Raymond Arthur Gillen
(May 12, 1959 – December 1, 1993)
was an
American rock singer.
He is best known
for his work with
Badlands,
in addition to
his stint with
Black Sabbath
in the mid-1980s
and recording most
of the vocals on
Phenomena's
Dream Runner album.
Early life
Gillen
was born on
May 12, 1959
in New York,
but was raised in
Cliffside Park,
New Jersey.
He was an only child
and started singing
while in high school.
He played the
New Jersey club circuit
with various bands,
including club bands
Quest
(1978–80),
the punk rock influenced
F-66
(1980–81),
Savage,
and,
most notably,
Vendetta and Harlette.
In 1985,
he joined
Bobby Rondinelli's
band,
Rondinelli.
Career
In 1986,
Black Sabbath
started touring for the
Seventh Star album
when after only a few shows,
singer
Glenn Hughes
got into a fist-fight
and lost his voice due
to the related sinus
and throat injuries.
Gillen was offered the job
to replace Hughes.
After finishing the
Seventh Star tour,
Black Sabbath
recorded their next album
The Eternal Idol
with Gillen.
However,
due to mix of
financial burden,
writing difficulty
(Bob Daisley was recruited for writing)
(as Gillen turned out to be not much of a composer),
mismanagement and miscommunication
that plagued the band,
Gillen and Black Sabbath
drummer
Eric Singer
quit before the album
was ever released.
Gillen was eventually replaced
by Tony Martin,
and the vocal track
of
The Eternal Idol
was hurriedly re recorded
note-for-note
with Martin
before the album
was finally released in 1987.
However,
demo versions of
The Eternal Idol
featuring Gillen
do exist on
the bootleg circuit
and on the
2010 deluxe
Eternal Idol
re-release.
Also,
in an interview
Martin revealed that
the sinister laugh
heard on the track
Nightmare
is in fact
Gillen's voice.
The album was
re-released on
November 1, 2010,
in Europe in a
2-disc expanded set
including a bonus disc
with Gillen's recording.
During the time of the
Seventh Star tour,
Gillen was asked by
project director
and co-producer
Wilfried F. Rimensberger
to join
Mel Galley's
Phenomena
for the recording
of the album
Dream Runner,
which features vocals
from Glenn Hughes,
John Wetton
and Max Bacon.
He recorded 4 tracks.
Gillen is also featured in
Phenomena's
'Did it all for Love'
music video
although he
was not involved
in the actual recording
of that song.
After the
Phenomena recordings,
Gillen joined
John Sykes
previously with
Whitesnake,
Thin Lizzy
and a different band
called
Badlands
with the intention to
form a new band
Blue Murder.
Gillen sang demos
but parted company
when Sykes decided
to handle
vocals himself.
Gillen then contacted
Jake E. Lee
(former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist)
to form a band.
In 1988,
Gillen formed
Badlands
with Lee
and recruited his friend
Eric Singer
with whom
he had played
in Black Sabbath.
Gillen recorded
two albums
(Badlands and Voodoo Highway)
with Badlands
and the band toured
from 1989 until 1992.
In 1998
a third album
(Dusk)
was released from a
collection of demos recorded
1992–1993.
They enjoyed moderate
commercial success
with their first two albums,
but tensions between
its band members,
as well as problems
with both management
and their label
Atlantic Records,
hastened the band's demise.
Gillen was briefly
replaced by
John West
and Badlands
dissolved soon afterwards.
Their third album
Dusk,
which is made up
of demos
recorded shortly before
Gillen's dismissal
from the band,
was released
posthumously
in 1998.
Following his split from
Badlands,
Gillen stayed in L.A.
and was involved with
two projects.
He joined forces
with drummer
Randy Castillo
and
Iggy Pop band members
Whitey Kirst
and Craig Pike
under the name
Cockfight.
He also joined
the band
Terriff,
led by guitarist
Joe Holmes,
fresh off his stint with
David Lee Roth
on the
A Little Ain't Enough tour.
Gillen rehearsed
with the group
for several months
before moving back
to his native New York.
He also went to
form the band
Sun Red Sun
with old friends.
Illness and Death
In 1993,
Wilfried F. Rimensberger
was planning a remake
of his first
Metal Hammer Loreley Festival
but this time specifically
to stage
Phenomena's
first ever
live performance,
with Gillen on vocals.
It was going to be the
launch event for
a series of concerts
across Europe
in 1994.
Gillen called
from New York
and told Rimensberger
in Munich
that he had to
bow out because
he was too ill
to perform.
Gillen died from an
AIDS-related disease
in a New York hospital
on
December 1, 1993.
He first showed symptoms
of the disease around 1990,
and according to his
Badlands bandmate
Jake E. Lee,
"in between the first
and the second record,
he started getting really thin
and didn't look
quite as healthy".
Lee also claimed that
he had not been aware of
Gillen's
diagnosis with AIDS
until a meeting with
then-Badlands manager
Paul O'Neill,
who threatened to tell
Atlantic Records
about Gillen's illness
if he was fired
by the band.
Gillen reportedly denied it,
saying to Lee,
"Well, it's not true,
so fuck him.
Fire him.
" Lee concluded,
"So we did fire him.
And he did tell
Atlantic Records that.
And we got kind of screwed
on the second record
because of it.
They wouldn't even give us
tour-support money at all...but, yeah,
Paul O'Neill
fucked us on that."
Gillen was survived by a daughter,
Ashley
(born July 1984).
He is buried at
Fairview Cemetery
in Fairview, New Jersey.
He was ranked at 100
on Hit Parader's Top
100 Metal Vocalists
