Kerry King
Kerry Ray King (born June 3, 1964)[1] is an American musician, best known for being the co-lead guitarist and songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and is one of two members to stay with the band for its 43-year existence, along with Tom Araya. During Slayer's hiatus from 2019 to 2024, King went on to pursue a solo career, with his debut album From Hell I Rise released in May 2024.[2]
Kerry King
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
The youngest of three children, King was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.[3] His father was an aircraft parts inspector, and his mother worked for a telephone company.[1] He started learning guitar at the age of thirteen at his father's urging, saying "...my dad was trying to get me out of the wrong circles and give me a hobby." King attended three different high schools and had very good grades, even winning an award as his school's top math student in junior high. As the youngest child in the family, King says he was "spoilt" growing up.[3] He learned guitar on his father's Gibson ES-175 and later had a Fender Stratocaster which he traded for a BC Rich Mockingbird, beginning a long relationship with BC Rich guitars. The first song he ever learned was Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" and he soon became a major fan of Van Halen and Judas Priest, which had a major impact on his guitar playing.[1]
Slayer[edit]
King formed his first band with another guitarist who had been teaching him lessons, and this guitarist introduced him to Tom Araya. He discovered that he and Araya lived only a block away from each other, and they agreed to start jamming together. "Everything began from that point", King has said of Slayer's origins.[3] In 1981, King was at an audition for a southern rock band which Jeff Hanneman was also auditioning for. King heard Hanneman playing guitar near the reception desk and approached him, soon learning that they liked a lot of the same music, and they decided to jam together.[4] The pair enjoyed playing together and decided to start their own band with Araya and a neighborhood drummer named Dave Lombardo, which would soon evolve into Slayer.[5] King, along with Araya, remained in Slayer for the entire length of the band's career, from 1981 to 2019.[6]
Personal life[edit]
King has been twice divorced and has a daughter named Shyanne Kymberlee King with his first wife; his current wife is Ayesha King.[28] He claims he has never done drugs, though he has said "I'm quite an experienced drinker".[3]
Prior to 2020, King had lived in California for almost all of his life. He relocated to Phoenix, Arizona around 1987,[29] and while living there, he was a neighbor of Judas Priest singer Rob Halford.[30] By the early 2000s, King had moved back to Los Angeles,[31] and he would later relocate to Riverside County, California.[32] In April 2020, King and Ayesha bought one home in Las Vegas, Nevada; as of November 2021, however, the couple resides in New York City.[33]
King is an antitheist. He is known to oppose and strongly criticize organized religion by expressing his views in his songwriting.[34] In a 2006 interview with Blabbermouth.net, King expressed his anti-religious views: "I don't really have a life philosophy; my thing is just rebelling against pretty much organized religion. That is my main thing, because personally I think it's a crutch for people that are too weak to get through life on their own. I'm the kind of guy that says if I don't see it, then it doesn't work. And nobody can show me God."[35] When asked by Revolver Magazine what superpower would he want if he was a supervillain, King replied "the ability to burst a church into flames by simply walking by it."[36]
King is an avid snake collector who owns a reptile house and herpetology nursery called Psychotic Exotics.[37]
King has largely avoided politics, although he displayed sympathy for conservative host Rush Limbaugh in the past.[38] In 2017, King said that he was "embarrassed about Trump's presidency," which he described as "divisive and polarizing."[39] In 2024, while promoting his solo album, he stated that he was "pissed off" about the overturning of Roe V. Wade.[40]
King's body has grown increasingly tattooed over his career, with Blender Magazine once producing a tour of his body ink.[41] King's abbreviation, KFK, was revealed to mean "Kerry Fuckin' King" in the January 2007 Issue of Guitar World.[42]
Current members
