Kerry Ray King
Born: June 3rd 1964
Current Age: 47
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Instrument: Guitar
He is best known as the rhythm guitarist and cofounder of American thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since. He has also made guest appearances with acts including the Beastie Boys, Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Ice-T, Witchery and Megadeth. As a musician, he is known for playing B.C. Rich guitars with Marshall amplifiers.
Kerry King's first experience with a guitar was when he was still a child. Early albums, such as Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood, featured a "wailing style" and "demented soloing often mimicking the screams of the song's victims". Steve Huey of Allmusic described his (along with Jeff Hanneman) guitar solos as "wildly chaotic", and Thom Jurek, also of Allmusic, described his work on 2006's Christ Illusion as "create an intensely harrowing and angular riff that changes from verse to verse, through the refrain and bridge, and comes back again."
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. In GuitarWorld.com's Dear Guitar Hero, King noted that he "admires him to this day" as a guitarist, though he considered Mustaine a "hypocrite". In 2009 Slayer and Megadeth co-headlined a small, four show Canadian tour. In January 2010, Dave Mustaine and Kerry King were in a T.G.I. Friday's in Temecula, California, getting to know each other again. The feud between King and Mustaine was suggested by a Blabbermouth.net interview to have been dropped after a chance meeting at an airport, as King noted that he "just couldn't remember" what the feud was about anymore.
