Scott Ian

Early life

Born Scott Ian Rosenfeld (name has since been legally changed) to a Jewish family in the Bayside section of the New York City borough of Queens, he has a younger brother named Jason (who was involved briefly with Anthrax) and a half-brother named Sean. Scott attended Bayside High School, with classmates (and future Anthrax bandmates) Dan Lilker and Neil Turbin of the graduating class of 1981.

Witnessing Kiss live at Madison Square Garden in 1977 made a huge impact on Ian, who has been vocal about his love for the band, and appeared on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, in which he visited Simmons' home and spoke about the impact Kiss had on his life. Ian went on to be influenced by British heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Judas Priest, as well as the punk rock band, the Ramones as an influence. Ian then discovered at the age of 12 that he knew he could become a famous hard rock/heavy metal star. The musical style of his playing and songwriting including fast alternate picking was also largely influenced by the German metal band Accept.

Anthrax

As a founding member of Anthrax, Ian helped to create thrash metal in the mid-1980s alongside Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica. Ian came up with the idea to collaborate with the rap group Public Enemy in 1991 and record a foundation of the rap/rock genre by covering Public Enemy's song Bring the Noise. In 2005, Ian was invited by Chuck D of Public Enemy to perform "Bring the Noise" with them as part of their induction into VH1's Hip Hop Honors Hall of Fame. Ian also joined Public Enemy on the Rock The Bells tour in 2007.

In 2009, Anthrax completed a run of European festivals including Metallica's Sonisphere festivals in Germany and Knebworth in the U.K. which was highlighted by the return of singer John Bush. Anthrax returned to Japan in October 2009 with Bush to play at the Loud Park festival in Tokyo. Anthrax's next shows were in Australia in February 2010 as a part of the Soundwave Festival. Anthrax was a part of the Sonisphere Festival in Europe in the summer of 2010, where for the first time Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth performed together on the same stage - 16 June 2010, Warsaw, Bemowo Airport, Poland.

Other ventures

Ian got into a television gig with VH1 in 2001 when they asked him to host "Rock Show". During his 48 episodes as host, Ian interviewed guests including Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Ted Nugent, Stone Temple Pilots, Megadeth, 3 Doors Down, Sevendust, Tenacious D and The Cult. Ian is a regular commentator on various VH1 shows including the "I Love The 70s, 80s, and 90s" series, "100 Most Metal Moments", "Awesomely Bad Number One Songs", "When Metallica Ruled The World", and episodes of VH1's "Behind The Music" featuring Metallica, Pantera and Anthrax. Ian was prominently featured in VH1's "History of Heavy Metal". In June 2006, Ian starred in the VH1 reality series "SuperGroup" with Ted Nugent, Sebastian Bach, Jason Bonham and Evan Seinfeld.

Ian plays guitar in the group Pearl, who just finished two tours with Velvet Revolver and Meat Loaf. The debut album from Pearl was released on January 19, 2010 through Megaforce Records. Ian performed with Pearl on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 20, 2010.

In 2008, DC Comics asked Ian to take the character Lobo and write a two-issue prestige format series for that character. Books one and two of Lobo: Highway to Hell were released in November and December 2009.

In 2008, Ian signed with Ultimate Bet, the third largest internet gaming site in the world as one of their online professional players. Ian joined professional poker players Phil Hellmuth Jr. and Annie Duke as one of Ultimate Bets star pros. He won Ultimate Bet's premier Sunday 200K tournament and he cashed in 2010's WSOP main event by finishing 634th out of 6494 players. In 2010 Ian joined the metal supergroup The Damned Things, which released their first album on December 14, 2010. On June 21, 2011 Ian's wife Pearl Aday gave birth to their first child, thus forcing Ian to briefly depart from Anthrax's tour. Andreas Kisser from Sepultura filled in for Scott on guitar during Scott's absence.

Ian provided the voice of a human who snuck in Dethklok's trunk while they were hammered in the Season III: The Dead Man pilot episode of Metalocalypse, as well as providing guest voices in "Tributeklok" on Adult Swim.

Ian planned a spoken word tour entitled Speaking Words starting in May 2013, in the UK.

In 2014, he joined former members of Mother Superior to form Motor Sister. They released their debut album Ride on 9 March 2015.

Personal life

He was married formerly to his high school girlfriend, Marge Ginsburg, in the 1980s; the marriage ended in divorce.

Ian is married to singer Pearl Aday, adopted daughter of famed singer Meat Loaf. Their first child Revel Young Ian, was born on June 19, 2011. Ian is a New York Yankees fan. He enjoys snowboarding. He plays poker and is an online pro at UltimateBet. He finished 637th in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event taking home $21,365. He is a Battlestar Galactica fan, posting numerous blogs about the show and also making an appearance for the red carpet series finale and playing guitar on "The Plan" made-for-DVD film soundtrack.

He is a fan of Doctor Who, the television series, as seen in "The Best of the Doctor" that aired August 13, 2011 on BBC America numbered episode 166. Ian is a fan of hip hop music, particularly Public Enemy. He was known to wear Public Enemy shirts while performing gigs in the late 1980s and also said Run-DMC came out with the same aggression that metal bands played with (that he was listening to). He fell in love with rap and said Run-DMC was the group that put rap on the map.

He co-owns a hard rock bar called Dead Man's Hand in Las Vegas with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.

Collaborations

Television

Equipment

Scott Ian uses his signature Jackson guitars and signature Randall MTS Series heads and cabinets. He is known to use Dimebag Darrell tribute Deans and previously endorsed Washburn. During the mid 1980s, he used ESP guitars for a while, also getting Kirk Hammett his ESP endorsement. Scott uses a DigiTech signature Black 13 distortion pedal, and a DigiTech chorus pedal for his clean sounds. Many of his guitars have been equipped with custom made Seymour Duncan "El Diablo" pickups, but can also be seen using standard Seymour Duncan SH-4's and '59 pickups on several guitars, including his newest signature Jackson. He also recently began endorsing Evertune bridges.

In late 2009, Ian ended his endorsement with Washburn and went back to Jackson guitars. He was seen using custom made Soloist and Randy Rhoads guitars during the 2009 Sonisphere Festival. On March 27, 2010, Ian announced the production of a new signature guitar by Jackson via Twitter and YouTube. He said it would be based on his Soloist from 1987. It has a silverburst finish, a single Seymour Duncan J.B. humbucker, lightning bolt inlays, and a string-thru/tune-o-matic bridge. A dual-humbucker version with a Floyd Rose tremolo will also be released. He stated, "I am so stoked to be back with Jackson." He was seen using this guitar while playing with Brian Posehn at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and with The Damned Things at the 2011 Download Festival.

Guitars

Effects

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On Floor:

Other:

Amplifiers