Gerard Way (EmO)

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977 in Newark, New Jersey) is frontman, lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance; he is also elder brother to band's bass player, Mikey Way.

Way is of Scottish and Italian descent. He first began singing in fourth grade, when heplayed the part of Peter Pan in a school production of the play. His maternalgrandmother, Elena Lee Rush, taught him to sing, paint and perform. She also made his costume, which included traditional green tights. After this Way "turned his back" onsinging, saying, "Well, I don't want to be this weird singer kid, [I'm] into other things likecomics and Iron Maiden". He then decided to pursue graphic arts.Way had always been interested in drawing and comics because his childhood house was a "dark and dingy gothic-looking" place in the town of Belleville, New Jersey. Way says that as a child, he was not able to play much outside, because it was a dangerous area. Instead, he created imaginary worlds in his head, which led to his love for artwork.

As a child, Gerard came to the realization that everyone he cares about will eventually die, and that he will die alone. This has led to his current obsession with the idea of death.After graduating from Belleville High School in 1995, he attended School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. Gerard aspired to be a comic book artist and claimed his favourite comic-book team was the Doom Patrol. In2001, Way says he tried to sell an animated television series to Cartoon Networkcalled The Breakfast Monkey.^] He maintains that Cartoon Network turned down the pitchbecause it was too similar to Aqua Teen Hunger Force, then already in production.

In 2001, Way was working in the comic industry in New York when the September 11 attacks occurred. This event changed Way dramatically. He told Spin magazine, "I literally said to myself, ‘Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference!'"[3] Soon after, he formed the band My Chemical Romance. The band's first song "Skylines and Turnstiles" was inspired by Way's experience on 9/11.[5] The band's name, suggested by Mikey Way, came from a book written by Irvine Welsh, entitled Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. Gerard brought together Ray Toro, Matt Pelissier (later replaced by Bob Bryar), Frank Iero, and his brother Mikey to play gigs along the East Coast. He cited his musical influences as The Cure, Queen, The Misfits, and The Smiths, while Billie Joe Armstrong of Green day influenced him to play the guitar.

The band released its first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002 on the New Jersey label Eyeball Records. Gerard Way often gets song ideas from the newspaper. He sees lyrics as a way of telling a story, and usually loves dark stuff; "anything twisted, weird, and a little evil". The song, “Demolition Lovers”, is said to be about Gerard's former girlfriend, based on a dedication in the CD booklet.

Music turned out to be an effective means for Way to deal with his long-time battle against depression, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse, leading to the creation of deeply personal songs such as Helena,[6] written after the death of his grandmother. The band also collaborated with The Used lead singer Bert McCracken to release a cover of the Queen and David Bowie single Under Pressure on iTunes for Tsunami Relief charity.

In October of 2006, the band released their third album The Black Parade. During the shoot in August for Famous Last Words, band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way tore all of the ligaments in his foot which is said to be worse than breaking your foot. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[7] The band continues to promote the album and is scheduled to perform at festivals and tours throughout the world.