Rob Zombie

Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have been praised for their elaborate shock rock theatricality. He has sold an estimated 15 million albums worldwide. He rose to fame as a founding member and the frontman of heavy metal band White Zombie, with whom he released five studio albums and one techno remix album.

His first solo effort, the 1996 song "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)" (with Alice Cooper), was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. His debut solo studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe, was released in 1998. Hellbilly Deluxe sold over 3 million copies worldwide and spawned three singles. His second studio album, The Sinister Urge, was released in 2001 and became his second platinum album in the U.S. His third studio album, Educated Horses, was released in 2006. It became his third album to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200, but saw a decrease in sales compared to his previous releases. His fourth studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2, released in 2010 and peaked at no. 8 in the United States. Remix album, Mondo Sex Head, released in 2012 and was followed by his fifth album Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor in 2013. In 2016, Zombie released his sixth album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, and his seventh studio album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, was released in 2021.

Zombie directed the horror film House of 1000 Corpses in 2000, though the controversial project was not released until 2003, and has since been described as a cult classic. Zombie followed the film with two sequels in his Rejects trilogy: The Devil's Rejects (2005) and 3 from Hell (2019). After the success of his first two films he directed Halloween (2007), a remake of the classic 1978 horror film. The film became his highest-grossing to date, though was generally received negatively by critics. He later directed Halloween II (2009), which failed to match the commercial success of its predecessor. Zombie has also directed the films The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), The Lords of Salem (2012), 31 (2016), and The Munsters (2022).

Zombie was born Robert Bartleh Cummings in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on January 12, 1965, the oldest son of Louise and Robert Cummings. His younger brother, Michael, uses the stage name Spider One and is the lead singer of Powerman 5000. Growing up, he had a fascination with horror films and "always wanted to be Alice Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Bela Lugosi, and Stan Lee". He has said of his childhood, "I didn't aspire to be anything. I was just a dopey kid. Basically everyone seemed amazing to me as a kid. I grew up in some nowhere town... anybody that even seemed remotely famous just seemed like they were on another planet."

Cummings' parents worked at a carnival. In 1977, when he was 12, his parents chose to leave after a riot broke out at the carnival and tents were set on fire. He said of the experience, "Everybody's pulling out guns, and you could hear guns going off. I remember this one guy we knew, he was telling us where to go, and some guy just ran up to him and hit him in the face with a hammer—just busted his face wide open. My parents packed up real quick, and we took off." He later elaborated, "I think someone just got ripped off for a lot of money on the gambling tents and they came back later and set the tents on fire [and] it turned into this big riot. [...] It was super violent and crazy and I think that was when my parents were like, 'You know what? We might be able to find something better to be doing here.' Because me and my brother are in the middle of this. Things are on fire, people beating the crap out of each other."

Cummings graduated from Haverhill High School in 1983. He moved to New York City and began attending Parsons School of Design, where he met eventual bandmate and girlfriend Sean Yseult. Before the success of White Zombie, he worked as a production assistant for the children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse. He took the stage name "Rob Zombie" from Bela Lugosi's 1932 horror film White Zombie, from which he also took White Zombie's band name. The name first shows up on White Zombie's 1989 EP God of Thunder. He had previously used the name "Rob Straker" on the White Zombie LPs Soul-Crusher and Make Them Die Slowly. In 1996, he made "Rob Zombie" his legal name.

Cummings and Yseult co-founded the band that would become known as White Zombie. They broke up after seven years of dating, but continued to work in the band together. The band released three extended plays to little success, with their debut studio album Soul-Crusher following in 1987 through the band's own record label, Silent Explosion. They released their second studio album Make Them Die Slowly in 1989 to little commercial reaction. Yseult and Zombie ended their relationship in 1991 and Zombie began dating Sheri Moon shortly afterwards. The band caught the attention of Geffen Records following the release of their fourth extended play; their third studio album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, was released through the label in 1992. Although the album did not enter the Billboard 200 chart until about a year after its release, it became the band's breakout hit, going on to sell over two million copies in the United States. Two singles, "Thunder Kiss '65" and "Black Sunshine", were released to promote La Sexorcisto.

White Zombie's fourth and final studio album, Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (1995), became their first and only to enter the top ten of the Billboard 200; it went on to sell over two million copies in the United States. Cummings directed the music video for the album's single "More Human than Human" (1995) and would go on to direct all subsequent videos for the band. In 1996, Cummings legally changed his name to Rob Zombie. White Zombie released a remix album that year, marking their final release before their eventual disbandment. Zombie collaborated with Alice Cooper on the song "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)" (1996) for Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files. The song was nominated in the category of Best Metal Performance at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards, though lost to Rage Against the Machine. White Zombie officially broke up in September 1998, with Zombie stating, "Sometimes a band just breaks up because the band has run its course and the best days are behind them. White Zombie went through a lot together and did tons of great stuff, but it was time to stop. The good times were over and we were all moving in different directions." A box-set for the group was released in 2008 featuring all of their released material.