Gary Cherone

Biography

Gary Cherone grew up as a fraternal twin in the early sixties in Malden, Massachusetts. Originally excelling in sports, Cherone set his sights on a professional basketball career. Unfortunately, a serious knee injury thwarted such dreams. From there, he let his love of music be his guiding light and influence. While working at a car rental shop in his hometown, Cherone formed a cover band called Myth in 1978, performing songs around Boston by The Who, Queen and Rolling Stones. In 1979, the musician formed another band called Myth with guitarist Paul Geary. In 1981, Cherone and Geary moved on to create another group called The Dream. This pop rock and metal band won top prize on MTV's Basement Tapes, a video contest for unsigned bands. With Cherone on lead vocals, The Dream recorded a self-titled six-song album on Toppe Records. But by 1985, a local television station bought the rights to the band's name, resulting in Extreme. From 1985 to 1996, Cherone was lead vocalist for the internationally famous rock group, releasing hit singles like More Than Words. The band also performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Extreme disbanded in 1996 and Cherone briefly worked with Houndstooth, a jazz side project. But the group was shortly lived when Van Halen and its lead singer Sammy Hagar parted ways. Cherone became Van Halen's lead singer from 1996 to 1999. But Cherone left the band to form Tribe Of Judah. The group was nominated for Boston Music Awards, including Outstanding New Rock Band. In 2002, the singer released his debut solo effort The Anthropic Principal on Spitfire. ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide