Happy birthday to WARREL DANE (1961-2017), singer for Sanctuary and Nevermore

Warrel George Baker (March 7, 1961 - December 13, 2017)

Warrel Dane is most well known for his work with Sanctuary and Nevermore. Metal Archives shows that his recording history with Sanctuary began with a 1986 demo, followed by the studio albums Refuge Denied in 1987 and Into the Mirror Black in 1990. After the band's initial split, he returned to record The Year the Sun Died in 2014 and the Inception compilation in 2017.

His tenure as the lead vocalist for Nevermore lasted from 1992 to 2011, during which he performed on every major release. This includes the self-titled debut in 1995, The Politics of Ecstasy in 1996, Dreaming Neon Black in 1999, and Dead Heart in a Dead World in 2000. He concluded his work with the band by providing vocals for Enemies of Reality (2003), This Godless Endeavor (2005), and The Obsidian Conspiracy in 2010.

Wikipedia has interesting information about Warrel Dane's voice. Wikipedia says that Warrel Dane was trained opera singer. Did you know that?! Maybe that's common knowledge, but I did not know that. To me he was simply an awesome heavy metal music singer. Anyway, this is what Wikipedia says:

Warrel Dane (born Warrel George Baker; March 7, 1961 – December 13, 2017) was an American musician and the lead singer for the heavy metal bands Sanctuary and Nevermore. He was a natural baritone; though he was initially known for his high-pitched vocals with Serpent's Knight and on the first two Sanctuary albums. Later in his career, Dane became more recognized for his distinctively deep, dramatic voice.

Dane trained as an opera singer for five years and developed a broad vocal range, spanning from notes as low as G♯ below low C, or G♯1, to notes as high as the B♭ below soprano C, or B♭5. While his high head voice vocals were more prominent in the earlier Sanctuary albums, he occasionally employed them in his work with Nevermore as well. Sanctuary's 2014 comeback album, The Year the Sun Died, features these higher passages on three songs.

Dane provided the voice of Candynose Twinskins in the musical comedy Metalocalypse on Adult Swim.

Dane's first solo album, Praises to the War Machine, was released on May 13, 2008, by Century Media Records. At the time of his death, he was working on a second album, which he stated would differ from his first solo effort: "Some of it is just brutally heavy", Dane said. In March 2016, the title of the album was revealed to be Shadow Work. The recording session was initially scheduled for October 2016.

On December 13, 2017, it was reported that Dane had died of a heart attack in São Paulo, Brazil, at the age of 56. He had been working there on his second solo album, Shadow Work. Johnny Moraes, the guitarist in Dane's solo band, stated, "He died in the night. He had a heart attack. He was in the apartment where he stayed during the recording of the album when it happened. I gave him cardiac massage, and we called the Mobile Emergency Care Service (SAMU), who came very fast, but when they arrived, he was already dead." Moraes mentioned that Dane had been dealing with numerous health issues, including a history of alcohol abuse and type 2 diabetes.

SANCTUARY - Live AT Rock HARD Festival 2015 / The last show in memory of WARREL DANE (pro-shot).

NEVERMORE - The Year Of The Voyager (Full Performance)