Corey Taylor

Corey Taylor first gained widespread recognition as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the masked, Grammy-winning nu-metal outfit Slipknot as well as the post-grunge and alternative metal band Stone Sour. Beyond those roles, he has built credits as an actor, author, and frequent guest musician, appearing on projects by Korn, Damageplan, Anthrax, Soulfly, Disturbed, and Code Orange. His first solo album, CMFT, arrived in 2020 and topped the charts by blending hard rock, metal, classic rock, punk, and hip-hop. The follow-up EP CMFB. Sides, drawn from leftover session tracks, surfaced in 2022, and the full-length CMF2 followed in 2023.

Born in Des Moines and raised in Waterloo by his mother, the lifelong Iowa resident developed early passions for science fiction and horror; a grandmother also exposed him to rock music. Those interests were offset by serious personal struggles with drug addiction and depression throughout his late teens. After moving back to Des Moines in the early 1990s, Taylor formed Stone Sour alongside rhythm guitarist Josh Rand, bassist Shawn Economaki, and drummer Joel Ekman. Drawing from Alice in Chains and Metallica, the quartet quickly became regulars on the local bar scene, cultivated a dedicated regional audience, and issued two well-received demos. Guitarist Jim Root joined in 1995; he and Taylor both departed Stone Sour two years later to join another Des Moines group, Slipknot.

Slipknot operated in an entirely different register from Stone Sour’s brooding, thrash-tinged post-grunge sound, presenting instead an anonymous spectacle that fused Marilyn Manson’s nihilistic nu-metal theatrics with Korn’s aggressive rap-metal intensity. Performing as “Number Eight,” Taylor made his debut with the band in 1997 and appeared on its platinum-certified self-titled debut two years later. Slipknot swiftly rose to prominence within the nu-metal movement, scoring domestic and international success with the gold and platinum releases Iowa (2001), the Grammy Award-winning Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004), All Hope Is Gone (2008), and .5: The Gray Chapter (2014).

Even while Slipknot dominated, Taylor reactivated Stone Sour in the early 2000s, issuing the self-titled debut in 2002. That gold-certified album earned a Grammy nomination, as did the 2006 follow-up Come What(Ever) May. Maintaining simultaneous leadership of two major heavy-metal acts—Slipknot released its sixth album, We Are Not Your Kind, in 2019, while Stone Sour delivered its sixth, Hydrograd, in 2017—has not slowed Taylor’s output. He wrote a monthly column for the British magazine Rock Sound from 2001 until 2016, took on acting roles in the 2013 horror films Fear Clinic and Bullied, and published his first memoir, Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good, in 2012. His debut solo album, released in 2020 under the acronym CMFT on his own Decibel Cooper Recordings imprint via BMG, featured the singles “CMFT Must Be Stopped” and “Black Eyes Blue,” reached number four on the Billboard 200, and was succeeded in 2022 by the EP CMFB. Sides containing unreleased B-sides, live cuts, and covers. Taylor sustained the momentum with CMF2 the next year; produced once more by Jay Ruston (Amon Amarth, Anthrax) and preceded by the single “Beyond,” the record appeared on Decibel Cooper Recordings.