Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a heavy metal vocalist and musician, currently performing with Down. He is best known as a vocalist, lyricist and co-composer for Pantera, but has been involved with numerous other musical projects in heavy metal.

Much of Anselmo's early life remains undocumented at this time, with only hints towards what it may have been like is showing up in songs like "25 Years," "Becoming" and sporadic pieces popping up in interviews. What is known is that Anselmo grew up in the inner city of New Orleans to an abusive alcoholic father who operated several bars in the area, and currently operating a restaurant in Metairie, LA called Anselmo's. He played in a few teenage bands who played tribute to rock n' roll songs. His most recognized band was Razor White. He was an avid hardcore punk, metal, and thrash fan citing Venom, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath as major influences. Anselmo pays tribute to these two bands in the lyrics of Pantera song "Goddamn Electric", singing "your trust is in whiskey and weed and Black Sabbath/Slayer".

Anselmo has said in various interviews that he was very quiet and secluded as a child.

During a 2002 Ozzfest interview with radioshow Opie and Anthony, Anselmo stated that at the age of 15 he started a fire in his home to scare his sister, but accidentally burned the house down in the process. During this time, Anselmo lived on his own with the help of his friends, scurrying around shady trails at night, and would take food from the refrigerators of the houses of the cousins of his half-sisters' friends' parents when they would leave for work each day. With no education or family Anselmo committed his life to music. He was involved with the New Orleans heavy metal scene in the early to mid-80s, playing several gigs with Razor White (primarily a metal cover band that specialized in Judas Priest) prior to joining Pantera in 1987.

It has also been a little known fact that Phil Anselmo has a brother, named Jerry Anselmo. Jerry is currently residing in New Orleans and owns a venue named Jerry's. He also has a known half-sister named Rebecca. She has been credited as a backup singer on the Southern Isolation EP, a project which Anselmo and then wife Stephanie Opal Weinstein collaborated on.

Pantera

Anselmo was discovered in his hometown by Pantera, who needed a vocalist following the departure of Terry Glaze. Anselmo joined the band and re-recorded some vocals on some Glaze tracks for Power Metal (1988).

As Pantera were at the height of their fame in the mid-90's, Anselmo began to behave erratically and distance himself from his bandmates while touring behind Far Beyond Driven in 1995. Later that year, he released Nola, the debut album of side-project Down. Anselmo later cited a chronic back injury as the cause of his erratic behavior and isolation from his bandmates. As his pain continued to worsen, Anselmo would begin taking up heroin to alleviate his problem, while at the same time continuing to isolate himself from his bandmates. The distancing became so great that when the band recorded their 1996 album The Great Southern Trendkill, Anselmo cut his vocal tracks separate from the rest of the band.

On July 13, 1996, Anselmo nearly went into cardiac arrest from a heroin overdose after a show. He subsequently discussed his problem in interviews but his drug use would still be a point of contention within the band. Anselmo would remain as frontman until disbandment in 2003. Over the course of six studio albums, one live record and a greatest hits compilation, Anselmo and Pantera were twice nominated for a best metal performance Grammy, in 1995 and 2001.

Shortly after Pantera went into hiatus, Anselmo devoted much of his time to a long-time side project, Superjoint Ritual. Having heard this, the Abbott brothers (Dimebag & Vinnie) formed Damageplan with former Halford guitarist Pat Lachman on vocals, and Bob Zilla on bass. Some fans blame Anselmo for the break-up of Pantera, because of statements in the heavy metal press. Phil himself has stated that some journalists publish what they think sells magazines best. Also, the Abbotts publicly called Superjoint Ritual "Superarmdope Ritual." Pantera bassist Rex Brown, widely known as being the one neutral voice in the matter, has repeatedly called the feud "a bunch of silly nonsense," and "just he-said she-said bullshit;" blaming both sides for the split.

In 2002, Anselmo decided to clean up his act, and began using methadone to overcome his heroin addiction. Yet in his first media interview for Revolver magazine, Phil claimed that the painkiller soma and methadone still messed with him and made him sound "retarded". Thats when he made the decision to get clean completely. He has been clean since that year. He also underwent a successful back operation in the fall of 2005.

Anselmo had engaged in a war of words with Abbott since the fall of Pantera, culminating in the statement "Dimebag deserves to be severely beaten" in the December 2004 edition of the UK's Metal Hammer magazine. Initially he denied making the statement (this coming after Dimebag's death on December 8), but later changed his story in a VH-1 Behind The Music special on Pantera, claiming that the comment had been light-hearted and made after the interview was finished. However, Vinnie Paul told the press that he had heard the audio files of the interview and that Anselmo had not been coerced by the Metal Hammer journalist into making the statement, and nor had he been misquoted. In a video posted to the website community YouTube.com, Anselmo somewhat describes his regret over previous behavior.

Singing Style

Phil Anselmo has a broad vocal range that has been emulated by a number of new bands. During his early Pantera days, Anselmo used tenor head vocals in many of the songs from Cowboys From Hell, such as "Shattered", influenced by singers like Bruce Dickinson. He also used clean melodic singing, as seen in Cemetery Gates and Hollow (from Vulgar Display of Power). As time went on, his vocals became more harsh and aggressive, which is particularly shown on Far Beyond Driven. When it came to The Great Southern Trendkill, Phil's voice focused on being extremely harsh for the most part with some growl parts, except songs like "10's" and "Suicide Note Pt. I", with the aggressiveness in evidence in songs such as "War Nerve" and "Suicide Note Pt. 2".

Recent Activities

In a recent article in Revolver Magazine, Phil Anselmo and several of the guitarists from Down and Superjoint Ritual rented out a club in New Orleans, LA. They were there to hold a sort of youth group: they were teaching the children how to play jazz guitar. It was part of Phil's effort to help revitalize the ravished New Orleans' music scene.

On Sunday March 11, 2007 Phil and the rest of the members of Down kicked off the Heaven & Hell tour in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Down will play 11 shows across Canada during the month of March. However, during their March 13th show in Edmonton AB, March 14th show in Calgary AB, and March 16th show in Regina SK, due to Phil having a throat infection Down did not play.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Anselmo