Sebastian Bach

Sebastian Bach, born Sebastian Philip Bierk on April 3, 1968, in Freeport, Bahamas, is a Canadian singer and Broadway performer. After his family relocated to Canada in the early 1970s so that his father, painter David Bierk, could take a teaching position, Bach was raised in Peterborough, Ontario. He is one of seven children; his brother Zac Bierk went on to play professional ice hockey. Bach attended Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario, and traced his interest in singing to joining a church choir at age eight.

His professional music career began in his early teens when, at fourteen, he auditioned for the Peterborough-based band Kid Wikkid and was hired by guitarist and bandleader Jason Delorme. The group subsequently relocated to Toronto, where Bach moved in with an aunt with his father's permission. He briefly joined Detroit's Madam X before being recruited into Skid Row in early 1987, after Jon Bon Jovi's parents spotted him performing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding and suggested he contact Dave Sabo, who was seeking a lead vocalist. Skid Row's first two albums, Skid Row (1989) and Slave to the Grind (1991), were certified multi-platinum, with the latter reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The band's third album, Subhuman Race, was released in 1995. David Bierk contributed artwork to several of these records, painting the cover of Slave to the Grind, interior art for Subhuman Race, the cover of Bach's solo album Angel Down, and interior art for its follow-up, Give 'Em Hell. Bach was fired from Skid Row in 1996 following disagreements with bandmates, including a rift with bassist Rachel Bolan.

Following his departure from Skid Row, Bach pursued a range of projects. In 1993, he had briefly toured with Triumph following the release of their album Edge of Excess. In 1996, he joined The Last Hard Men, an alternative rock supergroup that also included Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion, and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a self-titled album for Atlantic Records, which the label declined to release; it was eventually issued in 1998 on Deal's Nice Records in a limited pressing of 1,000 CDs. The band also recorded a cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out" for the soundtrack of the 1996 film Scream. In 1999, Bach released his debut solo album, Bring 'Em Bach Alive!, a primarily live collection of Skid Row material that also included five new studio recordings.

Bach made his Broadway debut in April 2000, taking on the title role in Jekyll & Hyde, a production he reprised in 2004. In 2001, he appeared on Broadway as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show. He subsequently performed in the national touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar in October 2002, playing the title role alongside JCS veteran Carl Anderson. His Broadway career spanned the years 1997 to 2002. On November 28, 2001, Bach appeared at New York Steel, a benefit concert held in response to the September 11 attacks.

In early 2002, Bach became the host of VH1's Forever Wild, and a DVD of live performances under the same title was released in June 2004. From 2003 to 2007, he held a recurring role on the WB television series Gilmore Girls, playing Gil, the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, Hep Alien. In 2003, he auditioned for Velvet Revolver before the band selected Scott Weiland. He competed on MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar in 2007, finishing in third place, and won the second season of CMT's Gone Country in 2008. Bach starred in the 2006 VH1 reality series Supergroup alongside Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Jason Bonham, and Evan Seinfeld, with the resulting band ultimately named Damnocracy. He also appeared in the television series Trailer Park Boys and The Masked Singer.

Bach's solo recording output continued with Angel Down, released on November 20, 2007, through a partnership label he formed with EMI. He contributed backing vocals to the track "Sorry" on Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, released in November 2008, and joined Axl Rose on stage on multiple occasions between 2006 and 2010 to perform "My Michelle," including appearances at the 2006 Gods of Metal Festival in Milan, the Download Festival, and a Quebec City date on February 1, 2010. In 2005, he served as vocalist on the Frameshift album An Absence of Empathy, a collaboration with Henning Pauly to which he was recommended by Dream Theater's James LaBrie. Since 2026, Bach has served as the lead singer of Twisted Sister, continuing his career as both a solo artist and a band frontman.