Charles Michael Schuldiner (May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001) was an American musician. He cofounded the pioneering Florida death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the guitarist, primary songwriter and only continuous member until his death in 2001. He became the lead vocalist in 1985 after original drummer and vocalist Kam Lee left the band. His obituary in the January 5, 2002, issue of Kerrang! described him as "one of the most significant figures in the history of metal."[1] Schuldiner was ranked No. 10 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists in 2009 and No. 20 in March 2004 Guitar World's "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists".[2] In 1987, Schuldiner founded the publishing company Mutilation Music, affiliated with performance rights organization BMI. Schuldiner died in 2001 of a brain tumor.[3]
Schuldiner is often referred to as "The Godfather of death metal",[4][5][6] though he was not fond of the title,[7] remarking that "I don't think I should take the credits for this death metal stuff. I'm just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band."[5]
Biography
Early life
Charles Michael Schuldiner[8] was born on May 13, 1967, on Long Island, New York. His father Mal Schuldiner was Jewish and the son of Austrian immigrants, and his mother Jane Schuldiner was from the American South and had converted to Judaism.[9] In 1968, his family moved to Florida.
He started playing guitar at the age of nine.[10]
Schuldiner was originally inspired by Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and classical jazz, among others. He was particularly interested in the metal movement known as NWOBHM – New Wave of British Heavy Metal – and cited bands of that genre among his favorites. He frequently cited French band Sortilège as his personal favorite metal group.[citation needed] Schuldiner cited progressive metal bands such as Watchtower, and Queensrÿche as influences in a 1991 interview, as well as Kiss[11] and Coroner.[citation needed]Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate and Raven were among the bands that he claimed as influences in a 1993 interview.[12] The official Schuldiner website, Empty Words, quotes Schuldiner's mother making the claim that he enjoyed all forms of music except country and rap.[13]
Schuldiner performed well in school before becoming bored with education and eventually dropping out. He later regretted this decision. He has stated that if he had not become a musician, he would have liked to have become a veterinarian or a cook.[14]
Career
Taking inspiration from Nasty Savage,[15] Schuldiner formed Mantas (which he later renamed Death) in 1983 when he was 16 years old. He played guitar in the band, while Rick Rozz was on guitar and Kam Lee played the drums and performed the vocals. In January 1986, Schuldiner moved to Toronto and temporarily joined the Canadian band Slaughter.[16] However, he quickly returned to continue the formation of Death.
Death underwent many lineup changes. With Chris Reifert, Schuldiner eventually released the first Death album, titled Scream Bloody Gore, in 1987. He continued with 1988's Leprosy with the line-up of former Mantas guitarist Rick Rozz and rhythm section Terry Butler on bass and Bill Andrews on drums, and 1990's Spiritual Healing, where guitarist James Murphy had replaced the fired[citation needed] Rozz in 1989.
Schuldiner in 1989
After Spiritual Healing, Schuldiner stopped working with full-time band members, preferring to work with studio and live venue musicians, due to bad relationships with Death's previous rhythm section and guitarists. This earned Schuldiner something of a 'perfectionist' reputation in the metal community. Schuldiner had also fired his manager Eric Greif but settled and re-hired him before the recording of his next, influential release.[17][18]
Chuck Schuldiner in an interview for German Public Radio in 1991
Death's breakthrough album, Human saw the band evolving to a more technical and progressive style, in which Schuldiner displayed his guitar skills more than ever. He continued in this style (and continued the success of the band) with 1993's Individual Thought Patterns, 1995's Symbolic. He announced the following year that he had broken up Death and would focus on his new progressive metal band, Control Denied.[19]
Schuldiner also played guitar in the supergroupVoodoocult on the album Jesus Killing Machine in 1994 and played a guest solo on Naphobia's 1995 release, Of Hell on the track "As Ancients Evolve" as a favor to the band's bassist at the time who was a friend of Schuldiner's.[20] Schuldiner played lead guitar on a tribute track to Randy Rhoads called Hardly A Day Goes By with his Control Denied bandmates Chris Williams on drums, and Scott Clendenin on bass, as well as Craig Sease on vocals.[21]
He secured a record deal with Nuclear Blast in 1997, but the label required that he release another Death album before Control Denied. As a result, The Sound of Perseverance was released in 1998, followed by the Control Denied album The Fragile Art of Existence the next year.[22] Control Denied also had other players from the latest Death album but featured Tim Aymar, a melodic metal vocalist, as well as DiGiorgio. In a 1999 interview, Schuldiner spoke about why he didn't sing on the Control Denied album The Fragile Art of Existence "...these vocals are all I ever wanted to do in Death but couldn't. I've had this dream of recording like that for years, and it seems like a dream come true. Tim Aymar is an amazing singer and this is the main difference."[5]
Schuldiner was also asked to be one of the many guest vocalists on Dave Grohl's 2001 Probot. Grohl, Napalm Death, Ozzy Osbourne, and Anthrax all increased efforts to raise funds for Schuldiner's medical bills.[23]
Illness and death
Schuldiner had experienced "extreme neck pain" in early 1999[24] and was diagnosed with pontine glioma that May, on his 32nd birthday. He had surgery in New York City in January 2000, which successfully removed the tumor.[25] He continued his work with Control Denied. In May 2001, it was announced that Schuldiner's cancer had reappeared.[26] He was at first unable to afford the surgery that he needed immediately. A press release called for support from everyone, including fellow artists. Jane Schuldiner urged all who read the statements about Schuldiner and his illness to go out and get insurance, stating her frustration in the American healthcare system. Schuldiner had taken out medical insurance after his first surgery, but the insurer had refused to pay because the cancer pre-dated insurance being taken out. Many artists, including Kid Rock, Korn and Red Hot Chili Peppers, got together during the summer of 2001 to auction off personal items, with the funds assisting Schuldiner's medical expenses, an effort covered by MTV.[27] The auction was poorly managed and only a small amount of money was received by the Schuldiners.[28]Matt Heafy, vocalist and guitarist for Trivium, has stated that at the age of 15 his band had played a benefit show for Schuldiner while he was in the hospital in their days as a local band.[29]
The cancer ultimately had spread to parts of Schuldiner's brain that were said to be "too sensitive for surgery". Despite this, he continued to write music as his condition worsened. Control Denied drummer Richard Christy said "It was inspiring to see somebody going through something so hard and still playing guitar and writing music. Chuck was just so committed. He gave it everything he had."[24] By December 2001, Tim Aymar stated that "Chuck is in very bad shape."[30] On December 13, 2001, Schuldiner died at the age of 34 due to complications from brain cancer and was cremated.[31][24][32]
Legacy
With the assistance of Schuldiner's family, former manager Eric Greif handled his legacy as President of Perseverance Holdings Ltd. Schuldiner's mother Jane and sister Beth Schuldiner frequently interact with his fans and both have stated many times that they enjoy his music. Greif kept track of his recordings and handled Schuldiner's intellectual property. Beth Schuldiner has a son named Christopher Steele, who also plays guitar and has all of Schuldiner's guitars. BC Rich also released a statement in their 2008 catalog stating that Schuldiner's signature model Stealth will be available for purchase, and that endorsement is overseen by Steele.[citation needed]
A legal battle began from the time of Schuldiner's death on the settlement of the rights to the partially completed second Control Denied album, When Man and Machine Collide, which was recorded in 2000–2001.[33] Demos of these unreleased Control Denied songs, as well as early Death demos and live Death recordings from 1990, were released in the Zero Tolerance two-part compilation bootlegs by the Dutch Hammerheart Holdings company.[34] The matter was settled in November 2009.[35] There was a meeting held by guitarist Shannon Hamm and producer Jim Morris at Morrisound in 2012.[36] By 2016, former Death manager Eric Greif indicated that the album would not be completed.[37]
Tribute concerts have been coordinated or funded by Schuldiner's mother and family and various Death tribute groups internationally. Former CKY frontman, Deron Miller, who considers Schuldiner an idol of his, got the idea, while working on various projects with former Death guitarist (and pituitary tumor survivor) James Murphy, to do a tribute album.[citation needed] Murphy announced he would release a Chuck Schuldiner tribute album to commemorate his lasting mark on the metal community and Schuldiner's family publicly offered support for Murphy's effort, though it has never materialized. In December 2022, Murphy talked about the reasoning why the project was placed on hold.[38] Schuldiner's sister Beth confirmed via her YouTube channel that Death: Live in Japan, a behind the scenes Death video, as well as a potential boxset containing all of Schuldiner's works including some exclusive copies of handwritten notes by Schuldiner are in the works via Relapse Records.[39][better source needed] The Live in Japan release was cancelled as it was planned without the "knowledge" of Chuck's estate.[40] Schuldiner estate lawyer Eric Greif held a charity Chuck Schuldiner Birthday Bash in Calgary, Alberta, May 13, 2011, featuring speeches by Greif and former Death guitarist Paul Masvidal, as well as bands performing Schuldiner's music.[41]
Forbes said "Extreme music, more specifically the death metal sub-genre, would cease to exist without the musical brilliance of Chuck Schuldiner" [...] and "Within metal, there are few musicians who’ve shown such a profound prowess for technical and melodic guitar playing, all while playing music as extreme as death metal."[42]
Bradley Torreano of AllMusic said "Chuck Schuldiner's brand of heavy metal opened the doors for a genre that had only been hinted at by efforts from Slayer and Venom."[4]
Book
In January 2001, Mahyar Dean, an Iranian metal guitarist/musician, wrote Death, a book about Death and Schuldiner's poems. The book includes bilingual lyrics and many articles about the band. The book was sent through the site keepers of emptywords.org to Schuldiner, who in his words was "truly blown away and honored by the obvious work and devotion he put into bringing the book to life".[43]
Artistry
Schuldiner was mostly self-taught as a guitarist. In 1993, he expressed a disinterest in music theory: "I know enough about what I'm playing to memorize the scales and things, but I have no idea how you would label them. As long as I can play it, memorize it and apply it, I don't need to know what you call it."[44] His style was described by Control Denied drummer Christy as a "mix of melody, technicality and brutality".[24]
In the early days of Death, Schuldiner used a "deep, raspy" death growl vocal technique, which his mother claims "just came naturally" with playing aggressive music. Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork described Schuldiner's vocal tone as "less guttural than what death metal vocals would become and more abrasive than the thrash metal that inspired him [...] like fire tearing through piles of leaves."[45] Schuldiner said in 1993 that "it takes a lot of energy and a lot of throat abuse to get through a show."[44] By 1999, he emphasized that he would retire Death if Control Denied "took off", stating that "I hate screaming. I just don't like it any more."[46]
Death's original logo was designed by the original vocalist and drummer, Kam Lee.[47] Schuldiner adjusted its various incarnations during the length of his career. In 1991, before the release of Human, he cleaned up the logo, taking out more intricate details. The "T" in the logo was also swapped from an inverted cross to a more regular looking "T", one reason being to quash any implication of religion.[48]
Equipment
Schuldiner used a simple setup. For most of his career, his main guitar was a B.C. Rich Stealth fitted with a single DiMarzio X2N bridge pickup. For his amplification, Schuldiner used a Marshall Valvestate 8100 head played through a Marshall Valvestate VS412 cabinet. He used 10-46 gauge GHS Boomers strings, and Dunlop Tortex Standard .88mm picks. Schuldiner used very little effects except for a chorus effect during his solos.[49][50]
Personal life
Schuldiner was also openly against hard drugs; he is quoted as saying, "I've tripped several times. That's all because I don't like the hard drugs. And my only drugs are alcohol and grass."[14]
Despite the grim nature of his band, Schuldiner has been quoted as saying he's "a lover of life... friendship, and animals" and that "I would like to live forever if it were possible".[51]
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