Death metal and song parodies don't often go together, but drummer, song parody genius, and
has been successful in both worlds. It's fitting that the prankster was born on April 1, 1974, in the town of Fort Scott, KS. The Uniontown Elementary School is where
learned to drum at the age of ten. Drumming along with
records after school gave him his rock chops. The first signs of
covers with his band Syzygy while also serving as the drummer for his school's own novelty act, Bung Dizeez.
After graduating from high school,
Christy moved to Springfield, MO, to join the fledgling metal band Public Assassin. A daytime job was still needed to pay the bills, so he found work as a residential electrician. He also became interested in making his own films and shot the 30-minute horror/comedy Evil Ned 2 (there never was an Evil Ned 1) and premiered it at the local Hampton Inn in 1995. It was the same year Public Assassin disbanded, but
Christy soon found work with
Burning Inside. The new band decided to move in total to Orlando, FL, in 1996, and
Christy was soon moonlighting in local metal favorites
Acheron.
By 1997
Christy's reputation as a fiery and technically gifted drummer had spread throughout the metal community. It helped him land an audition with one of his heroes,
Chuck Schuldiner of
Death. He got the gig and appeared on 1998's
The Sound of Perseverance and the supporting European tour. In 1998
Burning Inside recorded
The Eve of the Entities -- an album that would go unreleased until 2000 -- and a year later
Christy would appear on
The Fragile Art of Existence by the
Death-related band
Control Denied.
In 1999 he started leaving voice mails to
Howard Stern, and soon he was sending the shock jock song parodies, most poking fun at
Stern staff member K.C. Armstrong. To
Christy's delight,
Stern played the messages and songs repeatedly and they remained a staple of the show for years. In 2000 he joined, recorded, and toured with
Iced Earth, sat in with
Incantation for a spring tour, did some recording with
Control Denied, and recorded
Horror Show with
Iced Earth at the end of the year. In 2001 came a short tour with
Acheron and a tour with
Iced Earth that extended into 2002. He was with the band for 2003's
The Glorious Burden and also worked with the underground metal supergroup
Leash Law the same year.
In 2004
Richard Christy entered a contest
Howard Stern was holding to replace his staff member
Stuttering John, who was giving up his phone-answering duties on the radio show to be the announcer for The Tonight Show. Like the other contestants,
Christy got a week to prove himself by creating song parodies and games, along with other on-air duties, before going up against an Internet vote.
Christy won and quit the electrician job he had returned to when not touring, and he regretfully quit
Iced Earth while putting his other musical projects on hold.
–
David Jeffries, Rovi