Chad Gray is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is the current lead vocalist and co-founder of the heavy metal bandHellyeah, as well as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Mudvayne.
Early life
Gray is the son of Dan and Mitzi Gray of Illinois. In Hellyeah's DVD Below the Belt, he talks of how his grandmother, Betty Rau, raised him and brought him to perform in choir.
He quit his factory job that paid $40,000 a year to move to Peoria, Illinois and formed Mudvayne. Gray wrote Mudvayne's "Death Blooms" about his grandmother's disease. Gray has made several guest appearances with other bands, including on the songs "Monsters" by V Shape Mind, "Falling Backwards" by Bloodsimple and "Miracle" by Nonpoint. Gray has made an appearance during Mitch Lucker's Memorial Show and sang "Fuck Everything" by Suicide Silence.
Hellyeah
Gray became friends with Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, and they talked about the possibility of forming a supergroup. The following year, Nothingface toured with Mudvayne and talks to form the supergroup continued, although were constantly put on hold due to scheduling conflicts. At this time, Gray and Maxwell had brainstormed five band names. Mudvayne guitarist Greg Tribbett approached Maxwell "out of the blue" and wanted to join the band. Nothingface drummer Tommy Sickles originally helmed the drum kit for the band's demo, however, things did not work out and the search for a new drummer began. The band knew former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul, and tried to persuade him to join the band as their drummer. Originally, Paul was not sure if he would return to music after the death of his brother, Dimebag Darrell and an 18-month hiatus: "It was one of those things that I didn't think I'd be a part of this ever again without him, and after about a year and a half had gone by, these guys called me up, Chad and Tom , they were like, 'We're thinking about putting this band together, would you be into it?' First couple of times, I told them, 'No, I don't think I'm ready to do this yet.' And they just were real persistent, they kept calling me. And one night, I had been drinking some red wine and listening to some KISS on 12" vinyl record and I said, 'You know what, lets take a shot at this, lets see what happens.'" The band's persistence paid off and Paul joined the project. Paul commented about joining the project: "Everybody had their head in the right place and that let's-tear-the-world-a-new-ass attitude".
