David DeFeis (born January 4, 1961)[1][2] is an American singer, keyboard player, songwriter and producer. He is the main composer and leader of the heavy metal band Virgin Steele.
Voice and musical style
DeFeis is a classically trained pianist, with a bachelor's degree in composition from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook.[3] As vocalist he is self-taught, possessing around four octaves and a four notes:E2-B6
As a musician and a singer, he declared he was very much influenced by guitar players like Jimmy Page, Brian May and Eddie Van Halen because he wanted to do with his voice what they did with their guitars.[4]
The major part of the lyrics DeFeis writes are mythological, dealing with subjects from especially Greek, Sumerian and Christian mythology. All of them are based on real life in some form or another.[6]
Biography
DeFeis comes from a theatrical family: his father is a Shakespearian actor who runs the theatre company "The Arena Players Theatre"[7] while his sister Doreen[8] is a gifted opera singer who performs all over Europe.
A big fan of European classical music, at 9–10 years old he was introduced to rock music by hearing the band Stalk, with his brother Damon (on organ and piano) and his sister Danae (on vocals), playing in the basement beneath his room.[1] Damon DeFeis was later in the band Creation with future Kiss drummer Eric Carr, and died in the Gulliver's nightclub fire in 1974.
He began piano lessons at the age of eight. By age eleven, he began his career with Long Island's local heavy metal band Phoenix.
At 16 years old, he met for the first time his future partner Edward Pursino when DeFeis's band at the time, Mountain Ash, was auditioning for a gig at the high school dance. Mountain Ash was mainly a Black Sabbath cover band and, after the performance of the song "War Pigs", Pursino came over and introduced himself to DeFeis.[9]
At the beginning of the 1980s, together with Jack Starr and Joey Ayvazian, he started the first line-up of the band Virgin Steele. They debuted in 1982 with the song "Children of the Storm" included in the compilation U.S. Metal Vol. II.[10]
DeFeis collects swords: his collection includes more than 20 items.[18] In studio, sometimes he uses his swords to create particular effects for the Virgin Steele songs, and during the concerts he usually burns a sword on stage.[19]
Metal opera and theatre
Between the end of the 1990s and the 2000s (decade), he wrote music for actors based on the Oresteia and the Greek myths related by Aeschylus. According with German artists Walter Weyers and Martina Krawulsky, with the name "Klytaimnestra": "The House of Atreus" Metal Opera (musically available on the Virgin Steele's albums The House of Atreus Act I, The House of Atreus Act II) was performed on stage in Germany theaters by Landestheater Production.[20]
The premiere of "Klytaimnestra" in Memmingen, June 5, 1999,[21] has been the first ever regular musical theatre show based on heavy metal concepts.
In 2003, the same team released a third Metal Opera, named "Lilith", based on the material of album Visions of Eden. "Visions of Eden" was later on published in CD in 2006.
Producer
DeFeis owns his personal recording studio called: "The Hammer of Zeus" (sometimes also called "The Wrecking Ball Of Thor").[23]
He also produced albums released by other artists such as: Out of the Darkness and No Turning Back by Jack Starr, Nightmare Theatre by Exorcist,[24]Stay Ugly by Piledriver, The Sign of the Jackal by Damien Thorn,[25][26]Sin Will Find You Out by Original Sin.[27]
Side projects
1986 – Produced and wrote the debut album Sin Will Find You Out of the female band Original Sin.[27]
1990 – Played in a side-project blues band called Smokestack Lightning with Jack Starr and the future Virgin Steele's bass player Rob De Martino.[28]
1999 – Played the backup vocals & the keyboard-parts on the song "Epic" included into the first album of the New York band Immortally Committed.[29]
2001 – Appeared as special guest, singing on the track "The Final Sacrifice" included into the German supergroup Tobias Sammet's Avantasia's first single.[30]
2002 – Joined the New York cover band Carnival of Souls for some live dates with the Exorcist's drummer Geoff Fontaine, Edward Pursino and the current Virgin Steele's bass player Josh Block.[31]
2007 – Appeared on the Polish band Crystal Viper EP in the cover of Virgin Steele's song "Blood and Gasoline".[32]
2010 – Scheduled to appear on the next album of the Italian band Skylark, singing the song "Symbol of Freedom" together with Kiara Laetitia, their female singer.[33]
2013 – Co-wrote and co-produced the solo project of Kiara Laetitia, out on November 22. The EP also contains a cover of Victory Is Mine.[34]
