Pepper J. Keenan, born May 8, 1967, is the guitarist and vocalist for the Heavy metal band Corrosion of Conformity. He also plays guitar for the band Down, alongside Crowbar vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein and former Pantera vocalist and bassist Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, repectively. Keenan joined Corrosion of Conformity in 1990, but he did not become the lead singer until the recording of "Deliverance," which was released in 1994 (although he sang lead on the track Vote With A Bullet on Blind). Keenan was born in Oxford, Mississippi but now lives in New Orleans, where he owns a bar named "Le Bon Temps Roule." His father, a former musician, is a local real estate appraiser in New Orleans. While developing his playing style in New Orleans, Pepper served as a member of local band Graveyard Rodeo, and met and became friendly with Corrosion of Conformity during their frequent shows at the infamous Franklin Avenue VFW Hall in New Orleans. He plays guitar and sings a part of the second verse on Metallica's cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Tuesday's Gone". He also recorded a number of other songs in the same session, but this was the only one given a general release (on the album Garage Inc.), the others only being available as bootlegs. Keenan is good friends with lead singer James Hetfield. Hetfield provided backing vocals on "Man or Ash" from Corrosion of Conformity's Wiseblood album. Keenan auditioned for Metallica's vacant bass player position following Jason Newsted's departure from the band. Keenan's audition is shown in the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster. Down released their third album entitled Down III: Over the Under on September 25, 2007.
