To celebrate the band’s twentieth anniversary, the final concert on the Octavarium tour was performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 1, 2006.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2007
Gallery of James LaBrie
2010
Dream Theater as of 2010. From left to right Jordan Rudess, John Myung, James LaBrie, Mike Mangini and John Petrucci.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2011
High Voltage Festival, London, England, United States
James LaBrie of Dream Theater performing live onstage at High Voltage Festival on July 24, 2011 in London.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2011
Ippodromo delle Capannelle, Rome, Italy
Singer James LaBrie performs during the 'A Dramatic Tour Of Events 2011' Tour at Ippodromo delle Capannelle on July 1, 2011 in Rome, Italy.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2012
James LaBrie in 2012.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2012
Austin, Texas, United States
Vocalist James LaBrie of Dream Theater perform at ACL Live on July 7, 2012 in Austin, Texas.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2012
Los Angeles, California, United States
Musicians John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Mangini, James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater arrive at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2014
Boston Opera House, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Dream Theater performing live at the Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2014
Knebworth Park, Knebworth, England, United Kingdom
James LaBrie of Dream Theater performs at Day 3 of the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth Park on July 6, 2014 in Knebworth, England.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2015
Rotterdam, Netherlands
James LaBrie and other artists performing The Theater Equation.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2016
Temecula, California, United States
LaBrie performs on stage at Pechanga Casino on November 18, 2016 in Temecula, California.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2016
Milan, Italy
James Labrie of Dream Theater Perform on March 17, 2016 in Milan, Italy.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2016
Dream Theater performing during The Astonishing Tour 2016.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2016
Friedrichstadtpalast, Berlin, Germany
James LaBrie of the American band Dream Theater performs live during a concert at the Friedrichstadtpalast on March 9, 2016 in Berlin, Germany.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2017
Barcelona, Spain
James LaBrie of Dream Theater performs in concert at Razzmatazz on April 28, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2017
Sony Centre, Toronto, Canada
Dream Theater performs at Sony Centre in Toronto on November 12, 2017.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2017
Singapore
Dream Theater performing live in Singapore.
Gallery of James LaBrie
2017
Hammersmith Apollo, London, England, United Kingdom
Vocalist James LaBrie (L) and guitarist John Petrucci of American progressive metal group Dream Theater performing live on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on April 23, 2017.
Gallery of James LaBrie
Hammersmith Apollo, London, England, United Kingdom
Dream Theater performing live on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on April 23, 2017.
To celebrate the band’s twentieth anniversary, the final concert on the Octavarium tour was performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 1, 2006.
Musicians John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Mangini, James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater arrive at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Hammersmith Apollo, London, England, United Kingdom
Vocalist James LaBrie (L) and guitarist John Petrucci of American progressive metal group Dream Theater performing live on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on April 23, 2017.
Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has fronted since 1991.
Background
Kevin James Labrie was born on May 5, 1963, in Penetanguishene, a town in Ontario, Canada. James' parents say that when he was three years old, he would walk around the house singing whatever songs were on the radio. Although he didn't get the words right, he could sing the melodies. Inspired by his father, James started singing and playing drums at age 5: "My parents say I was tapping on everything so if they didn't get me a drum set, I'd ruin the house!" When he was six years old, he was very intent on replicating different vocal styles and techniques. It was obvious that his voice was very mature for a six year old.
Education
When James was in elementary school, his teacher put him in singing class to further his training. Meanwhile, his father, uncle, and brothers were in a barber shop quartet, which James was made a part of.
Yet James' real love was rock music which he pursued by his early teens. By fourteen, James was singing and playing drums in several bands. However, James knew that drums were secondary to his true passion, singing. At eighteen, James moved to Toronto, Canada. At age 21, he began vocal training with the renowned vocal coach Rosemary Patricia Burns.
Career
LaBrie joined Coney Hatch in 1986 when they were attempting a new lineup. The band recorded a number of demonstration tapes in their rehearsal studio and performed live in Ontario clubs for several months. When their record company (Anthem) expressed their disapproval of the lineup, the band replaced LaBrie with Phil Naro in one last ditched attempt at forging ahead without Carl Dixon. That lineup was to be short lived as well.
Soon after parting ways with Coney Hatch, LaBrie became the vocalist for the glam metal band Winter Rose. The group also included Richard Chycki on guitar and bass, Randy Cooke on drums, and Sebastian Bach on vocals. Chycki had also worked with Bach under the band names Sebastian and Hope. The band recorded a series of demos through 1988 and 1989 with guest musicians Bruce Dies and Rob Laidlaw. The tracks were commercially released in 1989 as a self-titled album by Inside Out Music. All the songs on the album were written by Richard Chycki and James LaBrie, except two which Richard Chycki wrote alone.
In 1990, LaBrie learned that American progressive metal band Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The trial went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in that band.
LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but until recently has had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater's music - 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on eight of the twelve albums Dream Theater has released with him in the band, Images and Words, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Dream Theater and The Astonishing containing none of them.
Asked by Prog-Sphere.com what is his favorite Dream Theater song to play live, James says "The favorite song for me is Scarred, I love performing that live. And... well, Octavarium, that whole freakin’ thing."
With Matt Guillory, LaBrie has released five solo albums under various names (Mullmuzzler, James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler, and simply James LaBrie).
On July 27, 2010 it was announced on Dream Theater's website that Static Impulse would be released on September 27, 2010 through InsideOut Music. It features longtime collaborator Matt Guillory on keyboards, Marco Sfogli ("Elements of Persuasion") on guitars, Peter Wildoer from DARKANE on drums/screaming vocals, and Ray Riendeau on bass.
James LaBrie stated "The release of Static Impulse is one that the whole band is psyched about. This is modern metal and as heavy and relevant as any other band out there going in a similar musical direction. There are riffs that will blow your head off and melodies both musically and vocally that are hypnotic. Get in the driver's seat and let the ears bleed. Enjoy and see you out there with a tour to follow up and support this release."
In 2011's interview for Prog-Sphere.com, LaBrie stated that the US tour got cancelled, saying "Because it was so disorganized last time. That's why I basically said, 'You don't have the visas yet. Where we're at this point, by the time you get the visas processed, we're gonna have one rehearsal and then we're gonna go out.' And I said, 'I'm not doing that.'"
In July 2013, LaBrie's album Impermanent Resonance was released.
Throughout his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie has lent his voice to many other artists' records as well as tribute albums. In 1991, not long after joining Dream Theater (and before ever appearing on a Dream Theater recording), he sang background vocals on the song "Life in Still Water" on Fates Warning's Parallels album.
He has appeared on many Trent Gardner releases (including Leonardo: The Absolute Man and Explorer's Club), as well as appearing on albums by such artists as Shadow Gallery, Tim Donahue and Frameshift.
LaBrie provided the lead vocals for the main character in the rock opera album The Human Equation by Ayreon; in 2015, he reprised his role for a live version, The Theater Equation. He was also featured as the character "The Historian" in the album The Source.
Since 2004, LaBrie has been working with the True Symphonic Rockestra project, along with Thomas Dewald, Vladimir Grishko, Dirk Ulrich, Christoph Wansleben, Sandro Martinez, Paul Mayland, Marvin Philippi, and Igor Marin. Their album, Concerto In True Minor - 3 Rock Tenors was released on iTunes and for download on Amazon on March 28, 2008 by Brainworx and Marinsound.
In 2016 LaBrie was the special guest on the Last Union debut album Most Beautiful Day. He sang in three songs: "President Evil", "Taken" and "A Place In Heaven".
James had said in many older interviews that he was Christian, and actively practiced the religion. However, in 2005 he revealed that he's since strayed from organized religion. He said: "I was brought up in Catholicism. My parents still go to church every weekend. When I grew up, I went to church every Saturday evening. But basically as you get older, you start to read things, observe, you become your own thinker – or at least I hope you do. I would say that today I’m a more spiritual-directed person.
My whole concept on it is that we are in a dimension that is what it is. We are put here for a purpose, but I think it’s beyond human comprehension. I don’t think it’s something that we really need to know. At this point of spiritual evolution, I think we are dealing with this stage that we are in right now. As an existence. We have to go through it. We have to live with it and we grow, so that when we go on into another dimension, it is completely beyond what we could ever conceive.’
I really do think that there's an entity or a creator that has brought the cosmos and has rationale. It’s not necessarily random. I think there is a purpose. There is a place that all of this is going to. I definitely feel that the consciousness that we have, there's a reason for it. It’s not something that we completely have to understand – for every question and every answer there’s so many yet to come. Anyway without getting into it in great detail – we’d need six hours and more for that – that’s my take on it."
Politics
Dream Theater is not known as a particularly "political" band, although a few songs make statements that are political. The thirteen minute "The Great Debate" from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence deals with the debate over embryonic stem cell research, but does not take a side. It does include many soundbites from both sides of the issue. "In the Name of God" from Train of Thought and "Sacrificed Sons" from Octavarium deal with religiously-based terrorism. "Prophets of War" from Systematic Chaos is Dream Theater's most partisan song to debate, being an anti-Iraq war song. James LaBrie personally prefers not to talk about politics.
Views
LaBrie has voiced opposition to people recording their concerts. He argues that bootlegging takes ownership and control over Dream Theater's performances away from the band themselves and into the hands of the public.
Quotations:
"It is extremely important to any singer to bring your vocal cords back into a speaking position. If you leave them in a singing position they will go into shock."
"I'm not singing into stratosphere like I did on [1992's] 'Images and Words.' When we went out on 'Images and Words' tour, we tuned down just like a semitone, which is really not much."
Personality
LaBrie has a generally good relationship with the other members of Dream Theater, though it has become strained at times, particularly with Portnoy, whose obsessiveness occasionally clashed with LaBrie's notorious temper. At times tensions between LaBrie and Portnoy reached the point where they almost exchanged blows, however this appears to be in the past and the two share a good relationship.
LaBrie has also formed friendships with other musicians, most notably Sebastian Bach, who is seen to be notoriously hard to work with by some, but is a close friend of both LaBrie and Portnoy. LaBrie had a reputation in his past for being a "party animal" and would drink to excess and be quick to a fight, but he has mellowed out considerably with age.
LaBrie's relationship with fans is good, with most seeing him as being approachable and friendly, willing to converse with them at length and sign autographs. There have been some incidents in which LaBrie has become angry at fans for heckling at shows, and in one infamous incident chased after a fan who kept heckling him during Surrounded, leaving Portnoy to sing the rest of the song.
Physical Characteristics:
Hair Color: Brown.
Eye Color: Blue.
Sometime in 1994 shortly after the recording of Awake, while vacationing in Cuba, LaBrie caught food poisoning from some bad shellfish, the constant vomiting causing him to rupture his vocal chords. LaBrie sought out many vocal coaches, doctors and experts who all said there was nothing that could be done other than to rest his voice as much as possible for at least a year. However, LaBrie went against these wishes to tour with Dream Theater, further damaging his voice, leading to a live career that is notably spotty.
LaBrie claimed his voice did not feel normal until 1997, though he injured his voice again in 2000, almost completely destroying it. It was at this point that he fell into depression and suffered some weight gain, and his performances suffered, with inconsistencies in both his vocal performance and frontman abilities leading Portnoy and Petrucci to consider replacing him. After a "wake up call" confrontation, LaBrie focused his energy on improvement, seeking out a new vocal coach and starting a regimen of diet and exercise, which improved both his physique and vocal abilities.
However, as the years have passed, people have started to take notice that LaBrie's voice is growing significantly weaker, and cannot hit many of the high notes that he used to be able to, and having a more nasal tone to his voice. This has lead to the band lowering the tunings of some songs when playing live on their 2017 tour, such as the entire Images and Words album (except for Wait for Sleep) and A Change of Seasons, to name a few. A lot of people have attributed this to the vocal growl he used on the Awake album and tour in 1993, rather than the aforementioned food poisoning incident. And it makes sense. Studies have shown that the technique LaBrie was using is only helpful for the lowest parts of a person's vocal range. Any higher than that, and the person runs a very high risk of doing serious permanent damage to their voice.
Quotes from others about the person
Arjen Lucassen: "When I first heard Dream Theater I especially liked – besides the excellent instrumentalists of course- the soft and emotional side of James’ warm voice. When I bought ‘Scenes’ and I listened to it, I was convinced."
Interests
Favorite Color: blue.
Favorite TV shows: The Simpsons, Star Trek - The Next Generation, Seinfeld.
Favorite movies: Dead Poets Society, Scarface, The Dead Zone, Dances with Wolves.
Favorite Actors: Robin Williams, Patrick Stewart, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Sean Connery.
Favorite Actresses: Linda Hamilton, Meg Ryan, Emma Thompson.
Favorite Food: Pasta dishes, seafood and all vegetables except zucchini.
Favorite Drinks: Fruit and vegetable juices, beer, rum and diet coke.
When not on the road, James enjoys camping, downhill skiing and reading.
Writers
Anne Rice, Dee Brown, Robert Utley, Forest Carter
Sport & Clubs
hockey, football, basketball, soccer
Athletes
Chicago Bulls
Music & Bands
James' musical tastes are quite varied as he names Metallica, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Journey and Judas Priest as well as classical composers Mozart, Vivaldi and Beethoven as favorites. Influential vocalists include Steve Perry (formerly of Journey), Freddie Mercury, Sting, Paul Rodgers and Nat King Cole.
Connections
James currently lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife Karen, daughter Chloe, and son Chance Abraham.