Corey Taylor

While Halloween introduced Taylor to masks and horror themes, Taylor's grandmother introduced him to rock music, showing him a collection of Elvis Presley records from the 1950s to 1970s.

He especially found songs like "Teddy Bear", "In the Ghetto", and "Suspicious Minds" to appeal to his interests the most, describing them as "good times".

Taylor also began listening to Black Sabbath at a young age, beginning with their early work.

He decided he wanted to become a singer when he and his cousin were singing along to Journey's "Separate Ways".

Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor.

He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist, and sole continuous member of the rock band Stone Sour.

Corey Todd Taylor was born on December 8, 1973, in Des Moines, Iowa.

He was mostly raised by his single mother in Waterloo, Iowa, and described it as a "hole in the ground with buildings around it".

He is of German, Irish and Native American descent on his father's side, and Dutch and Irish on his mother's side.

Taylor along with his mother and younger half-sister would often move around the country in search for job prospects.

By the time he was 15, he had "already lived in 25 states".

Before the series, there was a trailer for the 1978 horror film Halloween.

Taylor said this "developed some sense of Slipknot in [himself]".

Around 1979, Taylor and his mother saw the sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

In 1983, when he was nine years old, his mother and her boyfriend moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to become security guards for Burt Reynolds' ranch.

However, as they were driving there, they got stranded in Georgia and lost some of his possessions.

By age 15, he had developed a drug addiction and had overdosed on cocaine twice.

By this time, he was living in Waterloo, but some time after this overdose, he returned to visit his grandmother in Des Moines, and according to Taylor, "stayed and never went back."

She took legal custody of him so that he could continue going to school, and she helped him buy musical equipment.

He would later describe his grandmother as his "strongest influence" as well as his "rock, foundation and stability."

When Taylor was 18, he left his grandmother's house and went to various places in Iowa, Des Moines being a place to which he frequently returned.

Taylor attended Lincoln High School in Des Moines but did not graduate.

He later earned his GED.

Taylor co-founded Stone Sour with drummer Joel Ekman in 1992, playing in the Des Moines, Iowa area, and working on a demo.

After he formed the band in 1992 with drummer Joel Ekman, Shawn Economaki joined filling in the bass position, leaving the electric guitar position to be filled by Josh Rand.

Stone Sour recorded a demo album in 1993, and another in 1994.

He joined Slipknot in 1997 to replace their original lead singer Anders Colsefni and has subsequently released seven studio albums with them.

In 1997, Taylor was approached by the metal band, Slipknot, resulting in him abandoning Stone Sour while they were recording a demo album with Sean McMahon at SR studios.

After the first two Slipknot albums went Platinum, Taylor revived Stone Sour to record an album and tour in 2002.

In 2017, on an episode of Viceland's The Therapist, Taylor revealed that he was sexually abused at the age of 10 by a 16-year-old friend.

Taylor stated that he never told anyone about the incident until he was "probably 18" because his abuser had "...threatened to hurt me and threatened to hurt my mom".

At age 18, when Taylor was living with his grandmother, he attempted suicide by way of overdose.

His ex-girlfriend's mother drove him to the hospital in Des Moines and doctors were able to resuscitate him.

He describes this as the lowest point in his life.

Taylor first met his father when he was 30 years old, and now has a relationship with him, although he said their paths do not cross that often.

He has two half-brothers and one half-sister from his father's side.

Taylor is a founding member of American hard rock band Stone Sour.

His debut solo studio album, CMFT, was released in 2020.

His second solo studio album, CMF2, was released on September 15, 2023.

He has also worked with several other acts, including Junk Beer Kidnap Band, Korn, Disturbed, Apocalyptica, Code Orange, Anthrax, Steel Panther, Tonight Alive, Falling in Reverse, Soulfly, Damageplan, Tech N9ne, and the Clay People.