Ronnie Radke

Early life

Ronald Joseph Radke was born on December 15, 1983, in St. Rose Hospital Las Vegas, Nevada. He grew up in an impoverished family with his father, older brother Anthony, and grandmother. Radke's mother abandoned the family for unknown reasons, causing resentment towards her.

Radke learned to play piano and guitar in his first bands. At first he started out playing Blink-182 songs on guitar. The first song he could play was "Dammit". He formed several bands while in high school. Radke ran away from home to play in his first band with his friend Mitch called 3.0. which "sounded exactly like Blink 182" according to Radke. He lived with Mitch and his mother for a period of time. They played a few shows at various venues such as Chain Reaction and the Huntridge in Las Vegas. After the band, Radke moved back in with his dad and said that he dropped out of school, re-entered, then dropped out again. He stated in an Alternative Press interview; "I just couldn't for some reason pay attention, I just daydreamed about everything else but what I'm supposed to be doing." Radke stated that the second band was called Lefty. Radke met Max Green (from the band Almost Heroes) at a talent show. Radke's microphone fell and Max picked it up for him while they were on stage and they became friends, forming the band True Story, which recorded a demo which contained the track "This Is Not the End". Radke started screaming in the band after being inspired by Thrice, then started to sing, slowly forming Escape the Fate.

"Listen Up!" was written by Radke in 1998 at the age of 15 as well as "Besides the Issues" and "The Worst Time". In 2001, Radke contacted his friend, producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who recorded the songs "Listen Up!", "The Worst Time" and "The Departure", both recorded instrumentation all together, and also composed the themes for "As You're Falling Down", "Make Up" and "Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliche", which was recorded in 2005, along with Escape the Fate.

Escape the Fate (2004–2008)

In high school, Radke and Max Green were close friends. In 2004, Bryan Money contacted Max looking for a vocalist, who referred him to Radke. Bryan agreed and began auditions for a drummer. Robert Ortiz was selected, and Escape the Fate was formed. A few weeks later, Omar Espinosa, who was the current guitarist at the time for Lovehatehero, decided to join as rhythm guitarist. The band soon began to play in the post-hardcore scene in Las Vegas. During that time Carson Allen joined as their keyboardist. The band recorded the demo Escape the Fate EP. They signed in early 2006 with Epitaph Records after winning a radio contest judged by My Chemical Romance which launched their career.

In May 2006, recording for the EP There's No Sympathy for the Dead begun, as well as some songs from the debut album, Dying Is Your Latest Fashion. Both were produced by Radke's friend Michael "Elvis" Baskette.

Falling in Reverse (2008–present)

Since late 2006, Radke had in mind of a new band, due to personal issues within Escape the Fate. Radke, with the help of Nason Schoeffler, formed a band called From Behind These Walls, which was renamed as Falling in Reverse. Radke left prison in December 2010 and announced the start of recording. They released their first single "Raised by Wolves" in 2010, followed by the album The Drug In Me Is You which was released on July 26, 2011, through Epitaph Records.

As of May 2012, Ronnie Radke announced on Twitter that he was already working on his second studio album with the band. In issue number 1486782 of Kerrang! Magazine, Radke announced in an interview that "The record's finished! That's what we did after the Warped Tour. We just didn't tell anybody!" He also said "it will be released early next year summer 2013!" The band released the lead single "Alone" on May 6, 2013. The second studio album, Fashionably Late, was released on June 18, 2013.

In May 2014, Falling in Reverse released a cover of Coolio's '90s classic "Gangsta's Paradise", which was produced by Charles "Kallaghan" Massabo for the Punk Goes '90s Vol. 2 compilation on Fearless Records. Coolio himself makes a guest appearance in the band's video for the song, as well as their live performance of the song at the AP Awards in July 2014.

Solo and Watch Me (2013–present)

On May 31, 2013, Radke launched his YouTube channel and released his solo song called "Fair-Weather Fans". The song is described as "a song Ronnie made dedicated to all the people who didn't believe in him." On June 1, he released his second solo song called "What Up Earth?".

In part 3 of his interview with Alternative Press, Radke stated that he is creating a rap mixtape, produced by Charles Massabo (Kallaghan Records) that will feature some well known rap artists, the mixtape will be released in December 2013 for free. The first single off that mixtape, "Blacklist", which features b.LaY, was released on July 5, 2013 on YouTube.

A diss track titled "I Wash Cars" (also featuring b.LaY), which attacks Sumerian Records and its founder Ash Avildsen, Lorenzo "The Main Event" Antonucci, and electronicore band I See Stars, was leaked online. Ash and Lorenzo released a diss track in reply to "I Wash Cars" titled "When Ronnie Met Sally" attacking Radke. The feud between the two groups has since been resolved, and Radke is now on good terms with I See Stars, Sumerian Records, and Antonucci. On October 28, 2013, it was announced that Ronnie Radke and Craig Mabbit of Escape the Fate had made up and are now on good terms. Also the two mentioned their two bands will be touring together in early 2014.

In an interview with Loudwire, he has stated that he is in the process of making a rap mixtape, which according to Radke will include an artist on every song. He has also stated that the mixtape may be released for around Christmas. On Christmas Day, he revealed a website of which when you entered your email address and confirmed your subscription, you would receive a new song, "Destiny", from the mixtape, now titled Watch Me. The track-list was also revealed but some songs did not contain feature other artists like he originally claimed.

Personal life

Radke was engaged to aspiring model Crissy Henderson, before she broke off the engagement after he confessed to having an affair during her pregnancy. Ronnie and Crissy welcomed their daughter Willow Grace Radke on June 11, 2013. Radke is against religion for what he feels is its treatment of homosexuals. He also felt bitter about religious groups changing their minds about how to treat homosexuals, saying that Christians were discriminatory against homosexuals before the 1990s but became accepting of them later on.

On August 10, 2013, Ronnie's brother Anthony was killed in a vehicle accident. The Falling in Reverse songs "Brother" and "Chemical Prisoner" were written in his memory.

Legal issues

Radke has been arrested on multiple occasions and faced controversy on other occasions, often for incidents involving violence.

In May 2006, Radke was involved in an altercation in Las Vegas that resulted in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Cook. While Radke did not shoot Cook, he was indicted on battery charges, while the man who shot Cook claimed self-defense. These charges against Radke, combined with his past offenses of drug possession, led to a sentence of five years' probation.

Radke failed to report to his probation officer and was arrested in June 2008, where he was sentenced to four years in prison. However, he only served two and a half years of his sentence before being released. Radke was officially kicked out of Escape the Fate in mid-2008, and replaced by former Blessthefall vocalist Craig Mabbit. The single "Webs We Weave", which was meant to be released in 2008, would have been the third single from the debut album by Escape the Fate, but after the depart. Max Green, bassist of Escape the Fate, stated about Ronnie's law problems that, "First we couldn't tour out of the country, then out of the state." In an interview in prison, Radke said that the real culprits would be Chase Rader and Max Green, the first to be armed at the time of the fight, and the second was caused by the fight, but the two were acquitted claiming self-defense. Radke was released from prison on December 12, 2010.

Since being released from prison in 2010, Radke has been arrested twice, the first being an August 6, 2012 arrest for alleged domestic violence against his girlfriend. Three hearings were scheduled, none of which Ronnie attended. According to Sergeant Tom Lorenz, the prosecutor of the County of Los Angeles issued the arrest warrant after Radke's girlfriend told police that he had hit her on May 1. Radke's arrest occurred without incident and he was released after paying $30,000 bail.

After the publication of his arrest, Ronnie published through his profile on Microblog that not everything can be considered truthful and asked for his fans to "not believe everything that appears online". Later, on September 29, 2012, during a concert with Falling in Reverse, Radke was arrested and charged with simple and aggravated assault following a show at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, NJ. Towards the end of the band's performance, Radke threw three microphone stands into the crowd; two fans were hit and sustained head injuries. One victim was a 16-year-old girl who was taken to the hospital for treatment of a cut she received to the head, while the other was a 24-year-old man who was treated on the scene. Radke posted bail and was released. In the aftermath of the incident, Six Flags Great Adventure banned any future hard rock or heavy metal bands from performing in their theme park.