Background
Starkey was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Starkey was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He has played many roles in several bands, served as a vocalist for and, bassist for Puddle of Mudd, and he also owns a company called Give 2 Get Music Group in which he is a music supervisor and composer for television and film music Damien scored and wrote music for The Nitro Circus 3D Movie and American Pie: Reunion, and also works on several other and movies. As a producer he has written for and produced many notable artists including platinum selling band Saliva.
Damien also is a managing partner in the music technology company Fanpass.TV. He moved to Jacksonville, Florida, at the age of 2, and began playing guitar at the age of 9.
He started the early version of with Bobby Amaru, vocalist of Saliva, at the age of 15. By the age of 18 they had a multimillion-dollar record deal with Elektra Records.
Currently he lives in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. From 2007 to 2011 he was songwriter and singer for, with current Puddle of Mudd rhythm guitarist Adam Latiff and former lead guitarist of Puddle of Mudd Paul Phillips.
Also in the band was Brad Stewart formerly of Shinedown who now plays in Fuel.
In 2010, following the departure of bassist Doug Ardito, he joined Puddle of Mudd. Starkey has been quoted as saying that he grew up listening to a wide variety of genres. Many artists have influenced him, such as Guns North’ Roses, Metallica, Pantera, Candlebox, Doctor Dre, and Bad Company.