Zachary
Stevens
The
voice from another planet
| Savatage
have always had a flair for integrating new faces into
their quarters that harmonize perfectly with the band's
original line-up right from the start. After Paul O'Neill and Chris Caffery the decision to bring Zak Stevens into the band to replace Jon Oliva as a singer has proved itself to be exactly right. Initially criticized by the Sava- community on the 'Edge Of Thorns' tour, Zak has established his value since the beginning. His brilliant vocal abilities are based upon hard exercise: at the age of 9 Zak started as a drummer in a Kiss coverband named Black Diamond ( like Criss and Jon Oliva...) - and took over the position of lead singer since day one, a thing he couldn't shake off anymore for a lot of years: |
 |
" We have permanently been testing singers, but none of them were a better singer than me, so the fact remained that I had to do both things at the same time. Was a hard job..."
In 1985, when Zak finished his first year in college, he got hold of "Power Of The Night" and "Sirens" - and from then on became an enthousiastic Savatage fan. After his college graduation he moved to L.A., had a job as a service-manager at the Holiday Inn and took singing lessons, to expand the range of his already well-trained voice.
In L.A. the
admirer of Bruce Dickinson and Ian Gillan met Dan Campbell, who
had been Criss Oliva's guitar roadie for a number of years. It
was also on the west coast that the first encounter between Zak,
Jon, Criss and Chris took place, during the "Gutter
Ballet"-tour.
" Dan had invited me and we spent a pleasant evening
together. I still remember that because of a few minor
transgressions we were prohibited from "Fatburger" for
life. At that time I had never even dreamt that there would ever
be more than this first acquaintance - which already was a huge
event for me."
 |
In the
meatime Dan had not forgotten about Zak, who had become
the singer of the New England hopefuls Wicked Witch, when
Jon considered handing over his post as lead singer. A
first audition was succesful, " Though I was
rather sceptical. I just couldn't imagine Savatage
without Jon". Then came the day " I
almost fainted at the phone: Criss Oliva called and asked
me to come over to Florida as soon as possible." |
From RockHard Legends, Savatage
Translated by Ellen Bakvis