Geoff Tate (born Geoffrey Wayne Tate, January 14, 1959, in Stuttgart, West Germany) is an American singer and musician, best known for his work with the progressive metal band, Queensrÿche. Hundreds of modern, popular artists cite him and his band as a major influence.
Shortly after his birth his family relocated to Tacoma, Washington. Geoff states his influences are Rob Halford of Judas Priest and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. His aunt is a classical trained opera singer. Geoff started off his musical career with progressive band Myth, on lead vocals and keyboards, along with Kelly Gray (who later was Queensrÿche's first attempt at a replacement for guitarist Chris DeGarmo). He joined Queensrÿche (then called The Mob) in 1981. The band already had a full demo of songs, but there was one still left without lyrics. "The Lady Wore Black" became Geoff's first penned song with the band. In 1983 the band released their self produced and self titled debut EP. His 4-octave range of A1-A5, unique tone and intense expressiveness have placed him among the finest vocalists in the heavy metal genre. Tate has also separated himself from many other artists of his genre by writing with a social conscience as "the thinking man's metal band." Lyrics with these socially conscious themes were present on Operation: Mindcrime, developed more on Empire, and really came to fruition on the divergent work Promised Land.
In 2002, Tate released his first (self-titled) solo album on Sanctuary Records. It has been rumoured for quite a while that Tate would be involved in a project with Judas Priest lead singer, Rob Halford (with whom he previously collaborated on Hear 'n Aid), and Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, in a metal project resembling The Three Tenors. The project was to be called The Three Tremors. However, other than a few live performances, the project has not seen the light of day.
On January 22, it was reported that Tate would make his acting debut in an upcoming horror movie House of Eternity, alongside Candice Night of Blackmore's Night fame. He is also working on a documentary about subliminal messages in media.
Geoff has three daughters: Miranda, Bella, and Emily.
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