol - Kurt Cobain(), in the assembled composition, he was the youngest participant, but this fact did not bother him at all.

Naturally, at first the main bias was on style and Post Industrial. After some time, the label became interested in the new team Ardent records, who later offered to record the album in the studio. It becomes an ordinary ordinary team, none of the participants wanted to, so it was decided to take a landmark on. Since grunge as a style began to gradually die out, the guys began to look for new alternatives. At that time, all the participants had different musical tastes, so the album turned out to be very diverse, but when recording the second album, all the participants decided exactly in which direction it was worth working together.

After that, it was decided to change the label, but since all their music was exclusively Christian. Search new studio for the release of their records dragged on for a long time, in the end, the group returned to their original label.

During the first tour, the founder's wife joins the group.

1998 gives the first fruits for the formation of the group on the world music scene - the first tour of the cities of Europe starts. 2000 brings long-awaited popularity, nominations for various music awards and awards. It was during this period that the en group drew its attention to the media. At the same time, Christian music industry notices the growing potential of his ward team, thus Skillet takes many Christian music awards (of course, in the mainstream music field, they mean little, but for church fanatics, this means a lot).

At the same time, the musicians understand that the main focus in their songs should be on the youth, otherwise the intended goal will be impossible to achieve. There was also one distinguishing feature, many friends and fans said that Skillet They sound much better live than they do on recordings. This prompted John to record a live album.

Today Skillet successfully progresses (develops) and gives many concerts. They were able to find their niche in the world music arena.

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Skillet is a rock band from Memphis, Tennessee formed in 1996. Skillet was founded by John Cooper on bass and vocals and Ken Stewarts on guitar. They originally played in two different Christian bands: Seraph and Urgent Cry. On the advice of their pastor, they opened for Fold Zandura together and recorded several demos together. Later, Trey McLarkin joined John and Ken as drummers. About a month after the guys started playing together, ForeFront Records became interested in them and offered them a contract. Ken and John agreed to this offer, as they had long wanted to play together.

The name Skillet for the band was suggested by the same pastor who had advised Ken and John to start the band. Such a name was supposed to symbolize a mixture of various musical directions together.

In 1996, together with producer Paul Ambersold, the musicians recorded and released their self-titled debut album. The songs for the album were written by Stewart and Cooper. According to Ken, they took ideas for songs from the Bible, sermons, prayers, books and life. They also said that the band wanted God to be able to reach "lost" people through their album. The disc was generally positively received. music critics, but did not have commercial success: The album failed to enter any of the American charts.

In 1997, Skillet began recording their second album, Hey You, I Love Your Soul, which was released in 1998. This album marked a change in the band's style - the transition from grunge to more relaxed alternative rock. During the tour, John's wife, Corey Cooper, joined Skillet in support of him, playing the synthesizer and electric guitar. musical directions together. This name is still not very liked by the members of the group, but it reflects its essence well.

In 2005, their album Collide was nominated for the Best Rock Gospel Album Grammy award, and in 2007 another album, Comatose, was nominated for the Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album: Comatose award.

Comatose hit the hundred for the first time best songs Billboard 200 - to 44th place. The album was certified gold in 2009.

Audio recordings of Hero and Monster got into various TV shows, became soundtracks for video games. Hero was used to advertise the first football match 2009 NFL season between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans. This song is also featured on the soundtrack of the video game WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. Monster was used in an episode of Jason: The Pretty-Boy Bully on MTV's Bully Beatdown. She was also the theme for Battle Royale (2010) and Hell in a Cell.
Also, the song Awake and Alive became the soundtrack to the movie "Transformers 3: Dark side Moon."

1. John Cooper and Can Stewart are the founders of Skillet. They decided for a long time which of them would be the vocalist, but in the end this role went to John.

2. When Jen auditioned for Skillet as a drummer, John didn't like her. Despite this, Ledger eventually got into the team, but only thanks to Corey, who persuaded her husband to do it. Later, when John found out that Jen was 17 at the time, he said that if he had known her age, he would not have allowed her to audition at all.

3. Skillet drummer Jen Ledger released her debut album in April 2018 solo album. You can listen to it, also there you will find Jen's comments about her solo career.

5. John and Corey met in church when John made the decision to become celibate and Corey came in to pray. John was struck by her beauty and therefore asked the priest for an absolution for one girl. After a short time, they got married.

6. The newlyweds did not give each other rings, they approached this tradition in a more original way, having tattooed wedding jewelry on the ring fingers.

7. John Cooper's parents were Christian, so they forbade their son to listen to rock music.

8. John wrote the song "Savior", which became a worldwide hit, in just 10 minutes.

9. Corey loves Russia very much. In 2013, during a Russian tour, she promised fans to learn Russian.

10. Before John realized himself in the music field, he worked in the church.

11. After leaving Skillet, Ben co-owned LifeLoveMusic, a clothing company.

12. Today, the Cooper family lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Nearby lives Father Corey, who has his own church, where he has been holding services for over 40 years.

13. Jen Ledger was born in England but now also lives in Kenosha and goes to Father Corey's church.

14. Skillet's lead guitarist, Seth Morrison, lives in Nashville.

15. The album called "Rise", released in 2013, was the first in which Seth recorded with the band Skillet.

16. Seth Morrison is of Russian descent.

17. In one of his interviews, John Cooper said that his favorite song is "Rebirthing".

18. Corey Cooper is 30 cm shorter than her husband John (Corey's height is 158 cm, John's is 188 cm)

19. Each Skillet member cares deeply about their fans.

20. The Coopers have a tradition: they each New Year watch all parts of the film "The Lord of the Rings".

21. Son of John and Corey Cooper, Xavier loves bands like Papa Roach, Three Days Grace and Alice Cooper.

23. Corey uses a PRS Custom 22 guitar.

24. One of Corey's tattoos is an excerpt from "Confessions" by Augustine Aurelius.

25. John Cooper is a fan of Russian things, including he collects books by Russian authors, among them are the works of Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy.

The Christian band "Skillet" was formed in 1996 by vocalist John Cooper and guitarist Ken Steorts. The first of them recently left the ranks of "Seraph", and the second left the collapsed "Urgent Cry", but since both of these teams worked in different directions, the newborn project was named after the frying pan on which it was supposed to "fry and mix" former styles. Drummer Trey McClerkin was the third to join the line-up, and less than a month had passed since his arrival, when the Christian label "ForeFront Records" became interested in the band. Already in the fall of 1996, "Skillet" released their debut album, stuffed with not too heavy post-grunge and spiritual lyrics.

The work was produced by Paul Ebersold, Cooper, in addition to the microphone, was responsible for bass and keys, and his partners helped him with backing vocals. The same company also recorded the second record, but the sound of "Hey You, I Love Your Soul" was noticeably different from the debut album. On the new album, the musicians moved away from grunge roots and leaned on electronics, which made critics blame the "frying pans" for borrowing from "Nine Inch Nails".

Meanwhile, it was getting hard for John to work live, and he called in his wife, Corey, who relieved him of his keyboard duties. Shortly before the recording of the third feature, Miss Cooper was introduced into the official cast, and the departed family problems Steorts was replaced by Kevin Haaland. "Invincible" turned out to be even more electronic than "Hey You, I Love Your Soul", and after its release, another castling took place in the band, and Lori Peters took Trey's place. In late 2000, Skillet released a special service album, Ardent Worship. The record was recorded live and consisted of half original material, half covers. The next studio album "frying pan" was reminiscent of "Marilyn Manson" in style (Cooper's visit to one of the famous shock rocker's concerts affected here), but the lyrics were still exclusively religious in nature.

Shortly before the end of the "Alien Youth" sessions, Haaland left the band, and one of the tracks was being completed with new guitarist Ben Kasika. The title track from the record was in great demand in the Christian market, and thanks to this, "Skillet" were able to acquire the status of headliners.

However, the group did not want to stand still and, having changed their landmarks, the musicians released the "Collide" program, inspired by the work of "Linkin Park" and "P.O.D.". The album, as well as "Alien Youth", hit the coveted two hundred "Billboard", and therefore the majors finally paid attention to the group. Another opus, recorded under the auspices of "Lava Records" (a division of "Atlantic"), continued the style of "Collide", but the overly protruding keyboards were replaced by orchestral arrangements and guitar distortion. "Comatose" debuted at number 55 on the main Billboard chart and peaked at number 4 on the "Top Christian Albums" list. Since January 2008, Jen Ledger has become the new drummer for Skillet, as Laurie is tired of touring.

In the autumn of the same year, the live album "Comatose Comes Alive" was released, and the following January, work began on the album "Awake". The longplay, located on the second step of the "Billboard", became the final breakthrough for the "frying pans" into the mainstream, and the greatest role the single "Monster", made in the manner of Rob Zombie, played in this.