Dee Snider

Dee Snider biography

Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He was ranked 83 in the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalist of All Time.

Early life

Born in Astoria, Queens, Snider grew up in nearby Baldwin and graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1973. His father, Bob, is a retired New York State Trooper and Nassau County court clerk while his mother, Marguerite, is a retired art teacher. As a child he sang in a church choir, several school choruses, and Baldwin HS Concert Choir. He also was selected for the All-State Chorus by singing. While in eighth grade, Snider was in a Black Sabbath cover band.

Career

1970s-1980s

In early 1976, Snider joined Twisted Sister and became the sole songwriter of the band thereafter. The group released their first studio album, Under the Blade, in September 1982 and developed a following in the UK. Less than a year later, Twisted Sister released their sophomore effort, You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll. Their third album, Stay Hungry, hit shelves on May 10, 1984. This would become the band's most successful record with the hits "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock." To emphasize the "twisted sister" image, Snider adopted a trademark persona of metal-inspired drag with long blond hair, an excessive amount of eye shadow and rouge, and bright red lipstick. thumb thumb During the mid 1980s, before the premiere of Headbangers Ball, the first MTV program to consist entirely of heavy metal videos was Heavy Metal Mania. The first episode aired in June 1985 and was hosted by Dee Snider. It featured metal news, interviews with metal artists, and in-studio co-hosts. That same year in November, Twisted Sister released Come Out and Play which sold over 500,000 copies but was marred by a poor concert tour.

In 1985, a Senate hearing was instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), who wanted to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. The system was to include letters identifying the type of objectionable content to be found in each album (e.g. O for occult themes, S for sex, D for drugs, V for violence, etc.). Dee Snider, John Denver, and Frank Zappa all testified against censorship and the proposed warning system. Such a system was never implemented, but the result of the hearing brought about what is now the generic "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" label.

The PMRC was initially formed by the wives of Washington, D.C. power brokers Senator Al Gore (D-TN), and Secretary of State James Baker. Tipper Gore in particular became the face of the PMRC and a public foil for Snider in the hearings. Ironically, in the 2000 US Presidential Election cycle, Snider endorsed Vice President Gore for office.

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