James LaBrie

Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has been fronting since 1991.

Kevin James LaBrie was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada as the youngest of four kids. He started both singing and playing the drums at age five. In elementary school, he had a music teacher that took to him really well and nurtured him and got him into singing contests. In addition to music, LaBrie also grew up an enthusiastic hockey fan, playing whenever possible and watching Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night with his family. Because there wasn't a lot to do around his hometown growing up, he spent a lot of time getting together with friends sitting around listening to music. By his mid-teens, he was a member of several bands as a front man that attempted singing and/or drumming. He stopped playing drums at age 17, thinking there were too many great drummers better than him, and decided to hone in on singing as his pursuit. He moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1981 at age 18.

LaBrie joined Coney Hatch in 1986 when they were attempting a new line-up. 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 line-up, the band replaced LaBrie with Phil Naro in one last ditched attempt at forging ahead without Carl Dixon. That line-up 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 (in an earlier incarnation) Sebastian Bach on vocals, who later went on to Skid Row. Chycki had also worked with Bach under the band names 'Hope', and later 'Sebastian', before settling on 'Winter Rose'. The band recorded a series of demos through 1988 and 1989 with supporting musicians Bruce Dies and Rob Laidlaw. Most tracks weren't commercially released until 1997 when a self-titled album was released by Inside Out Music, a full 7 years after the group had disbanded. Their track "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" was released with a promo video in 1989 and would later be included on the album. All songs on the album were written by Richard Chycki and James LaBrie, save two which were written in whole by Richard Chycki.

In 1990, LaBrie learned that American progressive metal band Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape featuring a Winter Rose live recording. Just days before committing to another singer, Dream Theater received the tape and were so taken by LaBrie's voice and look that he was immediately flown to Long Island, New York for an audition. The tryout went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the band's full-time vocalist position. LaBrie also joined the band on the condition that he stay living in Canada where he is close to family and friends. LaBrie dropped his first name upon joining Dream Theater to avoid any mix-ups with Kevin Moore, as two Johns in the band (John Petrucci and John Myung) was already confusing enough.

LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater's music until 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events which features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on eleven of the sixteen 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 favourite 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."

LaBrie had a strained relationship with Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy for many years after Portnoy's departure from the band in 2010, as they are both emotional and passionate people which led to public back-and-forth comments in the press over the years. One such example is when LaBrie commented Dream Theater was more balanced since Portnoy's departure without "somebody in the background trying to grab the limelight" during an interview with Prog-Sphere.com, while Portnoy at one point had commented Liquid Tension Experiment "was like Dream Theater without annoying vocals" during an interview on Brazil’s Rádio Kiss FM 92,5. In 2020, LaBrie revealed he had not spoken to Portnoy in 10 years, and highly doubted a reunion. On March 4, 2022, two hours before going onstage to perform with Dream Theater at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, LaBrie received a text message from his manager indicating Portnoy would be at the show and wanted to visit LaBrie backstage to make amends. Hesitant at first, LaBrie went incognito and walked the streets of New York City to think it over, as well as called his wife who encouraged him to do it. LaBrie agreed, and as soon as he came out of his dressing room and saw Portnoy, gave him a hug and their contempt for one another melted away within seconds. LaBrie and Portnoy's emotional reunion would pave the way for Portnoy to rejoin Dream Theater in 2023. Portnoy has stated he went from being LaBrie's biggest critic to being his biggest cheerleader.