Zachary Stevens

Infobox musical artist
Name = Zak Stevens


Img_capt = Zak live at a C2C concert
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Zachary Stevens
Born = 1966
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Genre = Heavy metal, Progressive metal, Hard rock
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Associated_acts = Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Circle II Circle
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Zachary "Zak" Stevens (b. 1966), is best known as the former lead vocalist of the band Savatage. He is also a psychologist.

Zak first achieved fame singing for a band called Wicked Witch. However, after Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva stepped down from the fore of the band at the conclusion of their tour in support of in 1992 to concentrate on his other projects, namely Broadway-bound musical "Romanov" and Doctor Butcher, Savatage required a replacement. Criss Oliva, Savatage's lead guitarist and their long-time producer Paul O'Neill heard demos of Zak and wanted him to sing for the band. After an initial audition, Zak was considered to the right man for the job and joined Savatage in 1993. He first appeared on the album Edge of Thorns. Zak's vocals were considered to be a departure from that of Jon Oliva, and some Savatage fans prefer to distinguish between the Jon Oliva lead albums and those with Zak on lead vocals. The album Dead Winter Dead contains lead vocals from both Oliva and Stevens and contains the song "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)", which gave rise to and became a hit for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.In 1996, Zak appeared along with other Savatage members in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra project. His last album recorded with Savatage was The Wake of Magellan (1997), which some fans consider to be Savatage's best work in the post-1993 Savatage canon.

In 2000, Zak quit Savatage, citing that he wanted to spend more time with his young family. In 2002, he formed his own band Circle II Circle. His Savatage connections remained evident, as Jon Oliva produced the first Circle II Circle album, Watching in Silence, and guitarist Chris Caffery recorded guitar on some songs. Oliva and Caffery also co-wrote several of the songs on Watching in Silence. In 2003, Zak's band left Circle II Circle to join Jon Oliva's band Jon Oliva's Pain. Stevens then hired an all-new band. Circle II Circle has released three additional full-length albums since, 2005's The Middle of Nowhere, Burden of Truth in 2006 and Delusions of Grandeur in 2008.

External links

* [http://www.circle2circle.net Circle II Circle Official Website]
* [http://www.armbell.com/ciic/ Circle II Circle Official Forum]