King Diamond

Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician.

As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto screams.

He is the lead vocalist and lyricist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond.

He also plays keyboards and guitars on studio recordings but uses live shows to focus solely on his vocal performance.

Diamond is renowned for his dark lyrical content and his story concepts.

He is also known for his distinctive shock stage persona (in particular his black and white facepaint).

He has been an influence for other rock and metal artists, including Metallica, Slayer and Cradle of Filth.

King Diamond's first heavy rock band was called Brainstorm (1974–76), with Jeanette Blum (Jean Blue) on vocals and bass, Michael Frohn (Mike West) on guitar and Jes Jacobsen (Jesse James) on drums.

Diamond left Brainstorm and began singing with local Danish hard rock band Black Rose.

He began experimenting with horror-themed theatrics and shaping a malevolent quasi-Satanic stage persona.

He left Black Rose and joined the punk-metal band Brats, where he met Hank Shermann.

The two were soon asked to help Michael Denner (also formerly a member of Brats) with his own project, Danger Zone.

This band included Timi Hansen, and the musicians would join with Diamond in 1980 to become Mercyful Fate.

Following Mercyful Fate's 1984 release of Don't Break the Oath and the subsequent tour (which saw them play in the U.S. for the first time), Diamond split ways with Mercyful Fate.

With him, he took two of his bandmates (Hansen and Denner) to pursue a solo career under his own name.

Mercyful Fate reunited in 1992 (while Diamond simultaneously continued his solo career) and recorded five more studio albums.

In 1999, Diamond and Hank Shermann performed the song "Evil" live with Metallica.

This performance also featured Diamond without his famous makeup.

In 2000, Diamond decided to put Mercyful Fate on hold and continue on with his solo career.

In 2001, King Diamond worked out a deal with the band Usurper to sing backup vocals on the song "Necronemesis" in exchange for them shifting their recording schedule around to accommodate the recording of Abigail II: The Revenge.

In 2001 he referred to Dee as "one of the best drummers of all time and that's something that has bothered us since he left."

In 2004, Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot.

In late 2005, Diamond appeared on the Roadrunner United – The All-Star Sessions album, contributing vocals for his song "In the Fire", which featured multiple Roadrunner Records musicians (past and present) working together to create individual songs.

Diamond also guested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005.

In April 2006, Diamond reunited with Mikkey Dee (Motörhead drummer) at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Diamond released his album Give Me Your Soul... Please, on 26 June 2007.

The band received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill".

He was forced to cancel a United States tour due to a herniated disk, causing severe back pain, which puts him in intense pain almost all of the time.

He attributes the problem to the long stressful hours spent working on the album.

Diamond made an appearance at Ozzfest on 9 August 2008 at Frisco, Texas alongside Metallica, performing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs previously released on Metallica's Garage Inc. album.

He also performed a cover of the Pantera song "A New Level" with Vinnie Paul, Scott Ian, Max Cavalera, and Nick Bowcott.

In 2009, Diamond was revealed to be a playable character for the rhythm game Guitar Hero: Metallica, appearing with Mercyful Fate's song "Evil".

The player must complete the song on any instrument and any difficulty to unlock the character.

On 29 November 2010, Diamond was taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered several blockages in his arteries due to his heavy smoking habit.

They determined that he had had several heart attacks and that he needed triple-bypass surgery, during which time he was medically dead for five hours.

The surgery was performed successfully and on 11 December 2010 it was announced that he was at home recovering.

All his musical projects were placed on hold.

On 1 August 2019 Mercyful Fate announced a reunion and an accompanying European tour.

In June 2022, Mercyful Fate debuted a new song, "The Jackal of Salzburg," at a concert and released a "strictly limited edition" of their live performance of it on vinyl.

In August 2022, King Diamond confirmed that the band was actively working on a new album.