Tom Araya

At 62 years old, Tom Araya has this physical status:

Tomás Enrique Araya D'az (Spanish pronunciation: [tom aia]; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean American musician best known as the vocalist and bassist of American thrash metal band Slayer. According to Hit Parader's list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time, Araya ranks 58th. Araya and Kerry King were the only members of the band to remain active until its disbandement in 2019.

Araya started working as a respiratory therapist in the early 1980s and raised his money to finance Slayer's debut album Show No Mercy (1983). A majority of Araya's lyrical material is about serial murderers, which he finds amusing; his first creditable lyrical contribution was 1985's Hell Awaits' "At Dawn They Sleep."

Personal life

Juan "Johnny" Araya, Araya's brother, plays bass in the melodic death metal band Thine Eyes Bleed, is a musician. He has also served as a roadie for Slayer once or twice.

Araya lives in Buffalo, Texas, where he and his wife Sandra Araya and two children, as well as daughter Ariel Asa Araya (b. ). Tomas Enrique Araya Jr., Jr., 1996; b. 1996) (1998): The author's birthdate was set in 1998. He and his wife raise a herd of cattle, as well as other ranch animals. Araya claims he sings country songs to help keep his "singing chops up." Araya and his wife are huge fans of horror films, like The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. When the children asked, "Is this real?" the two allowed their children to watch horror films but made it clear that it is just a movie." His children were homeschooled.

Araya suffers from sleep apnea and uses a CPAP machine at home and on tour.

After years of headbanging, Araya underwent neck surgery in 2010. The operation went well, but he couldn't do the dramatic motions he used to display, which was something he really enjoyed doing. His brother designed a special "weight belt" for Araya to play the bass without straining his neck while on tour. He returned to using standard bass straps after the recovery process was complete.

Araya is a Roman Catholic nun who practices. In an interview, he stated that "Christ came and taught us about love, not doing unto others." That was his sermon: accept each other for being who we are. Live peacefully and love one another." When asked if he believed in God, he replied, "I believe in a supreme being." However, He's a good God who loves others. Araya said he had a "true belief system" and that Slayer's images and words would "never interfere with what I believe and how I feel."

"I think that's one of the band's most common myths," Araya wrote about the band's mischaracterization as Satan worshipers. Araya puts his convictions aside, and says, "I'm not one that's going to go away because it's contrary to my beliefs." It's more like, 'This is really good stuff,' it's just too cute.' With this, you're going to piss people off.'

Araya explained in 2016 that the primary reason Slayer used satanic images was to scare people, in particular, the "Hollywood people," who were trying to distinguish themselves from the 1980s' "androgynous Sunset Strip metal scene.

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Early life and career

Tomás Enrique Diaz was born in Via del Mar, Chile, but his family immigrated to the United States when he was five years old. He grew up in Los Angeles. Cisco, his older brother, was a guitarist. Araya picked up bass at age eight, which inspired him to play more. The two performed Beatles and Rolling Stones songs, which he would later use as an influence on his own music.

In the early 1980s, Araya's eldest sister recommended that he enroll in a course to become a respiratory therapist. Araya's father insisted that he either find a job or enroll in the program. Araya is enrolled in a two-year technical course, learning about air mixture ratios, drawing blood, and how to intubate.

Kerry King, the artist who begged Araya to join his band, Slayer, asked Araya in 1981. Araya eventually agreed to finance the band's 1983 debut album Show No Mercy by utilizing his earnings as a respiratory therapist. Araya requested time off work from his employer, the Brotman Medical Center, for Slayer's first European tour in 1984, but was turned down; 'We need you to come in today.' They'd call me at 5:00 a.m. in the morning and wake me up, 'We don't come in, we need you to come in to work.' His employers threatened termination after a month of intermittent attendance; Araya replied, "I guess I'm fired." Araya was one of the band's original members to remain in Slayer for the entire length of the band's career, from 1981 to 2019.

Araya underwent gallbladder surgery in 2006, which interrupted The Unholy Alliance tour. The tour was originally scheduled to begin on June 6, but it was postponed to June 13. Araya was also unable to finish the vocals for a song titled "Final Six," which was supposed to be included on Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion; the album's special edition was later released. "It's kind of cool to see them at such a young age," Araya carried his children on tour. I was, like, 17" at my first appearance. "We [Slayer] have been lucky enough to live as long as we have because a lot of bands don't live long enough."

Slayer revealed on its official website on January 7, 2010 that back surgery had been postponed for Araya and that the planned tour will be cancelled until April of this year. "The Slayer camp is working hard to reschedule dates for later this year," the website informed viewers. When the band was touring in Australia/New Zealand/Japan in October 2009, Araya is known for his ferocious headbanging and began having back problems. He had anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. "The surgeon opened my throat from the front," he explained. "Well, it's quicker that way." My oesophagus was pushed over to one side and repaired it, but they did the repair work. It seems that it's been fine, but "I can't go back to the headbang now." Araya's once brisk on-stage movement and headbanging have been considerably reduced during performances; he has now remained largely unchanged during shows.

An interview with Slayer's Dave Lombardo about Araya's resurrection appeared in Metal Hammer magazine on March 12, 2010. "He's recovering extremely quickly and very well," Lombardo said. He is just getting better and doing all the prescriptions and post-operative stuff that he has to go through. He's doing well."

Slayer announced on May 20, 2010 that they would perform two songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Via del Mar, a man of his birth, received the keys to the city of his birth on June 3, 2011.

Araya made a cameo in the heavy metal horror film Hairmetal Shotgun Zombie Massacre: The Movie, directed by Joshua Allan Vargas in 2014.

Slayer embarked on what they described as their last world tour and eventually dissolved in Los Angeles, California, from May 2018 to November 2019.

Araya's obsession with serial killers inspires a number of his songs, including Jeffrey Dahmer's "213" about him and Ed Gein's "Dead Skin Mask." "I'm trying to figure out where these guys are coming from so I may know."

It's always kind of intrigued me…"

Araya wrote the lyrics for Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion's "Eyes of the Insane." The lyrics were inspired by an article in the Texas Monthly on the casualties of war and the lives of soldiers dealing with physical and psychological trauma. "At points on their tour of Iraq, they need assistance, and the military tends to dismiss it, so they kind of brush it under the rug and hope it goes away," Araya said. They try to make everything seem hunky, fine, and dandy, but in reality, there is a lot of stuff going on that nobody can cope with. A number of soldiers are returning home with a strong sense of depression. And the sad part is, we learned about post-traumatic stress after Vietnam and the first Gulf War, and the military seems to want to wipe the slate clean with every new war.

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