Name: Gary Francis Caine Cherone
Birthday: July 26th, 1961
Birthplace: Malden (Massachussets), USA
Marital Status: Single, no children
Other bands: Flesh, Extreme, Tribe of Judah

Gary joined Van Halen in 1997 after all the confusions that occured when the band appeared on MTV with original singer David Lee Roth. That was the problem from the start. The fans did never accept Gary as a part of a new Van Halen era like they did with Sammy in 1986. Despite this, Edward always considered Gary like a brother and when they parted ways, there never was an idea of a bad relationship between the band members.

Gary Cherone was born on July 26th, 1961 in Malden, Massachusetts. His parents, Josephina and Sam Cherone, have 4 more children: Steven, Greg (who is Gary`s fraternal twin, older by 8 minutes), Michael and Markus. Originally excelling in sports, Cherone set his sights on a professional basketball career. Unfortunately, a serious knee injury thwarted such dreams. His brother Greg had at one point joined up with Nuno Bettencourt’s brother for musical endeavors which included a Shakespearean play with music, while Markus was working with Nuno's brother Paulo for about 8 years in a band called Flesh.

From there, he let his love of music be his guiding light and influence. While working at a car rental shop in his hometown, Cherone formed a cover band called Myth in 1978, performing songs around Boston by The Who, Queen and Rolling Stones. In 1979, the musician formed another band called Myth with guitarist Paul Geary. In 1981, Cherone and Geary moved on to create another group called The Dream. This pop rock and metal band won top prize on MTV's Basement Tapes, a video contest for unsigned bands. With Cherone on lead vocals, The Dream recorded a self-titled six-song album on Toppe Records. But by 1985, a local television station bought the rights to the band's name, resulting in Extreme. From 1985 to 1996, Cherone was lead vocalist for the internationally famous rock group, releasing hit singles like More Than Words. The band also performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Extreme disbanded in 1996 and Cherone briefly worked with Houndstooth, a jazz side project .

In 1978, Gary is the lead singer of the band Myth, who was a cover band who played everything from The Who, Queen and Led Zeppelin. Do not mix this Myth with Nuno`s previous band, Myth. They are totally different bands.

In 1979, a friend introduce Gary to Matt McKay who was in a trio with Frank Herrera & Paul Geary. Gary eventually met Paul for the first time during the audition at which he sang an amazing version of Aerosmith's "Train Kept Rollin'". Gary then spent the next 3 years (1979-81) singing for Adrenaline along with Matt on guitars and principal songwriter, Paul on drums and Frank on bass that was replaced by Norman McCleod.

Gary and Paul stayed together and formed the band "The Dream" in 1981, which lasted until 1985 when they developed into "Extreme". "The Dream" was composed by: Gary (lead vocals), Paul Geary (drums), Peter Hunt (guitar), Paul Mangone (bass) and David Rich (keyboards).

In 1983, the band recorded a self-titled 6 song LP on Toppe Records. In 1985, "The Dream" wins the grand prize in MTV`s Basement Tapes Video Contest with the video of "Mutha (Don`t Wanna Go to School Today)", in which Gary`s uncle plays the part of the teacher.

A TV station bought the rights to the name "The Dream" and then the so called Ex-Dream became "Extreme", with Gary on the vocals, Paul Geary on the drums, Peter Hunt on the guitar, Paul Mangone on the bass and David Rich on the keyboards.

A friend introduces Nuno to Gary and they start to talk, mostly about Queen, a passion for both of them. Gary then asks Nuno to join the band without auditioning him, because he was getting "good vibes". Nuno invites Gary as well to see him play.

Nuno gets in an argument with his current band "Sinful" and decides to join Extreme, which now consists of Gary (vocals), Nuno (guitars), Paul Mangone (bass) and Paul Geary (drums). The new lineup of Extreme plays its first gig on September 14th, at Bunratty's in Allston, Mass.

In October 1986, Pat Badger replaces Paul Mangone in Extreme. They again play their first gig with the new member at Bunratty's and keep playing clubs in the New England area.

In November 1987, Extreme gets signed by A&M records. In 1988, Extreme record their self-titled debut album and play their first arena show opening for Aerosmith in Portland, Maine for a 14 000 crowd.

In March 1989, Extreme release their first album. It reaches #80 in the US chart and sells 300 000 copies. The band tours the US and Japan.

In 1990, Extreme record and release their second album, "Pornograffitti". On April 29th 1991, Extreme are presented with their first Gold Albums from Canada just before departure for their Yourapeon Tour. In May, they are touring the UK and Europe for the first time, finding themselves in numerous magazines.

On June 8th, "More Than Words" hits #1 in the US and foreign markets (including Israel, Holland). Still in June, Extreme play a homecoming concert to a screaming crowd of 14 000 at Great Woods where they are presented their Gold Records.

On July 2nd, they go on their first "arena" tour with David Lee Roth and Cinderella until August, when they go on tour with ZZ Top.

In September, A&M decide to insure Nuno's fingers and the whole band for $5 million with Lloyd's of London after an incident. While on tour, Gary was playing ball with someone from the crew and threw the ball to Nuno, who was just walking by the tour bus, thinking that he would catch it. Nuno didn't see the ball and it hit his hand. The next day Nuno "couldn't even move his fingers".

On October 19th, Nuno and Gary are invited to play at the "Guitar Legends" show in Seville, Spain. Nuno joins guitar greats like Brian May (host of 5th show/last night), Joe Walsh, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani on stage. Gary contributes vocals for a couple of songs and they do "More Than Words", a "Get the Funk Out" medley (Bumblebee, "Get the Funk Out", guitar solo) and then Gary and Brian sang "Tie Your Mother Down". For the encore, they all did "Now I'm Here" and "Hey Joe".

In December, Extreme find themselves in Japan playing to 3000 people capacity arenas. They finish up in Honolulu on December 15th.

From January 19 to 26 1992, the band goes to South America for the first time, where they played the Hollywood Rock Festival in Brazil and also some concerts in Argentina.

From February to June, Extreme record their next album. In April, Gary and Nuno appear in a Vogue Magazine fashion spread called "Gypsy Soul". Bruce Weber is the photographer.

On April 20th, Extreme do a memorable appearance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute "Concert For Life", at Wembley Stadium in England. They do a Queen medley, an acoustic "Love of My Life", and the first parts of "More Than Words". They were the second band going onstage, following Metallica. Brian May (one of their heroes) introduces them as "real friends, and, possibily more than any other group on this planet, the people who understand exactly what Queen have been about all these years, and what Freddie was about all these years". Gary comes back onstage to join Queen and Toni Yommi for "Hammer to Fall".

On April 21st, they spend one day at the Abbey Road Studios recording with a 70 piece orchestra for their next album.

From June to September, Extreme tour with Bryan Adams in a series of outdoor/ stadium concerts. In September, "III Sides to Every Story" is released. It debuts at its UK #2 peak with mixed reviews.

In October/ November, the band headlines a US tour, going to Europe next, followed by Orient, Australia, Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

Nuno and Gary write a classic Christmas song, "Christmas Time Again", for "A Very Special Christmas II" charity CD, with proceeds going to the Special Olympics.

Extreme finish their European tour on December 23rd at Wembley Stadium. Brian May, Neil Schon, and Roger Daltrey are just some of the stars who showed up to see Extreme and joined them onstage.

In June 1993, the band starts a tour supporting Bon Jovi that ended up in August but they kept playing in a smaller headline tour.

Gary does the vocals for a song Nuno wrote/produced, "Where Are You Going", for the Super Mario Bros. movie.

In October, recording begins for the fourth Extreme record. In 1994, Gary joins the BRO community to play the role of Jesus in Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice`s "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, Mass. After seeing the previous appearance of the Boston Rock Opera, Gary got interested and called the producers to see if he could join them, offering to be a part in the next productions.

Paul Geary leaves the band, and Mike Mangini is the new drummer. Once again, their first gig was at Bunrattys and their first tour with the new lineup is with Aerosmith.

Nuno and Gary appear nude in Creem magazine's fashion layout where the clothes are on hangers, and the models, nude. Sensitive areas are covered, and a message is written on body parts. Gary's message reads "Better off dead" across his belly.

In June, Extreme plays at Europe's Monsters of Rock Festival, along with heavy metal bands. The audience and the press are really hard on them.

On August 26th, Extreme and Baby Animals (joining them on a few songs) play a "Farewell to bachelorhood" concert in the Azores for Nuno, who marries Suze DeMarchi the next day. They also play "one or two" more concerts during the week on the São Miguel and Terceira Islands.

On September 10th, Gary joins Nuno’s Colorblind team to play the Hudson Street Hockey benefit game for "The Special Needs Children of the Assabet Valley Collaborative Program".

On December 11th, the Boston Rock Opera does a Rock 'n' Roll Circus fundraiser, once again at The Middle East. Presented twice was a 12-minute segment of The Who's operetta: "A Quick One While He's Away" in which Gary plays the forgiving husband of a promiscuous wife.

In January 1995, "Waiting for the Punchline" is released. On February 11th, Boston's Tower Records reveal their Extreme Star at the front walkway to their store.

The Punchline Tour continues in Europe during the summer. Gary goes to Australia in the beginning of 1996 to join Nuno to write some new material.

After that, Nuno announces that he is leaving the band to pursue a solo career, but the band doesn’t say anything in the hopes that Nuno would change his mind.

Gary goes under surgery to remove nodes in his vocal chords. Right after that, he reprises his role of Jesus in the Boston Rock Opera`s production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Lansdowne Play House in Boston, Mass.

He does a couple of shows with a jazz band called Houndstooth. The band plays in "Dicks, Dykes and Drags" - an AIDS benefit at The Quest, in Boston, Mass on June 1st. Songs that were performed that night include: "My Funny Valentine", "You Can't Take That Away From Me", "I Wish I Were in Love Again", "I've Got the World on a String" and "A Foggy Day in London Town".


On October 3rd, press release informs the world that Extreme have officially broken up as Gary gets the lead singer position in Van Halen. Nuno, keeps stressing out in all interviews that he left before Gary, in other words, Extreme didn't break up because Gary got the job with Van Halen. SRO managed both Extreme and Van Halen and introduced Gary to them. He goes to LA for an audition with the band, never thinking he would be a part of it, but it happened!

Van Halen is then consisted of: Gary on lead vocals, Eddie Van Halen on guitars, Alex Van Halen on the drums and Michael Anthony on bass.

Gary has a hard time in the Roth/Hagar/Cherone discussions, including fan bashing over the internet for months. Nuno and Pat get into the discussions in Gary`s defense.

Nuno, Pat and Mike visit Eddie's 5150 studio in LA to keep in touch with Gary. Gary spends the whole 1997 in the guesthouse of Eddie`s 5150 studio, so they could really work on the next album. "Without You" is written on the first day they met.

"Van Halen 3" is released in 1998 and in all interviews, Eddie praises Gary`s talent mentioning that he is the musical soulmate he had been looking for all these years.

They go on a worldtour, starting in Australia. One of the first shows is shown on MTV and they get better live reviews due to Gary`s energy and stage presence.

In June, Gary joins his friends at the Boston Rock Opera once again for "A Night @ the Opera" at the Middle East in Cambridge, Mass. He performs "The Punk Meets The Godfather" (by Pete Townsend of The Who) while Pat sings backup vocals. Mike joins them right after on the drums.

He keeps up with the Van Halen tour and in August, while doing the home show at Great Woods, in Mansfield, Mass, he totally looses his voice, getting a very bad response from the audience. But the band plays again for the fans the next day.

Gary, Pat and Paul sing some songs together at the opening of Paul`s club "Backstage" in Haverhill, Mass.

Gary, Nuno, Pat, Mike and Paul do a spontaneous show on New Years Eve at the Backstage. They also do some songs at Gary's brother Markus' wedding in the coming year.

In 1999, Gary is still in LA working on the 2nd Van Halen album. In August, Gary does the BRO`s production "Another Night at the Opera" under the name of "Francis Caine", where he sings/plays the role of "The Madman in Act IV: The Second Coming: Ballad of Dwight Frye" from Alice Cooper's "Love it to Death" and joined the BRO’s chorus in some other songs.

In November 1999, Gary announces that he is leaving Van Halen due to musical differences. In December, Gary gets involved in an independent movie called "The Habit" where he plays the role of Ben, the janitor in the movie.

He and Nuno work on a song for The Habit soundtrack together and Gary executive-produces the movie and also contributes some more songs.

In 2000, Gary keeps working on solo material. On May 3rd, Gary joins the Boston Rock Opera again for "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Dee" show, that was an event in benefit and honor of Mikey Dee, a BRO company member who suffered a serious stroke on Feb 7th, 2000. The event was presented at the AXIS Club in Boston as part of a series of shows dedicated to Mikey.

Gary performs a Tommy Medley, a medley from Jesus Christ Superstar with Kay Hanley (Heaven on their Minds and Everything is Alright), a rock operetta by The Who, "A Quick One While He's Away", David Bowie's classic "Ziggy Stardust", a solo performance of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and joined the BRO chorus on the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love".

In November 2000, joining the Boston Rock Opera once again, he is a part of the third production of "Jesus Christ Superstar", but this time playing the role of Judas Iscariot at the Tower Auditorium in Boston, Mass.

Gary finishes the year, recording and rehearsing for his new project "Tribe of Judah". In 2001, Gary is still recording "Benefits of a Short Term Memory". The new band "Tribe of Judah" is consisted of: Gary (vocals), Pat Badger (bass), Leo Malace (guitar), Steve Ferlazzo (keyboards/programming) and Mike Mangini (drums - not yet official). In the end of 1999, Gary Cherone, after leaving Van Halen, gets involved in an independent movie called "The Habit". Gary and Nuno work on a song for the soundtrack and Gary starts to work on a solo project that some of the songs would also appear in the movie`s soundtrack.

Gary then spends the whole 2000 working on this project. His brother Markus (Superzero`s guitarist), Paul Mangone (bassist of Gary`s old band “The Dream”), Mike Mangini (Extreme`s 2nd drummer), Leo Mellace and Steve Ferlazzo (from the band “Sunshine Jive”) and a guitarist named Tim Bissonnette, who was in a band with Steve, are involved in it with Gary. Paul Mangone co-wrote half of the album with Gary.

After Gary`s appearance in the Boston Rock Opera`s production of Jesus Christ Superstar in November, Gary turns what was in the start a solo project into a band, and "Tribe of Judah" is born.

The first album is called "Benefits of a Short Term Memory". The band is consisted of: Gary Cherone (vocals), Pat Badger (bass), Leo Mellace & Tim Bissonnette (guitars) and Steve Ferlazzo (keyboard). The drummer was still missing and they announce in the beginning of 2001 that Mike Mangini would be the man for the job and decide to only keep one guitar player. They start to rehearse for some shows in the beginning of 2001 to promote the record before its release.

In 2001, Tribe of Judah is then consisted of: Gary (vocals), Pat (bass), Mike (drums), Leo (guitars) and Steve (keyboards). The band release a 4-song sampler in May through their website and at the shows and they debut in a surprise show at the Tank in Revere, Mass in the beginning of June. The band`s song "Left for Dead" starts to be played in some radio stations. The band is doing shows around the Boston area at the moment.