Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9 1977 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician who has served as frontman, lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001. He currently lives in West New York, New Jersey.

Gerard Way was born in Newark, New Jersey^[1] to Donald and Donna Lee Way. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and first began singing publicly in the fourth grade, when he played the role of Peter Pan in a school musical production. His maternal grandmother, Elena Lee Rush, was a great creative influence who taught him to sing, paint, and perform from a young age. He has referred to her in interviews, quoting that "She has taught me everything I know".^[2]

At the age of 15, Gerard was held up at gun point, as stated in a recent Rolling Stones article: "I got held up with a .357 Magnum, [I] had a gun pointed to my head and [was] put on the floor, execution-style." The incident did not, however, impinge on his views of the world. He went on to say that "no matter how ugly the world gets or how stupid it shows me it is, I always have faith."^[3]

Gerard Way attended Belleville High School until he graduated in 1995. Deciding to persue a career in the comic-book industry^[4] he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.^[5][2]

Way was working for the Cartoon Network in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Seeing the effects of the attacks first hand prompted Way to change his views on life in the following weeks. He told Spin magazine, "I literally said to myself, 'Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference.'"^[6] To help deal with the emotional effects the attacks had on him, Way wrote the lyrics to the song 'Skylines and Turnstiles' which since, has been regarded as "the first song by My Chemical Romance" .^[7]Soon after, the formation of My Chemical Romance began.

In many interviews Way has stated that music turned out to be an effective outlet to deal with his long-time battles against depression, alcoholism and prescription drug use. The use of music as a way to resolve personal battles has caused Way to create deeply personal songs such as "Helena",^[8], which was written in memory of his late grandmother mentioned above.

Way has recently established himself as comic-book writer, writing for the comic miniseries, The Umbrella Academy. The Umbrella Academy was first released in the Dark Horse '2007-Free-Comic-Book-Day' issue on May 5th.^[9] Since then, an eight-page story has been published on MySpace, entitled "Safe & Sound"^[10].The first official issue was released on September 19, 2007.^[11] Mass sales caused the first issue to sell out and consequently there was a second printing released on October 17, 2007.^[12]

On September 3, 2007 after a concert in Colorado, Gerard married Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence.^[13] The pair tied the knot following the final date of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour backstage. A member of Live Nation's touring staff who happened to be an ordained minister, performed the low-key ceremony.^[14]

In 2001 Way co-created a cartoon with Joe Boyle called The Breakfast Monkey. They pitched the cartoon to Cartoon Network, but they declined to pick up the concept, saying that it was too similar to the existing property Aqua Teen Hunger Force.^[15]

• 2002: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
• 2004: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
• 2006: The Black Parade

1. ^ "Teen Titans" — Rolling Stone (2005-07-14)

Template:Seealsosection

• My Chemical Romance Official Website
• 97X video interview
• Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
• Gerard Way/My Chem Concert Gallery by Florida Entertainment Scene
• Blender Video Interview
• Gerard Way audio interview about Umbrella Academy