About Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have been praised for their elaborate shock rock theatricality. He has sold an estimated 15 million albums worldwide.
Zombie initially rose to fame as a founding member and the frontman of heavy metal band White Zombie, with whom he released four albums. His first solo effort, the 1996 song "Hands of Death ", was written and performed with Alice Cooper and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. His debut solo studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe, was released in 1998; White Zombie disbanded a month later. Hellbilly Deluxe sold over 3 million copies worldwide and spawned three singles. His second studio album, The Sinister Urge, was released in 2001 and became his second platinum album in the U.S. His third studio album, Educated Horses, was released in 2006 and marked a departure from his earlier style. It became his third album to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200, but saw a decrease in sales compared to his previous releases. His fourth studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2, released in 2010 and peaked at no. 8 in the U.S. A remix album, Mondo Sex Head, released in 2012 and was followed by his fifth album Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor in 2013. In 2016, Zombie released his sixth album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, and his seventh studio album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, was released in 2021.
Zombie directed the horror film House of 1000 Corpses in 2000, though the controversial project was not released until 2003, and has since been described as a cult classic. Zombie followed the film with two sequels in his Firefly trilogy: The Devil's Rejects and 3 from Hell . After the success of his first two films he directed Halloween , a remake of the classic 1978 horror film. The film became his highest-grossing to date, though was generally received negatively by critics. He later directed Halloween II , which failed to match the commercial success of its predecessor. Zombie has also directed the films The Haunted World of El Superbeasto , The Lords of Salem , 31 , and The Munsters .
Zombie was born Robert Bartleh Cummings in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on January 12, 1965, the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings. His younger brother, Michael, uses the stage name Spider One and is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, he had a fascination with horror films and "always wanted to be Alice Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Bela Lugosi, and Stan Lee". He has said of his childhood, "I didn't aspire to be anything. I was just a dopey kid. Basically everyone seemed amazing to me as a kid. I grew up in some nowhere town... anybody that even seemed remotely famous just seemed like they were on another planet."
Zombie's parents worked at a carnival. In 1977, when he was 12, his parents chose to leave after a riot broke out at the carnival and tents were set on fire. He said of the experience, "Everybody's pulling out guns, and you could hear guns going off. I remember this one guy we knew, he was telling us where to go, and some guy just ran up to him and hit him in the face with a hammer—just busted his face wide open. My parents packed up real quick, and we took off." He later elaborated, "I think someone just got ripped off for a lot of money on the gambling tents and they came back later and set the tents on fire it turned into this big riot. It was super violent and crazy and I think that was when my parents were like, 'You know what? We might be able to find something better to be doing here.' Because me and my brother are in the middle of this. Things are on fire, people beating the crap out of each other."
Cummings graduated from Haverhill High School in 1983. He moved to New York City and began attending Parsons School of Design, where he met eventual bandmate and girlfriend Sean Yseult. Before the success of White Zombie, he worked as a production assistant for the children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse. He took the stage name "Rob Zombie" from Bela Lugosi's 1932 horror film White Zombie, from which he also took White Zombie's band name. The name first shows up on White Zombie's 1989 EP God of Thunder. He had previously used the name "Rob Straker" on the White Zombie LPs Soul-Crusher and Make Them Die Slowly. In 1996, he made "Rob Zombie" his legal name.
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