Doug Pinnick

Douglas Theodore Pinnick (born September 3, 1950), sometimes stylized as dUg Pinnick or simply dUg, is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and songwriter for the hard rock and progressive metal band King's X.

He has performed on 15 albums with King's X and recorded four solo albums.

Pinnick has also participated in numerous side projects and has multiple guest appearances to his credit.

He is recognized for his unique vocals (which are characterized by a strong gospel influence), and heavily distorted bass tone.

Pinnick often plays bass with a guitar pick, though he has also been seen using his fingers.

Pinnick was born in Braidwood, Illinois, and moved to Joliet, Illinois, when he was fourteen.

He grew up in a musical family where everyone either sang or played an instrument.

He was raised by his great-grandmother, a devoutly religious woman, and was reared in a very strict Southern Baptist environment.

He has seventeen half-brothers and sisters, from three mothers and two fathers.

When he was in grade school, Pinnick participated in choir and played saxophone.

As a teenager, he listened to classic R&B and Motown artists such as Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, and Aretha Franklin.

Pinnick sang in bands throughout high school, one of the earliest being a group called Stone Flower which he describes as "Chicago Transit Authority meets Sly & the Family Stone".

While attending Joliet Junior College in 1969, Pinnick was inspired by hard rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.

Around this time, he also started listening to perhaps his biggest influence, Sly & the Family Stone.

His dream was to form a band that combined all of these varied influences.

After attending college for roughly six months, Pinnick dropped out and joined a traveling gospel band called The Spurrlows.

At one point in the early 1970s, Pinnick moved to a Christian community in Florida.

There, he remained involved in the music business by promoting small shows by Christian rock bands.

Shortly after that, he moved back to Illinois.

In the mid 1970s, Pinnick formed a band called Servant, with keyboardist Matt Spransy, that played progressive art rock along the lines of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

The band played in the midwest and put together a demo of original songs.

There was another band called Servant who had scored a recording contract.

In 1979, Pinnick was invited to join a band that was forming in Springfield, Missouri with singer Greg X. Volz of Petra fame.

He accepted the offer and re-located, only to have the band dissolve within a month of his arrival.

He was soon offered a spot in guitarist Phil Keaggy's touring band, along with the drummer from the failed Volz project, Jerry Gaskill.

Pinnick has a co-writing credit on the track "Just a Moment Away" from Keaggy's 1980 album Ph'lip Side.

Pinnick toured with Keaggy for about a year before returning to Springfield and set about looking for a new musical project.

Pinnick soon became involved with guitarist Ty Tabor after seeing him play a concert at Evangel College in Springfield.

Jerry Gaskill was later included and the band The Edge was born.

Spransy joined the other band in the late seventies and recorded "I'm Gonna Live" for the 1981 album Rockin' Revival that he and Pinnick had written together.

Pinnick was also part of Alpha as well as his own Doug Pinnick Band shortly after Spransy joined the other Servant.

In 1983, the band changed their name to Sneak Preview and released an independent, self titled LP.

The trio evolved into King's X several years (and a move to Houston, Texas) later.

Pinnick is the older member of King's X, with Tabor eleven years his junior, and Gaskill seven years younger than him.

Since then, Pinnick has become one of the most respected voices in rock music by fans, critics, and peers alike.

He is highly sought-after by other artists for album guest appearances, as well as membership in several side bands and recording projects.

In 1998, Pinnick confirmed his homosexuality, coming out during an interview for Regeneration Quarterly.

Diamante Music Group canceled distribution of King's X material in Christian retail stores following this information becoming public knowledge.

In recent years, Pinnick has revealed that he now identifies as agnostic, in contrast to his Contemporary Christian music past.

Besides King's X, Pinnick became active with his own Hound Pound studio in Texas.