About Kerry King

Kerry King was born June 3, 1964 in Los Angeles, California to a father who was an aircraft parts inspector and a mother who worked as a telephone company employee. He has been married twice, his current wife is named Aisha King, and has a daughter named Shyanne Kymberlee King from his first marriage. His main influences are Judas Priest, Venom, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. In 1981 King was trying out for the position as a guitarist in a band. After the session was over Jeff Hanneman approached him and the two began playing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs with the session drummer. Hanneman mentioned "Why don’t we start our OWN band?” [Laughs] and was like, “F*ck yeah!". ing had long hair, but then shaved his head when he started balding. His bald head, spiked wristband, long beard and extensive tattoo work (which covers his hands, arms and head) are his trademarks. King's acronym KFK, was revealed to mean "Kerry Fucking King!" in the January 2007 Issue of Guitar World.

King is an atheist, and he views organized religion as a crutch for people who are "too weak to make it through life on their own". King is Slayer's primary lyricist, and his songs focus on Satanic subjects, although he has openly stated that he neither believes in God nor Satan. He stated in the 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey that he feels religion is "the biggest brainwashing thing that is totally acceptable in America, and most other parts of the world, too" and states it's a "load of shit."

Henkka Blacksmith (Children of Bodom) has described King as "a real metal guy, very real, and doesn’t try to be anything. He is just as he is. He is the same on stage and off stage. He is a really, really friendly dude, very polite, but very straight in ways of saying out loud his opinion. He’s not afraid to disagree. He is real! King has had well-publicized disagreements with several of his contemporaries, including a long-standing feud with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, who attempted to persuade King to leave the "posers," "lame spikes," and "eyeliner" of Slayer behind and focus on Megadeth. Recently in GuitarWorld.com's Dear Guitar Hero, King "admires him to this day" as a guitarist, even though he considers Mustaine a "hypocrite".

In addition to appearing on Slayer's albums, he has also made several guest appearances as lead guitarist. While lending production to 1986’s Reign in Blood, Rick Rubin was also helming production of the Beastie Boys debut album Licensed to Ill. Rubin felt the track "No Sleep till Brooklyn" needed a guitar solo, so he offered King several hundred dollars to lay down the part. King has since commented that his playing ability "certainly wasn’t that of a virtuoso". "No Sleep till Brooklyn", whose title was a spoof on Motörhead’s 1981 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, was originally intended to feature King being knocked offstage by a gorilla in its music video though King refused. King replied, "If there’s gonna be anyone knocking anyone offstage, it’ll be me knocking the gorilla", which is what subsequently happened. King has reminisced that he thought the Beastie Boys were cool, although never having heard any of their music at the time. King contributed a lead guitar outro part to Pantera’s song "Goddamn Electric", which appeared on the 2000 album "Reinventing the Steel". King’s rig was set up in Pantera’s bathroom backstage just after Ozzfest in Dallas, as the group still didn't have their own dressing room on top of not appearing on the festival bill. After King had finished the first take, Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell ran in and yelled "DON’T LET HIM DO IT AGAIN!"[13] King tried again with the hope he would find a superior rendition, though the first take was used. King also contributed lead guitar solos to the following songs; "Disorder" with rapper Ice-T (from the 1992 album "Judgment Night"), Rob Zombie’s "Dead Girl Superstar" (from the 2001 album The Sinister Urge), Hatebreed’s "Final Prayer" (from the March 2002 album Perseverance) and Sum 41’s "What We're All About (The Original Version)", (from the June 2002 released Spider-Man movie soundtrack). Kerry King, who is a big wrestling fan, was the guest announcer for the match between Supreme and Kronus, the finals match of the death match tournament at the XPW event "Baptized in blood" on June 20, 2000. He was however announced by regular announcer Kris Kloss as the "lead singer of Slayer", which King immediately corrected by yelling "It's guitar" as soon as he was given the microphone. He entered the ring to the sounds of the Slayer song "Angel of Death" from the album Reign in Blood. King has also made several guest appearances in Marilyn Manson's recent "Rape Of The World" tour, joining the band to play classic tracks such as "Little Horn" and "Irresponsible Hate Anthem". Many fans noticed elements of King's own style used on these occasions. There are also rumours and hints from Manson that King may appear on Marilyn Manson's new album that they recorded in 2008.

Kerry is a long time and noted snake breeder, and is known to pop up at Southern California reptile events and pet shops with little notice. He currently specializes in carpet pythons. Kerry's snakes were recently shown in an interview with Blender.com.Kerry King's Obsessions: Snakes! Kerry King also participated in online chat discussions at the popular reptile web site kingsnake.com in 2005 and again in 2008 and then a podcast interview in 2009.

Kerry King's Equipment

King favors neck-thru guitars in studio recordings and live performances.
B.C. Rich signature KKV and Warlock (KKW) guitars.
Marshall Amplification JCM-800 2203KK Custom Amps
Celestion G12K-100 and Vintage 30 Speakers
Jim Dunlop Signature Strings .010-.046 for Standard E Flat Tuning, .046 string is replaced with a .052 one for Dropped Tunings
EMG, Inc. 85 (Neck) and 81 (Bridge) Pick-ups with EMG PA-2 Preamp/Gain boost
Fernandes Sustainer
TKL Cases
Shure UHF Wireless System
Kahler Tremolo System
Monster Cable
In Tune Guitar Picks
Boss Corporation RGE-10 Graphic Eq
Marshall Mode Four 4x12" speaker cabinets with Celestion 12" speakers
Radial Tonebone Trimode Classic Tube Distortion
Dunlop DCR-1SR Rack Crybaby Wah
Dunlop Kerry King Q-Zone pedal
Dunlop Zakk Wylde Signature Wah Pedal
Dunlop Dimebag Darrell Signature Wah Pedal
After Dimebag Darrell was killed, King, a good friend of Darrell's, received a guitar designed by Dimebag and built by Dean Guitars. The guitar is shaped like a Razorback V with tribal designs in the finish reminiscent of King's tattoos.
On early recordings, King used a DiMarzio Mega Drive humbucker in the bridge position of his guitars.
King also used to play ESP guitars.