Joey Belladonna (3,898 views)

[Henny Macc]

Joseph Bellardini (October 30, 1960 - )
Years active: 1980-present
Country of origin: United States of America
Recorded vocal range: G2-B♭5 (G2-A♯5) - 3¼ octaves

Band history:

• 1980-1983 - Bible Black (lead vocals)
  
• 1984-1992 - Anthrax (lead vocals)
  
• 1995-2003 - Belladonna (lead vocals)
  
• 2003-2010 - Belladonna (lead vocals, drums)
  
• 2005-2006 - Anthrax (lead vocals)
  
• 2010-present - Chief Big Way (lead vocals, drums)
  
• 2010-present - Anthrax (lead vocals)
  
• 2020-present - Beyond Journey (lead vocals)

Recorded high notes:
A♯5/B♭5: "Imitation of Life", "Now It's Dark"
A5: "Aftershock" live Montreal 1986, "A.I.R." live Tokyo 1987, "Armed and Dangerous", "Deathrider" live Eindhoven 1986, "Metal Thrashing Mad '85"
G♯5/A♭5: "Aftershock", "Among the Living", "Caught in a Mosh", "Deathrider" live Bochum 1986, "Gung-Ho!", "Milk (Ode to Billy)", "Now It's Dark", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Sects"
G5: "A.I.R.", "Anthem", "A Skeleton in the Closet", "Cesspit", "Gung-Ho!", "Hard Life", "Horror of It All", "Howling Furies" live Bochum 1986, "I Am the Law", "Imitation of Life", "Madhouse", "Metal Thrashing Mad '85", "Panic" live Detroit 1986, "Smokin'", "Soldiers of Metal" live Bochum 1986, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" live Shiprocked 2022
F♯5/G♭5: "Aftershock", "Anthem", "Anthrax" live Bochum 1986, "Caught in a Mosh", "Double Crossed", "Finale", "Madhouse" live Tokyo 2015, "Make Me Laugh", "Medusa", "Panic" live Bochum 1986, "Power Trip", "Raise Hell", "Soldiers of Metal" live Bochum 1986, "Stand or Fall", "Turn Me Loose" live 2017, "Woman from Tokyo" live Scranton 2017
F5: "Anthem", "Deathrider" live Eindhoven 1986, "Down & Out", "Gung-Ho!" live Bochum 1986, "Howling Furies" live Bochum 1986, "Magic Power" live Syracuse 2015, "Metal Thrashing Mad '85", "More Than a Feeling" live 2010, "Rejecting You", "Wheel in the Sky" live Beacon Theater 2020, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" live Verona 2014
E5: "A.I.R.", "Anthrax" live Bochum 1986, "Armed and Dangerous", "A Skeleton in the Closet", "Deathrider" live Bochum 1986, "Highway to Hell" live Prague 2013, "Howling Furies" live Bochum 1986, "I Am the Law", "Keep on Runnin'", "Lone Justice", "Metal Thrashing Mad '85", "Only" live Sofia 2010, "Panic '85", "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Smokin'", "Soldiers of Metal" live Bochum 1986, "Stand or Fall", "Strangers in the Night", "The Enemy", "Tom Sawyer" live 2010, "You Could of Fooled Me"
D♯5/E♭5: "All Right Now" live Sherrill 2010, "Anthem", "Closer to the Heart" live Syracuse 2015, "Faithfully" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Madhouse" live Bloodstock 2016, "Raise Hell", "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017, "What Is and What Should Never Be" live 2019
D5: "Armed and Dangerous", "A Skeleton in the Closet", "Ask the Lonely" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Be Good to Yourself" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Deathrider" live Bochum 1986, "Deceiver", "Greed & Ego", "Keep on Runnin'", "Livin' on a Prayer" live Rochester 2016, "Lone Justice", "Raise Hell", "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Smokin'", "Stone in Love" live Beacon Theater 2020, "The Enemy", "Who Cares Wins"
C♯5/D♭5: "Aftershock", "All Right Now" live Sherrill 2010, "Among the Living", "Anthem", "Be Good to Yourself" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Breathing Lightning", "Caught in a Mosh", "Closer to the Heart" live Syracuse 2015, "Don't Stop Believing" karaoke Spooky Empire VIP Party 2009, "Evil Twin", "Faithfully" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Feels Like the First Time" live Syracuse 2015, "Heaven and Hell" live Tampere 2011, "I'll Be Alright Without You" live Beacon Theater 2020, "I'm Alive", "In the End", "Judas Priest", "Keep on Runnin'", "Lone Justice", "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Magic Power" live Syracuse 2015, "Make Me Laugh", "Medusa", "Metal Thrashing Mad '85", "Misery Loves Company", "Neon Knights", "One World", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Revolution Screams", "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017, "Slow Ride" live Waterford 2017, "Smokin'", "Some Kind of Wonderful" live Sherrill 2015, "What Is and What Should Never Be" live 2019
C5: "Anthrax" live Bochum 1986, "Any Way You Want It" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Armed and Dangerous", "Ask the Lonely" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Ball of Confusion", "Be Good to Yourself" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Can't Erase It", "Carry on Wayward Son", "Caught in a Mosh", "Common Ground", "Dead Meat", "Deathrider" live Bochum 1986, "Down & Out", "Earth on Hell", "Girl Can't Help It" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Greed & Ego", "Highway to Hell" live Motorboat Cruise 2015, "Holy Diver" live San Francisco 2017, "Immigrant Song" live Rochester 2015, "Keep on Runnin'", "Law of the Jungle", "Lone Justice", "Magic Power" live Syracuse 2015, "Midnight Dancer", "Misery Loves Company", "Monster at the End", "Neon Knights", "Now It's Dark", "Oh Sherrie" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Only the Young" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Ramble On" live Canandaigua 2015, "R.I.P.", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Slow Ride" live Waterford 2017, "Smokin'", "Soldiers of Metal" live Bochum 1986, "Still They Ride" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Stone in Love" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Taken By Force", "Tom Sawyer" live 2010, "Wheel in the Sky" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Who's Crying Now" live Beacon Theater 2020, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" live Verona 2014
B4: "Aftershock", "A.I.R.", "All of Them Thieves", "All Right Now" live Sherrill 2010, "Among the Living", "Antisocial", "Any Way You Want It" live Beacon Theater 2020, "A Skeleton in the Closet", "Baba O'Riley" live Batavia 2015, "Be All, End All", "Be Good to Yourself" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Big Misunderstanding", "Blood Eagle Wings", "Carry on Wayward Son", "Caught in a Mosh", "Close Your Eyes", "Cold as Ice" live Shiprocked 2022, "Don't Stop Believing" karaoke Spooky Empire VIP Party 2009, "Double Crossed", "Finale", "For All Kings", "Gung-Ho!", "Heartbreaker" live 2015, "Help's on the Way", "Howling Furies" live Bochum 1986, "I Am the Law", "I'll Be Alright Without You" live Beacon Theater 2020, "I'm Alive", "Immigrant Song" live Rochester 2015, "Imitation of Life", "Indians", "I-900", "Injun", "In the End", "Judas Priest", "Keep on Runnin'", "Last Call", "Law of the Jungle", "Lights" live Shiprocked Cruise 2019, "Livin' on a Prayer" live Rochester 2016, "Lone Justice", "Lost Child", "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" live Beacon Theater 2020,"Madhouse", "Magic Power" live Syracuse 2015, "Make Me Laugh", "Man on the Silver Mountain" live Los Angeles 2010, "Medusa", "Milk (Ode to Billy)", "Misery Loves Company", "Neon Knights", "N.F.B. (Dallabnikufesin)", "N.F.L. (Efilnikufesin)", "No Alibi", "Nothing to Hide", "Now It's Dark", "Only the Young" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Open Arms" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Perfection", "Power Trip", "Raise Hell", "Retirement", "Rock and Roll" live 2017, "Schism", "Sects", "Send Her My Love" live Shiprocked 2019, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Slow Ride" live 2017, "Soror Irrumator", "Stand or Fall", "Still They Ride" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Stone in Love" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Strangers in the Night", "Suzerain", "Sweet Leaf" live Waterford 2017, "The Constant", "The Devil You Know", "The Enemy", "The Wanted", "Turn Me Loose" live 2017, "Vice of the People", "Wake Me", "What Is and What Should Never Be" live 2019, "Who Cares Wins", "Woman from Tokyo" live Scranton 2017, "Wrong Side of the Tracks", "You Could of Fooled Me", "Zero Tolerance"
A♯4/B♭4: "All Right Now" live Sherrill 2010, "Armed and Dangerous", "Ball of Confusion", "Be All, End All", "Belly of the Beast", "Blood", "Blunt Man", "Breathing Lightning", "Cold as Ice" live Shiprocked 2022, "Dead Meat", "Discharge", "Evil Twin", "Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't", "For All Kings", "Greed & Ego", "Heaven and Hell" live Tampere 2011, "H8 Red", "Hold on Loosely" live 2016, "Honky Tonk Woman" live Sherrill 2016, "Horror of It All", "Law of the Jungle", "Limelight" live Scranton 2017, "Look Out", "Madhouse", "Magic Power" live Syracuse 2015, "Man in the Box" live 2015, "Milk (Ode to Billy)", "More Than a Feeling" live 2010, "Monster at the End", "My Own Worst Enemy" live Rochester 2016, "Neon Knights", "Never Let You Down", "New Noise", "No Alibi", "Now It's Dark", "Oh Sherrie" live Beacon Theater 2020", "One World", "Only" live Sofia 2010, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Ramble On" live Canandaigua 2015, "Revolution Screams", "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017, "Some Kind of Wonderful" live Sherrill 2015, "Taken by Force", "The Battle Chose Us", "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Chicago Bulls game 2013, "Time", "T.N.T.", "Two Faced", "Vice of the People", "War Inside My Head" live Bochum 1986, "Wheel in the Sky" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Who Cares Wins", "Whole Lotta Love" live Hampton Beach 2011, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" live Verona 2014, "Zero Tolerance"
A4: "A.I.R.", "Anthrax" live Bochum 1986, "Antisocial", "Armed and Dangerous", "A Skeleton in the Closet", "Ask the Lonely" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Be All, End All", "Belly of the Beast", "Big Eyes", "Big Misunderstanding", "Blood", "Blunt Man", "Can't Erase It", "Caught in a Mosh", "Cesspit", "Common Ground", "Deadly Nightshade", "Dead Meat", "Down & Out", "God Save the Queen", "Gridlock", "Hard Life", "Highway to Hell" live Motorboat Cruise 2015, "Horror of It All", "I-900", "Injun", "In My World", "In the End", "Jailbreak", "Keep on Runnin'", "Last Call", "Live Up to You", "Long Train Runnin'" live at Flo Joe's 2016, "Lost Child", "Milk (Ode to Billy)", "Misery Loves Company", "Mixed Emotions", "Movin' On", "N.F.L. (Efilnikufesin)", "No Alibi", "Not Buyin'", "Nothing to Hide", "Now It's Dark", "Oh Sherrie" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Panic '85", "Parasite", "Perfection", "Power Trip", "Rejecting You", "Retirement", "R.I.P", "Rob You Blind", "Schism", "Sects", "Send Her My Love" live Shiprocked 2019, "Soldiers of Metal" live Bochum 1986, "The Enemy", "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Wrigley Field 2018, "The Wanted", "Time", "Tom Sawyer" live 2010, "Two Faced", "Wake Me", "War Inside My Head" live Bochum 1986, "Who Cares Wins", "Who's Crying Now" live Beacon Theater 2020, "Wrong Side of the Tracks"

Recorded low notes:
E3: "Belly of the Beast", "Blood", "Carry on Wayward Son", "Deadly Night Shade", "Down & Out" demo, "Got the Time" live Sofia 2010, "Gridlock", "Help's on the Way", "Honky Tonk Woman" live Sherrill 2016, "Injun", "In My World", "Last Call", "Medusa", "No Alibi", "One Man Stands", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", "Parasite", "Retirement", "Rob You Blind", "Smoke on the Water" live Sherrill 2011, "Woman from Tokyo" live Scranton 2017
D♯3/E♭3: "Baba O'Riley" live Batavia 2015, "Bad Memories", "Belly of the Beast" live Concord Music Hall 2016, "Big Eyes", "Born to Be Wild" live 2017, "Bud E Luv Bomb and Satan's Lounge Band", "Crawl", "Evil Twin", "Face You", "Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't", "H8 Red", "Hold on Loosely" live 2016, "In My World" live Sayreville 2005, "Jailbreak", "Madhouse" live Tokyo 2015, "Man in the Box" live 2015, "My Own Worst Enemy" live Rochester 2016, "New Noise", "Pinball Wizard" live Waterford 2017, "Some Kind of Wonderful" live Sherill 2015, "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Chicago Bulls game 2013, "Time", "Tom Sawyer" live Sherrill 2010, "Turn the Page" live Rochester 2016, "What Is and What Should Never Be" live 2019, "White Wedding" live, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" live Verona 2014
D3: "Hard Life", "Injun", "Last Call", "Not Buyin'", "Nothing to Hide", "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Wrigley Field 2018, "Two Faced"
C♯3/D♭3: "Another Brick in the Wall" live 2015, "Help's on the Way","H8 Red", "I'm Alive", "Madhouse" live Bloodstock 2016, "More Than a Feeling" live 2010, "Ramble On" live Canandaigua 2015, "The Constant", "Turn the Page" live Rochester 2016, "Vice of the People"
C3: "Gridlock", "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Wrigley Field 2016
B2: "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" live in Sherrill 2010, "La Grange" live 2017, "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Sox Park 2019
A♯2/B♭2: "Bad Company" live Sherrill 2010, "Comfortably Numb" live on the Opie Show 2016, "Gridlock", "H8 Red", "Revolution Screams", "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Sturgis 2021, "White Wedding" live
A2: "Blood"
G♯2/A♭2: "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017, "The Star-Spangled Banner" live Camden 2015
G2: "Vice of the People"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable notes}
B2: "I'm the Man '91" - suspected to be Charlie Benante
A2: "I'm the Man '91" - suspected to be Charlie Benante
F♯2/G♭2: "I'm Alive" - backing vocal note during a section where the bottom harmony would logically bottom there, but is completely inaudible in the mix, "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017 - not clear if this note exists due to the poor audio quality of the recording and the guitar playing over his singing
D♯2/E♭2: "Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017 - not clear if this note exists due to the poor audio quality of the recording and the guitar playing over his singing

.......................................................
*Blue marks soft falsetto notes.
*Italics mark non-melodic notes.
*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the song mix.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Detailed bio}
The iconic vocalist of Anthrax, known for his contrast of soaring melodic vocals over the band's raw, thrashy music. This made for a stark difference to most of the rest of the Big 4 of Thrash vocally, as most of them featured vocals that were much more shouty and gritty, and less centered around actual "singing". Joey's vocal evolution was a strange one, as he started out with an extremely agile and resonant fifth octave in the mid '80s, which you could hear him utilizing to its fullest on 1985's Armed and Dangerous EP and the Spreading the Disease album. All too soon, however, he seemed to experience some kind of vocal damage in 1987, which I've never been able to get any details about, but the evidence of is very apparent on Among the Living when you hear how much thinner his C5-D5 notes got, and how much screamier everything E5 onward became. You could also hear that he was greatly struggling with live performances around this time, as many recordings from that era feature voice cracks and flubbed notes, and on some songs he would omit the highest notes altogether at times. This downward spiral continued through 1988's State of Euphoria, until he completely eliminated all fifth octave notes entirely on 1990's Persistence of Time, and and played it very safe with all his vocal parts.

From there, he launched a solo career that was very hit-or-miss vocally, as it featured some impressive performances on his first album with songs like "Down & Out" and "Power Trip", but then other albums like Spells of Fear and 03 were almost completely centered around his mid range, and rarely featured anything above A4 (for shame! ). Occasionally he would still go for some fifth octave screams, but they tended to be much more "gritty falsetto"-oriented; as opposed to the resonant, powerful notes he was hitting up there back in the '80s.

I admittedly had lost hope for Joey as a singer for a while, and didn't expect that he would ever recover his high range, but in the late 2000s he made the comeback of a lifetime when he rejoined Anthrax, and suddenly started busting out fifth octave notes again no problem! The first studio album to indicate that some kind of recovery had been made was his 2010 solo release Deadly Night Shade, which was his first album in decades to feature melody singing up to D5 and E5, which was then followed by a new Anthrax album, Worship Music, in 2011, which featured similarly strong singing. The 2013 Anthrax EP Anthems was also particularly impressive, as it showed Joey covering Rush, Boston, and Journey, and singing melodies into the fifth octave with considerable control and ease. 

Since then, he's continued to perform with impressive consistency in Anthrax, and on his off time does lead vocals and drums in a small-time cover band called Chief Big Way with two of his neighbors. Chief Big Way regularly covers all sorts of classic rock acts such as Journey, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Rush, Deep Purple, Foreigner, and many others, and Joey continually proves his ability to perform both the vocal and drum parts for those artists. Though his singing is very primarily geared towards high notes (so much so that for a number of years we basically thought his low range was non-existent), some of his recent performances and Chief Big Way covers have confirmed that he does in fact have something of a low range, but he seemingly prefers not to use it. Nonetheless, he's still managed to display over three octaves of strong, sung notes, so he definitely has a decent range either way!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Vocal range video}
Here's the vocal range video I currently have uploaded for him on YouTube, from 2013. It's mostly accurate/reliable, though at the time we hadn't found as many sung second octave notes by him yet, so it's a bit lacking in that department. Still does a good job of showcasing his high range abilities at their prime however!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Best displays of vocal range}
"Rocky Mountain Way" live 2017 (G♯2-D♯5)
"Hard Life" (D3-G5)
"More Than a Feeling" live 2010 (C♯3-F5)
"Out of Sight, Out of Mind" (E3-G♯5)
"Vice of the People" (G2-B4)
"Madhouse" live Bloodstock 2016 (C♯3-D♯5)
"Woman from Tokyo" live Scranton 2017 (E3-F♯5)
"Medusa" (E3-F♯5)
"Blood" (A2-B♭4)
"What Is and What Should Never Be" live 2019 (D♯3-D♯5)

[Rodney Blazershorts]

It’s always great to see the third best Anthrax singer having a thread again.

[Henny Macc]

Since the vote ended up being in favor of counting the F♯2 as a questionable note, I'd now like to open some discussion about his next-lowest note. I've gone back and forth on what I hear this clip bottoming at a few times - usually G2 or F♯2, but every once in a while I'll get something as low as E2 (though I'm pretty sure that isn't right). But anyway, the notes in questions are "do you solemnly swear to use your powers for eVIL? Only then can you be the vice of the peoPLE".

[thatsnotcool33]

Definitely not an E2, sounds like a F♯2 to me.