Dee Snider

Daniel "Dee" Snider was born on March 15, 1955, in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York City, the son of Marguerite, an art teacher born November 17, 1932, who died January 2, 2018, and Bob Snider, a New York State Trooper who later worked as a Nassau County court clerk. Snider has Swiss and Ukrainian ancestry. Though his mother was Catholic and his father was Jewish, he and his siblings were raised as Episcopalians after his mother converted. The family settled in the Long Island towns of Baldwin and Freeport, where Snider sang in a church choir, school choruses, and concert choirs. He was selected for the All-State Chorus and graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1973.

Snider joined Twisted Sister in early 1976 and became the band's sole songwriter. The group released their debut studio album, Under the Blade, in September 1982, building a following in the United Kingdom, and followed it with You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll less than a year later. Their third album, Stay Hungry, was released on May 10, 1984, and became the band's most commercially successful record. It produced the singles "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock," with the former reaching No. 2 on the UK singles chart, No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 47 on the 100 Greatest 80's Songs list. During this period, Snider developed a trademark stage persona incorporating metal-inspired drag, long blond curly hair, heavy eye shadow, rouge, a beauty mark, and bright red lipstick. In June 1985, he hosted the first episode of Heavy Metal Mania, the first MTV program composed entirely of heavy metal videos, which featured metal news, artist interviews, and in-studio co-hosts. Twisted Sister released Come Out and Play in November of that year, selling more than 500,000 copies in the United States.

In 1984, Snider was arrested for obscenity following a show in Amarillo, Texas, after he cursed out an audience member who was causing trouble. A fine was paid and the charges were later dropped. The following year, Snider testified before the United States Senate against the Parents Music Resource Center, which had proposed a labeling system for albums containing material it deemed offensive. The PMRC had included Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" on its "Filthy Fifteen" list alongside songs by Prince, Madonna, and Venom. The proposed letter-based labeling system was never implemented, and the music industry subsequently adopted the generic "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" label. Snider testified alongside John Denver and Frank Zappa. The PMRC counted among its prominent figures Tipper Gore, then-wife of Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, and Susan Baker, wife of then-Secretary of State James Baker. Snider and Tipper Gore developed a publicly antagonistic relationship, with Snider accusing her of mischaracterizing the lyrics of "Under the Blade" as sadomasochistic when he maintained they concerned medical surgery. Snider also challenged Gore's claim during the hearing that Twisted Sister merchandise featured a woman in handcuffs, to which Senator Al Gore clarified that the reference involved two separate t-shirts.

The fifth Twisted Sister album, Love Is for Suckers, was released in 1987. Originally conceived as a Snider solo project, Atlantic Records encouraged its release under the Twisted Sister name. Touring concluded in October 1987, and on October 12 of that year, Snider announced his departure from the band. He subsequently formed Desperado, which included ex-Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme, and bassist Marc Russel. The group recorded one album, Ace, which was never officially released but circulated widely as a bootleg under the title Bloodied, but Unbowed.

In the 1990s, Snider formed Widowmaker with guitarist Al Pitrelli, bassist Marc Russel, and former Twisted Sister drummer Joey Franco. The band recorded two albums, Blood and Bullets and Stand By for Pain. Later in the decade, Snider toured with a self-tribute band called Dee Snider's SMFs, or Sick Mutha Fuckers, whose regular lineup included Snider, Derek Tailer, Charlie Mills, Keith Alexander, and Spike, and sometimes featured ex-Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero. In 1993, Snider composed the theme song for The Terrible Thunderlizards. In 1997, he began hosting The House of Hair, a syndicated hard rock and heavy metal radio program broadcast on more than 200 stations across North America through the United Stations Radio Networks, running two to three hours per episode depending on the station. In 1998, Snider wrote "The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)," which Celine Dion recorded for her album These Are Special Times. That same year, he wrote and starred in the horror film Strangeland and penned a script for a sequel with the working title Strangeland: Disciple. In May 2009, Snider announced on The House of Hair that a further sequel, Strangeland: Rising Sons, was set to begin shooting in the fall of 2009 with a planned 2010 release.

From June 1999 to August 2003, Snider hosted a morning radio program called Dee Snider Radio on Hartford, Connecticut's Radio 104, a Clear Channel station broadcasting at 104.1 FM WMRQ. The show returned in August 2004 as a nighttime program on 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, running until June 2005. Snider was ranked No. 83 on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. He also released several solo albums and led the heavy metal bands Desperado, Widowmaker, and SMFs in addition to his work with Twisted Sister.

Snider brought his career to Broadway between 2009 and 2018, appearing in two productions. He performed in Rock of Ages and later in Rocktopia, extending his presence as a performer from the rock world to the theatrical stage.