My daughter, along with a host of other American Girls, have this thing for Gerard Way, who is lead singer of the Emo band My Chemical Romance. Parents often frown on the music their children listen to. And while My Chemical Romance does seem to be a bit gothic, I noticed while watching a video with my daughter that Gerard Way seemed to be very talented. It seems there is a lot about this talented man that people do not know.
My daughter filled me in on a lot of the information about this talented singer, as I was interested. I double checked what she told me and found it was true, in addition to me finding out other things about Gerard Way.
Gerard is from the North, being born in Summit, New Jersey. While his mother and father both had a strong influence in his life, his grandmother was the true catalyst for his artistic career and his ambitions. It was his maternal grandmother and her name was Elena Lee Rush. She strongly encouraged young Gerard in the arts. She encourage him in painting and music. Gerard often mentions his grandmother in interviews and credits her with having a large influence on his life and career. He has even used the name Elena in reference to his grandmother in one of his songs, “Helena,” which can be found on, “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.”. I recently saw an MTV interview with Gerard Way and he mentions this fact in the MTV interview. (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GerardWay)
Gerard’s first public performance was in the play Peter Pan when he was nine. He then went to high school in Newark, N.J. and graduated, winning a scholarship to college and was accepted to New York’s School of Visual Arts and received a Bachelors in Fine Arts in 1999. There are not a whole lot of musicians now days that are college educated. (www.wiki.org/wiki/GerardWay)
The start of the band happened when Gerard Way decided to begin writing music. He got together with a buddy of his, and they proceeded to write songs and lyrics. Soon his younger brother joined the group, and before long all the members of the band were in place. They really liked the sound of the band, and decided they had a sure thing going. 9www.wiki.org/wiki/GerardWay)
Their name is quite unusual and many people wonder where they took it from. The name was decided on from an Irvine Welsh novel, called aptly, My Chemical Romance. They thought the name was perfect and of course it has stuck ever since.(www.imnotokay.net)
All the young girls in the United Stated are presently mouring the fact that Gerard recently became married. I am sure that this will not result in the posters being taken off the walls though! (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GerardWay).
My daughter has introduced me to the band’s latest cd, which is the Black Parade. I discovered that Gerard Way not only wrote the music and lyrics for most of the songs, but he was actively involved in custome design for the video. He mentioned in the MTV interview that he also was into makeup artistry , that he had learned in college . He therefore does a lot of the makeup for the band himself. (www.wikipedia.wiki/Black Pararde)
I am glad I have an open mind about current music. Many of the new group of musicians are trained in colleges and art schools. I think people should check them out and give them a listen. If you haven’t listened, be sure and check out My Chemical’s latest Cd, The Black Parade. Be sure and remember though that the band is considered Emo. That way, you will not be shocked!
Sources:
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GerardWay
www.imnotokay.net
Reference:
- www.wikipedia/org/wiki/Black Pararde
