Musician, radio personality and actor David Daniel “Dee” Snider was born March 15, 1955 in Massapequa, New York.  When he was still a child, he sang for church choirs, school choruses and for Baldwin HS Concert Choir.  He graduated from Baldwin High School in 1972.

In 1976, he became lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Twisted Sister, where he eventually sat down as the sole song writer for the group.  The band's hits include “We're Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, which were regularly played on MTV.  Twisted Sister's songs were famous for exploring parent-children relationships and even raising questions on the educational system.  Dee Snider also hosted MTV's Metal Mania in 1985.  After Twisted Sister disbanded in 1988, Dee formed a band called Desperado.  In the 1990s, he formed another group called Widowmaker and produced two albums namely Blood and Bullets and Standby for Pain.

In 1998 he wrote the song “The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)”, which was later recorded by none other than Celine Dion.  It was also in that same year when he wrote the screenplay for the horror/thriller film Strangeland.  He produced the film and played as Captain Howdy on it.  His song “Inconclusion” was also part of the film's soundtrack.

Snider used his voice in many ways, in different venues.  In Connecticut, he hosted a morning show called Dee Snider Radio on Radio 104 (104.1 FM WMRQ) from June 1999 to August 2002.  The show transferred to 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August 2004.  In 2001, he was the voice for Gol Acheron, main villain in the PlayStation 2's videogame Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.  He also did voice over for Van Helsing's Curse, a live horror musical show touring the US during Halloween.

Snider also appeared in Warning: Parental Advisory in 2002 and in Deepwater in 2005.  In 2008, he joined CMT's reality TV show Gone Country, where artists from different music genres compete to win a country music contract.


(Photo courtesy of CMT)