Who is Zakk Wilde? Biography and photos

Fans of "metal" know many names of virtuosic musicians. It is in this style of rock music that the most complex guitar parts are found. Zakk Wilde is known as a talented guitarist and composer. Already in 20 years he took guitar lessons, and in 21 he already recorded the album in a team with the legendary Ozzy Osbourne.

The beginning of a musical career

The first experience of playing the guitar with Zakka was not a success. He was sent to music school at the age of 8, but he soon abandoned her. In his teens he returned to music. Of all the instruments, the future idol of millions gave preference to the guitar. He learned to play it on his own, according to the compositions of the legendary AC / DC bands, Led Zeppelin, Motörhead.

At the age of 17, Zakk Wilde assembles his first own band, which glorifies him throughout the state of Jersey. The staff was called Stone Henge and was not known outside the state. Young musicians played for three years, after which the company broke up.

Cooperation with Ozzy Osbourne

Among the preferences of the young guitarist, the Black Sabbath group was especially distinguished. In 1987, he decided to go to audition for Ozzy Osbourne. At that time Zakk Wild did not consider himself an outstanding musician, so he did not expect to be invited to the band. He believed that he would receive only an autograph of his idol, but in reality it turned out otherwise. Almost twenty years he collaborated with the band Ozzy Osbourne Band.

During this time, as a lead guitarist, Zakk Wilde went on a tour with his idol and recorded eight albums with his band. Ozzy often had to work with his own solo projects. It is interesting that Zachq calls his wife "my Sharon", and the name of his own group contains the word Black, as well as the main project of Ozzy.

Pride & Glory

In the early nineties, Zakk believed in his own strength and decided to pursue a solo career. By that time, he had already learned how to make guitar parts and made them for all Osborne releases. He also mastered keyboard parts and tried himself as a vocalist. However, the first personal experience was unsuccessful - the trio of Pride & Glory could not conquer the American charts. Under this name, Zakk released just one album. The group traveled several times to tours with more eminent bands and played before their concerts, but Wylda did not win the first musical experiment.

The failure slightly upset the musician, but he decided not to stop there. For some time he prepared songs for a solo album and simultaneously worked with Ozzy, who decided to return to the stage. At the same time, Zakk began to look for himself. He auditioned with Guns'N'Roses and performed in one of the bars with his own compositions.

The main solo album

In 1996, Ozzy found a substitute for Wilde. It was time for Zakka to realize himself as an independent performer. In this he helped the company Geffen, which became the sponsor of his first album Book of Shadows. It included all the previously written songs. One of them was the song Thowin't It All Away, dedicated to the death of Shannon Hoon. It was with him that Zakk believed in himself as a composer.

Book of Shadows II (Zakk Wild) - an album released in 1996. It became a real discovery for metal lovers. Critics noted the unusual sound and the presence of a musician's own style. After this album, the record company offered to record one more, and Zakka's group began asking for beginners and already well-known performers.

Black Label Society

By 1998, Zakk had gathered his own team. He wanted to give the project the name Hell's Kitchen, but later changed it to the Black Label Society. This group lasted the longest, although it had serious problems with the selection of musicians - the rotation of the compositions took place several times.

Despite all the problems with his own project, Zakk Wilde albums released every year. At the same time, the musician for the first two years went on tours with Ozzy. The schedule was very tense, but the results of Zach were striking. The fans warmly accepted every new album. They noted that every year the group is getting better. Mixing and producing records Wilde preferred to do on his own. He is still trying to do his best at his own expense.

Long Play Stronger Than Death

It was this album that came out first with the name Black Label Society on the cover. Heavy guitar parts, reefs and cuts - so you can describe the work of Wilde. Most critics were happy to find in the first album of the group stylistic correspondences with other bands that prefer metal.

Despite this, fans of heavy rock warmly accepted the new album, and it sold out in large editions. Separately, it was noted that for the unprepared public work BLS were too heavy. Between 1999 and 2001, the maximum number of concerts was held in support of the new album. On them, Wilde often improvised and demonstrated new solo guitar parts. The result of this work was the album Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live, recorded from concert materials.

For the whole existence of the group came a large number of live albums and videos, which are called real benefits for playing the guitar for beginning metalworkers. Especially notes Zakk Wilde DVDSkullage. This concert video, which is a compilation of the best compositions of the team, including in his framework Wilde turns four acoustic songs. It was published in 2009.

The film "Rock Star"

In 2001, Zacca was invited to star in the film "Rock Star". The reason for this was that Zakk Wilder's growth is quite impressive - 188 centimeters. It was important for the creators of the picture to find a person who would be well seen on the general plans during the recording of concerts. Wilde played the guitarist of the group "Steel Dragon", around which the story was narrated.

This picture was recognized partly documentary. It was based on the history of the band Judas Priest and her soloist Tim Owens. The film was produced by George Clooney, and Wilde's partners on stage were Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. Interestingly, the second guitarist Kirk Cuddy played a professional British actor Dominic West.

There are rumors in the press that Zakk Wilde's guitar lessons gave the whole cast to the cast. He also helped edit the script and make concert scenes more accurate and faithful. Critics have not been able to find films in this film.

1919 Eternal

In 2002, released another studio work Wilde - the album 1919 Eternal. He attracted attention by his design, borrowed from the Nazi poster of the Second World War. This poster was used to recruit the Dutch. Album Wilde dedicated to his grandfather, who was born in 1919.
Attention to this album attracted not only provocative design, Zakk included the song America the Beautiful, which can be called an unofficial anthem of the United States. He played her instrumental version. In the same album, you can note a couple of songs that are interesting for their unusual system - Genocide Junkies and Life / Birth / Blood / Doom. The bassist of the band Robert Trujillo worked hard on them .

Return to old sound

Later, the band released a lot of great compositions. One of them, Stillborn, received recognition from the audience and rose to the 12th place in the rock charts. However, by 2006, critics noted that Wild lost his sound. He produced acoustic, concert and studio albums, but they kept afloat only thanks to reef lovers. In 2006, he disappointed fans with the album Shot to Hell, where the sound of guitars was too smooth. In addition, this album included a few ballads, too light in sound.

In 2009, Wilde will go to hospital with pancreatic necrosis. The time spent in the hospital gives him the opportunity to rethink creativity and in the albums of the group began to appear echoes of Osborn's style and other groups playing classical metal. As proof of this fact, you can bring the album Order of the Black.
In 2016, Zakk returned to solo work and released a sequel to the Book of Shadows. The second part included many good compositions. For example, the single Sleeping Dogs. Zakk Wilde presented this song a little earlier than the whole album. After the release of this song, several authoritative publications named the solo album as the most expected one in the year. Interestingly, all the songs were recorded at Wild's home studio, which he called Black Vatican. The work of the national project was carried out in a short time, as the guitarist tours a lot with his team and participates in national tours.

For the second solo album, about forty tracks were recorded, of which the musician chose only 14 of the best. Release again a solo album Zakk decided because of the continuing attention to the first part - Book of Shadows re-released several times. In his interview, the musician notes that the name of the studio on which the albums are recorded does not interest him at all, his task is to create good music. He stresses that, despite strict contracts, he does not feel limited in his creativity and no one tells him what to do.