Christian Death is a gothic-rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California. The band started in 1979 under the name "The Upsetters" with founding members Rozz Williams, Rikk Agnew of the Adolescents, James McGearly, and George Belanger. By 1982 the band had released their first full length album Only Theatre of Pain and officially changed their name to Christian Death. This first album included guest vocals for the studio recording from Eva O. and Ron Athey.http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002549/Christian-Death.html

Throughout the history of the band there have been disputes over the rights to the name and music, as well as line up changes. In 1985 the founding member Rozz Williams left the band and was replaced by Valor Kand. After numerous side projects and reunion shows Rozz committed suicide on April 1, 1998. There was no note left and the reasons for the suicide remain unknown, though speculation says that his alcoholism and drug addiction played a vital role.http://www.rozzwilliams.com/

Christian Death has been an influence on many other bands in the "goth" and "death rock" genre since their start in the early 1980s. More commercially successful artists such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson have cited Christian Death as a major influence on their work. Despite the bands influences on many artists, they have dealt with controversy throughout their history as a result of their satanic imagery and lyrics. The source of much of their controversy stems from the name of the band; which is a play on the name of designer "Christian Dior" and also from Rozz Williams who was known to dabble in cross dressing and bisexuality.http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002549/Christian-Death.html

Christian Death started with Rozz Williams' first musical projects that were influenced by the hardcore punk movement in the Los Angeles area. Born Roger Alan Painter in 1963, he developed his stage name at the age of 16 after a gravestone in his hometown of Pomona, California. The bands first show as Christian Death was in 1979 with 45 Grave at the Hong Kong Garden; the two bands would later go on to play more shows together and appear on compilation records together.http://www.rozzwilliams.com/

In 1981 the band appeared for the first time on record with the compilation Hell Comes to Your House in which they had several tracks. The next year, Christian Death released their debut album Only Theatre of Pain on frontier records. By 1983 the band had broken up because of personal disputes and drug abuse. Rozz Williams then merged Christian Death with the opening act for a European tour, Pompeii 99, and re-formed the band. The new line-up consisted of guitarist Valor Kand, second vocalist and keyboardist Gitane Demone, and drummer David Glass.http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/christian_death/bio.jhtml

The new form of the band then went on to release three albums on the French record label L'Invitation Au Suicide. This spanned until 1985 with the studio albums Catastrophe Ballet, Deathwish, and Ashes along with a variety of live and bootleg albums.http://www.discogs.com/artist/Christian+Death That same year founding member Rozz Williams announced he was leaving the band on the last night of their U.S. tour to promote the album Ashes. The tour ended with "The Path of Sorrows", which was a multi-media event at Los Angeles' Roxy Theatre. Along with the bands performance, the concert included films, a banquet, and a program schedule. During the event Rozz changed outfits four times with the coordination of Kristina Fuller who also supervised the film section and the on-stage visuals.http://www.rozzwilliams.com/

After the departure of Rozz Williams, the remaining members continued the European part of the tour as "Sin and Sacrifice" which started the feud between new vocalist Valor Kand and Rozz Williams. The name was eventually changed back to Christian Death and they continued to release albums and play concerts. In 1989 keyboardist and second vocalist Gitane Demone left the band due to her failed marriage to Kand, artistic differences, and her friendship with Rozz Williams. Her last performance with the band in London was recorded and released as The Heretics Alive.

In 1991, after seven years of work on solo and side projects, Rozz Williams reformed with original members Rikk Agnew and George Bellanger. When the Williams version of the band re-formed they played a show as Christian Death in Los Angeles. On the same day, the Valor Kand version of the band was performing in Paris, France. Williams then went on to release the album The Iron Mask under the name Christian Death. This caused a rift between fans who had to choose between the more anti-religious Valor Kand version and the more poetic Rozz Williams version. This then provoked Kand to claim the rights of the name, and from then on to avoid legal issues the other version released albums and performed as "Christian Death Featuring Rozz Williams".http://www.last.fm/music/Christian+Death/+wiki

Since then the band has gone through numerous line-up changes and musical styles, all with Valor Kand as the vocalist. Members of Cradle of Filth appear on the album Born Again Anti Christian also, drummer Will "WAS" Sargenson and guitarist Gian Pyres joined the band for several tours in 2002 and 2003. In 2006 members from the Only Theatre of Pain era reunited as a new band called CD 1334, this came after trademark infringement issues of the original name Christian Death 1334.http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/christian+death/biography.html

• 1982 - Only Theatre Of Pain
• 1984 - Catastrophe Ballet
• 1984 - Deathwish
• 1985 - Ashes
• 1985 - Believers Of The Unpure
• 1986 - Atrocities
• 1987 - Jesus Christ Proudly Presents
• 1987 - Jezebel's Tribulation
• 1987 - Sick Of Love
• 1987 - The Scriptures
• 1988 - Church Of No Return
• 1988 - Sex & Drugs & Jesus Christ
• 1988 - What's The Verdict
• 1989 - All The Love All The Hate (Part One: All The Love)
• 1989 - All The Love All The Hate (Part Two: All The Hate)
• 1989 - The Heretics Alive
• 1990 - Insanus, Ultio, Proditio, Misericordiaque
• 1990 - Past, Present And Forever
• 1991 - Jesus Points The Bone At You?
• 1993 - Invocations
• 1993 - Love And Hate (Box)
• 1993 - Tales Of Innocence, A Continued Anthology ...
• 1994 - Sexy Death God
• 1994 - The Doll's Theatre
• 1996 - Prophecies
• 1998 - Pornographic Messiah
• 2000 - Born Again Anti Christian
• 2002 - Lover Of Sin
• 2007 - American Inquisitionhttp://www.discogs.com/artist/Christian+Death