I was born March 9th, 1975 in Portland, Oregon. I spent the early years of my childhood growing up in Vancouver, Washington. It was there that I began my love with Metal music. My mother's friends would bring by albums and 8 track tapes by such bands as Blue Oyster Cult, Led Zeppelin & Kiss. Sometimes they'd forget them and I would inherit them. I would listen to these albums often and watch videos on MTV by bands like Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot & Def Leppard. Our family didn't have much money at the time because my mom was a single mother of three. The only albums I had were those I acquired from her friends and since I had no older siblings, the only new music I was exposed to was on MTV. At the age of 10 my mother remarried and my family moved to California. I was now able to purchase albums of my favorite bands Bon Jovi, Skid Row & Motley Crue. I was really into the mainstream Metal bands for years and it wasn't until I hit high school that I was exposed to bands such as Metallica, Testament & Death Angel. My new friends would turn me on to new bands weekly and were surprised that I had never heard of most of the groups they were into. I began to get into bands of all genres. Anthrax, Obituary, Alice In Chains, Pantera & Queensryche. My junior year of high school I was asked to sing in a talent show with some high school friends that had put together a band. I wasn't their 1st choice and it was a last minute decision to have me sing. I had never sung before and was excited by the idea. After performing for all of our friends and family I knew I wanted to do this, if not for a living at least for myself. I found myself in and out of garage bands and flaky situations that never took off until I joined my first real band Disciple. It was a 3 piece Death Metal Band out of Pacifica, CA. I had never sung Death vocals before and to be honest I hadn't really sang much of anything at this point. I soon found I did not like singing straight Death vocals as it was very limiting and sought out other projects. I formed a band of my own called Traumatized and we started off playing as a Black Sabbath Tribute band until we got our own material written. We never recorded any material and only played a handful of shows. The band was over just as quickly as it began. It wasn't until 1995 that I actually found a band situation that I felt "fit". Singing for Tramontane meant that I had to get better and fast so I began to take vocal instruction to learn to use my voice properly. I began to learn to control my voice and start exploring my upper register. Tramontane turned me on to bands I had missed completely like Fates Warning, Iron Maiden & Crimson Glory. At this time I was also listening to ProgMetal bands like Angra & Dream Theater. Between 1995-2000, I got a lot of experience with lyric writing, performing live and recording. My first album was recorded in 1998 Tramontane - "December Dark". The group disbanded in late 2000 and the remaining members went on to form Machine Called Man. This band was more technical and more demanding vocally. I began to learn about odd times and counterpoint as well as bringing some heaviness back to my singing. In 2004 things were going slow so I resurrected Tramontane and made it into a completely different monster all together. As fate would have it I was also asked to try out for Imagika. I had never sung for a Thrash band before, but things just clicked and it felt like I should've been singing for them all along. I signed my first record deal in 2005 and have been enjoying every minute of it. Many years, multiple albums, and countless shows have passed and I am still as excited now as I was when I first began this journey back in 1992.

Some people ask why have more than one band? I never wanted to be a one dimensional singer. I sing differently in each band and as you have read, I like all types of metal. When I sing, I want my vocals to reflect just that. I will always be listening to new bands and new styles and I can only hope that I am ever changing and continue to be an exciting performer.

~Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my musical life,
Norrman L. Skinner III