Gerard Arthur Way is an American singer, songwriter, artist, comic book writer, musician and more. He is most well known as being lead vocalist and co-founder of rock band My Chemical Romance. Gerard co-founded DC Comics Young Animal Imprint, wrote the comic mini-series The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and he wrote the Eisner award winning comic book series The Umbrella Academy which has now been adapted into a television series on Netflix. Gerard was born on April 9, 1977, in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Belleville. His grandmother, Elena, was a large influence on him growing up, she taught him how to sing, draw, and perform. Following high school graduation Gerard enrolled at the School of Visual Arts in New York to study cartooning and illustration. When it came to comics and drawing, Gerard preferred creepier styles and as far as music goes he was inspired by artists such as QUEEN, Iron Maiden, The Smiths, The Cure and more. His musical works that most of us know of is a nice balance of rock, punk, goth and emo with a theatrical/operatic tone. MCR (My Chemical Romance), but Gerard especially, always presented themselves in a high fashion, androgynous, emo style consisting of long choppy hairstyles and a lot of black and red. MCR was founded shortly after 911 because Gerard was impacted drastically by the event while he was interning at Cartoon Network in NYC and wrote MCR’s first song, “Skylines and Turnstiles” based off the tragedy. Unfortunately Gerard has struggled with depression, alcoholism and prescription drug addiction over the years which he reflects on and finds inspiration from in his music.
My first encounter with Gerard Way was through my best friend in middle school who was absolutely obsessed with MCR. As I got into their music I found myself being inspired by their fashion, lyrics, artwork, and more. One of my favorite pieces of Gerard’s work is the Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album cover that features a young couple splattered with what appears to be blood.
Art Bananas 