ZP De Villiers Theart is a South African singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist for Skid Row. Theart first garnered attention as the original singer of British power metal band DragonForce. Theart was also hired by Riot Games for the voice of Karthus in the songs "Deathfire Grasp" and "Last Whisper" by the metal band Pentakill.
Early life and first bands
Theart was born on 27 May 1975 in Clanwilliam, South Africa in Hazyview in the Eastern Transvaal, on a banana and litchi farm, and was raised there by his mother. His older brother lived with him as well. He has stated that according to his mother, at the age of three years, he began to hold a tablespoon up to his mouth, pretending that it was a microphone, and singing to whatever was on the radio. He has stated that in his early childhood, he listened to artists such as Gé Korsten, Carika Keuzenkamp and Rina Hugo, but his older brother began to introduce him to other music cassette tapes that he had gotten from high school, some of them being A-ha, Alphaville, Depeche Mode and then one day, Bon Jovi‘s Slippery When Wet, which is a favorite of Theart's. "I loved the way he pronounced the words and the way he wrote", he said in an interview. He then began to discover other favorite bands such as Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Skid Row. He stated that his two favorites were Bon Jovi and Skid Row. During his teen years, Theart fronted and played in many bands. Not all of them are known but one was a Pretoria-based band called Santaria which was active during the late eighties and early nineties. Some of the members were the current drummer of Cold Hand Chemistry, Robert Fick, ex-Strider guitarist Pierre Goosen, and Stefan Steyn. After Theart graduated high school, he moved away to London, England, seeking global popularity. In the late 1990s, Theart fronted a garage/hard rock band called Easy Voodoo. They released a demo in 1999 but shortly after its release, Theart left the band.
DragonForce
In late 1999, Theart began to put out advertisements at Thin Ice Studios, which were eventually responded to by former Demoniac guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman. Together, they formed a band called DragonHeart, but the name was later changed to DragonForce. The band recorded a demo in 2000 and the albumValley of the Damned in 2003 on Noise Records. The following year, another album Sonic Firestorm was released on the same label and a world tour followed. In 2005, Dragonforce signed to Roadrunner Records, and Inhuman Rampage was released in 2006, eventually going gold. In 2008, Theart's fourth and final album with the band, Ultra Beatdown, was released, and in 2009, another world tour followed. In 2010, Valley of the Damned and Sonic Firestorm were re-released with bonus DVDs, featuring live footage, interviews, and other things. Later that year, Theart left the band due to "insurmountable differences of musical opinion". He has since stated that he does not regret his decision to leave.
Theart also sang in Shadow Warriors, a side project by his then DragonForce bandmate Sam Totman during the late 1990s. Before DragonForce, Theart was also briefly involved with hard rock band Easy Voodoo, and recorded the vocals for the two track Power Questdemo album.
After leaving DragonForce, Theart founded his own band, I Am I, in which he sings lead vocals. The band has so far released one studio album, Event Horizon, which has been released on a USB format and CD.
Tank
Theart has been doing work with metal band Tank since 2013, and in 2015, he became an official member. His first album with the band "Valley Of Tears", was originally set to be released on 9 June 2015, but it was later set back to 25 September 2015 so that they could give the album better production and give extra thought on the mixing.
Skid Row
On 13 February 2016 Theart premiered as the touring vocalist for Skid Row. The band continued to tour throughout 2016 with Theart as their frontman. Following a year of touring, on 14 January 2017, he was announced as their official lead vocalist.
