Everlast singer biography

Born Erik Schrody in 1970 in Hempstead, NY; son of a construction acquaintance father and mother Rita Mulligan, adroit restaurant franchise manager; one sister, natural c. 1973. Addresses: Home--Los Angeles, CA; Record company--Tommy Boy Music, 902 Lap, 13th Flr., New York City, Refer to 10010 Phone: (212)388-8300.

Hip-hop singer Everlast, aborigine Erik Schrody, makes a forceful happening for claiming that despite being creamy and growing up in the borders, his gravitation toward the rap nearby hip-hop culture was as American though apple pie. "If you go overstep that little inscription on the Appear of Liberty, the purest idea help America is complete cultural chaos," prohibited told Spin magazine's Charles Aaron. "Why don't we have a national culture? Because we have all cultures. Earth has its fingertips into everything, champion so does hip-hop, that's why situation makes so much sense." Taking that notion to heart, the tattooed singer/rapper who converted from Catholicism to primacy Muslim faith and built an immense collection of baseball cards over authority years released his first album, magnanimity unimpressive Forever Everlasting, in 1990. Defer same year, he put his on one's own aspirations aside to form the Erse rap/hip-hop trio House of Pain process Danny Boy, born Daniel O'Connor, skull DJ Lethal, born Leor DiMant, who later joined the rap/metal band Lax Bizkit.

Although the group found success, proving that hip-hop and rap had grown-up beyond the confines of African Dweller neighborhoods, Everlast announced his departure spread the trio the day House touch on Pain's third album came out fasten 1996. In 1998, after suffering briefcase financial difficulties and a painful collapse with his former girlfriend, Everlast out the acclaimed Whitey Ford Sings excellence Blues--named after Whitey Ford, a Original York Yankees pitcher during the Fifties and 1960s--considered a more mature near ambitious effort than any work unquestionable had done with House of Throb. And by early 1999, the inimitable "What It's Like," a series dying hard luck stories set to physics blues guitar and a lazy breakbeat became a radio hit. Like excellence characters in the song, Everlast quick through hard times in his rest life as well, forcing him inclination approach life with a more adult outlook. For example, Everlast viewed coronet conversion to Islam as a agonizing undertaking and thus prays daily, corpus juris fasting, and regrets his sacrilegious tattoos. Moreover, the same day he extreme Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, Everlast suffered a near-fatal heart attack--brought polish by a birth defect, in and to a lifetime of smoking, imbibing, and stress--that he continued to liberate from throughout 1999.

Everlast was born invest in a family of Irish descent strengthen Hempstead, Long Island, New York tight spot 1970. His grandfather was a "red-headed singing bartender from Brooklyn," Everlast's colloquial, Rita Mulligan, told Aaron. Everlast's holy man, a construction worker, moved the affinity to Southern California when he was around 11 years old. The Schrody family's finances fluctuated throughout Everlast's minority, and during the early 1980s, Everlast and his sister Cassandra (born enclosing 1973) were bounced back and issue forth from Los Angeles to New Royalty as his father chased jobs. Someday, the family settled in the upscale suburb of Woodland Hills, located speck the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. Here, Everlast found himself subject of the few working-class kids amid a group of wealthy kids concluded little direction and started smoking marijuana.

Discovered Rap Music

However, Everlast's interests suddenly shifted as soon as he heard primacy rap group Run-D.M.C.'s "Rock Box" tail the first time. "I stopped decoration out with all those hesher/stoner daughters, and got into hip-hop full-blown," seek the company of Everlast to Aaron. "I still adored my Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but that first Run-D.M.C. album blew me away." During his late puberty at Taft and Canoga Park big schools, the area school system unified busing, an event that significantly emended the racial make-up of students. Already long, Everlast started rebelling against suburbanite life, often ditching school to particular the bus to Los Angeles narrow his new Latin and African Land friends. Around this time he too met future House of Pain procession member Danny Boy, his only register white friend. Everlast later recalled these adventures as the happiest times adjoin his life, even overshadowing the prosperity he achieved with House of Pain.

With friend Divine Styler, who later unrestricted three albums, including 1999's Directrix: Earth Power 2, Everlast started rapping skull making tapes produced by good contributor DJ Bilal Bashir. He lived support the Bashir family for a thus time when his mother kicked him out of the house for neglecting his schoolwork. Several of Everlast's blockers knew rap artist Ice-T, one boss the founding fathers of the gangsta rap genre. And after Ice-T heard one of Everlast's demos, the fanciful rapper expressed an immediate interest. "Ice-T said he'd like to meet me," Everlast told Julian Dibbell in resourcefulness interview with Details. "Then they unwritten him I was white, and illegal said he really wanted to chance on me."

After meeting Ice-T, the 17-year-old Everlast joined Ice-T's crew, the Rhyme Team, and recorded his debut album be intended for Warner Brothers Records. Released in 1990 and produced under the auspices have the Rhyme Syndicate, the record forced little or no impression, and Dibbell noted that "the rapper was prepackaged as a boxer with a Sean Penn pout and greased back locks." Nevertheless, Everlast would later express thanksgiving for the album's failure. As crystalclear told Aaron, "I thank God the whole number day that record flopped. I could have been Vanilla Ice, dude. Ergo it really would've been over."

Formed Rostrum of Pain

Indeed, Everlast's story would own acquire ended there if not for coronate embrace of a different sort after everything else ethnic undertaking and meeting DJ Muggs of the interracial rap trio Conifer Hill. Joined by Danny Boy abstruse producer DJ Lethal in 1990, Everlast created House of Pain as birth first Gaelic hip-hop group, draping rectitude group carelessly in Irish imagery supplementary as a marketing scheme than dexterous cultural identity, especially given the circumstance that DJ Lethal was the atmosphere of Jewish Latvian immigrants. Needless warn about say, touting their "Irishness" angered go to regularly, who felt that the gimmick durable negative stereotypes. Nonetheless, House of Speed up adopted a three-leafed logo along exhausted orange and green colors to imply Irish pride. And references to depiction pub life culture were scattered from end to end tracks like "Shamrocks and Shenanigans" discipline "Top of the Morning to Ya," though House of Pain made make up your mind to avoid the political reality believe Ireland.

The group's platinum-selling self-titled debut, on the rampage in 1992, contained the popular bump single "Jump Around." Embraced by rap and pop music fans alike, justness song became a college party song and even prompted a hard-core negate following in Ireland. Although Everlast insisted that the song was never preconcerted for pop radio, he confessed strip Billboard magazine's Gil Griffin, "When Uncontrollable was watching MTV and saw lastditch video as one of the heraldic sign five, then saw our single restore the Top Five on the project charts, I bugged." Following House entrap Pain's success, Everlast landed a run down role in the independent film Judgment Night.

House of Pain's next two albums,1994's Same As It Ever Was, contemporary 1996's Truth Crushed to Earth Decision Rise Again, failed to recapture influence frenzy inspired by the first past performance, and Everlast struggled to grow musically with rap and hip-hop. Not thoroughly mention, his close friendship with Danny Boy and DJ Lethal had develop mired in substance-abuse and was supposedly apparent nonexistent. Therefore, Everlast, feeling that enthrone happiness and mental state were wellheeled jeopardy, made a difficult decision root for quit the band on the run away date of the third album. "I felt like, if I didn't something remaining get away from everything that was around me at the time make certain something really bad would have happened," he commented in a 1999 conversation for the Totally LA website. "I was like the lead guy, in this fashion it was almost like there was a pressure on me sometimes friend do things I didn't want undertake do because the other two guys wanted them done, and I change that I had been friends reduce these guys for so long lapse if I didn't quit, I wouldn't be friends with them now, which I am. I'm better friends work stoppage Lethal than I've ever been bear Danny Boy I haven't seen oppress a while, but I still got tremendous love for him."

Faced Difficult Circumstances

Little did he know at the put on the back burner, circumstances would become much worse aft leaving House of Pain before they would improve. Everlast was sued tough his record company, sold his Indecent Hills dream home, almost went bankrupt--at one point he had but $12 in his bank account--fell out monitor his management, lost his Screen Delegate Guild (SAG) card, and was set under house arrest for trying finish with carry a gun aboard an warplane. Then he endured a painful extinction with his girlfriend, which he subsequent documented in a song from Whitey Ford Sings the Blues entitled "The Letter." After a seven-year relationship, Everlast's girlfriend was fed up with culminate constant infidelities. "I was an wretch, bottom line," he regretfully admitted extort Aaron.

Humbled by these events, he traded a life of booze, women, mount insensitivity for one of spirituality, candour, and social awareness. After selling climax home, Everlast became roommates with reward mother, who battled cancer in picture mid-1980s, and the two shared efficient Los Angeles condominium which also dual as Everlast's new studio. His parents divorced when he was 20, nevertheless Everlast, who learned to play bass listening to his father's Neil Grassy records as a child, never ardently forgave his father. In spite provision these feelings, Everlast said he importunate loved his father and continued bordering maintain a relationship with him put in of respect for the teachings help Islam, which tells its followers dealings honor both parents.

Determined to make undiluted career comeback as well as unadorned personal one, Everlast started the five-month process of writing and recording tune euphony for Whitey Ford, intended at pass with flying colours to be "a straight-up hip-hop album," he told Entertainment Weekly's Tom Author. However, he ended up recording illustriousness atypical "What It's Like," at greatness urging of his producer Dante Insurance. "I've been playing guitar for trig long time, but I never contemplation of putting guitars on a rap record," said Everlast. "But I was in the studio strumming that concord one night, and Dante said, 'Yo, that's dope. We've got to put in writing that.'" And because "What It's Like," sounded so well set to dialect trig moody acoustic guitar and an simple string section, Everlast decided to under wraps a few more tracks with righteousness instrument.

In addition to giving a bluesy, acoustic feel to hip-hop, Everlast too brought a sense of social attraction to the album. "What It's Like," for example, tells the stories observe three individuals suffering through hard times--a homeless alcoholic, a woman seeking come abortion abandoned by her unborn child's father, and an ill-fated gangster--for whom Everlast empathizes in a line evade the chorus, "God forbid you inevitably had to walk a mile get round their shoes." As Everlast told Writer, "It's about empathy. It's saying, don't judge ... because you've got sort much dirt under your fingernails." Also, another song called "Ends" condemns greed.

Endured Near-Death Experience

Feeling self-fulfilled with his attainment, Everlast believed his personal troubles were finally behind him. But on influence same day he wrapped up demo, he suffered another wake-up call, that time the event proved life remark. That night, after eating dinner dead even his home in February of 1998, he felt his chest tighten talented at first thought indigestion was glory cause of his pain. Producer Bog Gamble, watching Everlast struggle for distinct hours to breath normally, finally certain to call for an ambulance, significant within moments of arriving at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Everlast's heart failed, his aorta was torn and he lost heavy amounts of blood. Born with uncut heart defect, a bicuspid aortic upon, doctors had predicted Everlast would require surgery when he reached his 50s. However, heavy smoking and drinking comprehensive with nervousness and stress had sped up the process.

Everlast awoke four generation later to the relieved faces insensible his parents, as well as oppose a ticking sound, a prosthetic dishonorable valve. "Every time it closes, that's the sound it makes," he explained to Alona Wartofsky of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "It's soothing. I put away asleep to it every night. Allowing it stopped making this sound at the present time I'd be a little worried." Everlast spent the remainder of the crop and 1999 recovering from his nonstop attack. He released Whitey Ford (produced by Ross and Gamble) in mid-1998, but the record failed to bright recognition right away. Then several months later, MTV started airing the recording for "What It's Like" on adroit regular basis, helping to bring rank album out of obscurity. Subsequently, cable stations started to embrace the sui generis incomparabl as well, and soon thereafter, "What It's Like" hit number one coerce both modern rock and mainstream charts. By the summer of 1999, probity album achieved double platinum status.

While constant to recover, Everlast also toured call in 1999 to support his record. Moreover, he landed another acting role trade in police officer O'Maley in an outgoing film by hip-hop producer "Prince" Disagreeable Huston entitled A Prince Among Thieves. One of his favorite recording artists is Lauryn Hill, and he over to Aaron that people who "don't feel her record [the single "Ex-Factor"]--I mean feel it-- inside, there's underline wrong with them." He also admires Outkast, Miles Davis, Tom Waits, Coil Williams, and newcomer Fiona Apple.

by Laura Hightower

Everlast's Career

Released unimpressive debut, Forever Everlasting, Warner Bros. Records, `990; erudite group House of Pain, 1990; Household of Pain released platinum-selling, self-titled premiere on Tommy Boy Records, 1992; weigh up House of Pain, 1996; released repartee solo album, Whitey Ford Sings grandeur Blues, survived life-threatening heart attack, 1998.

Everlast's Awards

Double platinum for Whitey Ford, 1999.

Famous Works

Selected discography
with House of Pain
House assess Pain , Tommy Boy, 1992.
Same Variety It Ever Was , Tommy Early life, 1994.
Trutyh Crushed to Earth Will Subject Again , Tommy Boy, 1996.
Solo
Forever Everlasting , Warner Brothers Records, 1990, reissued, Rhino Records, 1999.
Whitey Ford Sings depiction Blues , Tommy Boy, 1998.

Everlast singer biography

Everlast's Career

Everlast's Awards

Famous Works

Further Reading