Maynard James Keenan (born April 17, 1964) is an American rock singer. He has been a member of the band Tool since 1990 and A Perfect Circle since 1999.

Biography

Keenan was born in Ravenna, Ohio on April 17, 1964. After joining the army in 1982, he attended the United States Military Academy from 1983 to 1984. However, he eventually left the military to attend Kendall College of Art and Design. Before his years with Tool, Keenan sang for Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty (CAD) and TexAns.

In the 1980s Keenan moved to Los Angeles, apparently to work in petshop store design. He formed a band with guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Paul d'Amour (later replaced by Justin Chancellor). The line-up was not completed until Keenan's neighbor, drummer Danny Carey agreed to join. They called the band Tool.

In 1992, Tool released their first EP, Opiate, and toured in support of Fishbone. On tour, Keenan met Billy Howerdel, a guitar tech for Fishbone. In 1996 during the recording of Ænima, Howerdel played Keenan some of his songs, and Keenan was impressed. However they did not have a chance to begin collaboration until 1999.

Tool's 1993 release of their debut full length album, Undertow launched the band and Keenan into stardom. Keenan was immediately recognized as a singer and lyricist in the tradition of Ian Curtis and Robert Smith. His lyrics and vocals were melodic, grim, and angst-ridden.

Later, after a prolonged legal battle with their former label Freeworld Entertainment , the members of Tool decided to take some time off. Keenan found time to work with Howerdel. The band they formed, A Perfect Circle, began performing in 1999, and released its first album in 2000. As of 2005, Keenan remains the lead singer of both bands.

In February, 2005, Keenan appeared as a surprise vocalist at a benefit concert for the Asian Tsunami victims and performed three songs (Them Bones, Man in the Box and Rooster) with a partly reformed Alice in Chains, taking the place of deceased vocalist, Layne Staley.

Keenan is unmarried and has one son named Devo (born August 5, 1995).

He has a tattoo of a scorpion (though some think it's his spine) on his back, all done in blackwork.

"Finding Jesus"

On April 1, 2005 Maynard announced as an April Fool's joke - to the shock of many of his fans and friends - that he had "found Jesus" and would be abandoning the recording of the new Tool album temporarily, possibly permanently.

Kurt Loder of MTV contacted Keenan via email to ask for a confirmation and recieved a very nonchalant confirmation. When Loder asked again, Keenan's response was simply "heh heh". Loder also noted that Keenan had not capitalized Jesus, uncommon for someone who had just converted to Christianity. The announcement was most likely inspired by Brian "Head" Welch's 2005 decision to leave his band Korn to dedicate his life to Christianity.

On April 7, the official Tool site announced that the gag was up with the statement; "Good news, April fools fans. The writing and recording is back under way. When approached for comment on his recent encounter with the Son of God, Maynard said, "That guy's a punk!"

Discography

• Fingernails (1986) (Children Of The Anachronistic Dynasty)
• Never Again (1987) (TexAns)
• Opiate (1992) (Tool)
• Rage Against the Machine (1992) (Rage Against the Machine) Guest Appearance
• Undertow (1993) (Tool)
• Replicants (1995) (Replicants ) Guest Appearance
• Ænima (1996) (Tool)
• Mer de Noms (2000) (A Perfect Circle)
• White Pony (2000) (Deftones) Guest Appearance
• Salival (2000) (Tool)
• Lateralus (2001) (Tool)
• Thirteenth Step (2003) (A Perfect Circle)
• eMOTIVe (2004) (A Perfect Circle)
• aMOTION (2004) (A Perfect Circle)

Other appearances

• Performed on Rage Against the Machine song "Know Your Enemy," both on the studio version and live when the bands toured together.
• Sang "Silly love songs" on Replicants self-titled album.
• Dueted on The Deftones' album White Pony, in the song "Passenger."
• Contributed the line "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin" to the novelty song "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jellÿ (whose leader was Maynard James Keenan's roommate, and the receiver to the death threats in the segues "Message to Harry Manback" and its sequel)
• Together with his friend Tori Amos, performed the song "Muhammad My Friend" during a live concert. "Muhammad My Friend" is off Tori's record Boys for Pele.
• Appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Underworld in the songs "Bring Me the Disco King" and "REV 22:20" as well as remixes of "Judith" (Mer de Noms) and "Weak and Powerless" (Thirteenth Step).
• Collaborator for the now cancelled "Tapeworm" project (side project of Nine Inch Nails bass player Danny Lohner and vocalist Trent Reznor). "Vacant," the one track to come out of the project was performed live by A Perfect Circle on the Mer de Noms tour. "Vacant" was remixed as "Passive" on A Perfect Circle's 2004 release eMOTIVe.
• Has appeared on HBO's "Mr. Show with Bob and David."
• Also appeared on-screen in "Bikini Bandits" (2002) in the role of the devil. Later appeared in a film called "Sleeping Dogs Lie" as a cop.
• Although not an appearance, legendary Guitarist and Rock Icon, George Lynch cited Maynard as one of his ideal vocalists if he was creating a Supergroup.
• Contributed a small vocal part on the David Bowie tune "Bring me the Disco King". John Frusciante lead guitarist of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers performed the guitar tracks for the song.
• Sang vocals for Alice in Chains at a 2005 benefit concert in Seattle. He sang the songs "Them Bones" and "Man in the Box."

External links