Terry Balsamo

Terry Balsamo
Terry Balsamo playing guitar at an Evanescence concert, April 2007
Background information
Born	October 8 1972 (1972-10-08) (age 35) Tampa, Florida
Genre(s)	Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Hard Rock, Post-Grunge
Occupation(s)	Musician, Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1994 - Present
Associated acts	Evanescence Cold
Website	Evanescence.com

Terry Balsamo (born October 8, 1972 in Tampa, Florida), is an American guitarist. He is a member and guitarist of the Grammy Award winning Alternative metal band Evanescence and former guitarist of Alternative Metal band Cold.

Biography

Early projects

Terry Balsamo made his start in the music world as an early member of Limp Bizkit. He left a few years before the recording of Bizkit's debut album Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ (1997), being replaced by Wes Borland. In late 1999, Terry joined up with fellow Jacksonville rockers Scooter Ward, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall and Kelly Hayes, otherwise known as Cold.

Evanescence

Terry remained with Cold writing and recording with them for their albums 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (2000) and Year of the Spider (2003). Terry also appeared alongside Staind, in Staind's MTV Unplugged performance in 2001. Near the end of his stint with Cold, the band joined Evanescence as an opening act on the 2003 Nintendo Fusion Tour. When Evanescence's guitarist Ben Moody left the band during their European tour, Terry filled in for Moody on stage. When Cold's future suddenly became questionable, Terry jumped ship signing on permanently with Evanescence. Terry can most prominently be seen and heard in Evanescence's live album, Anywhere but Home (2004) and now on the band's new album The Open Door (2006). He has become Amy Lee's main collaborator for Evanescence and co-wrote most of Evanescence's new album including the album's first single, "Call Me When You're Sober", and third single "Sweet Sacrifice". In November 2005, Terry suffered a stroke from a torn neck artery which landed him in the hospital for an unspecified amount of time. Terry said that it was a result of a blood clot in his neck that formed from headbanging on stage.^[1] Terry has partially recovered and is touring with the band. As a result from his injury he now uses his "dreadlocks" as a stage act by shaking them and bringing them forward while standing still to not create too much movement causing more problems.

Equipment

Band Projects

• Limp Bizkit - Guitar (1994)
• Shaft - Guitar (1996-1999)
• Cold - Guitar (1999-2003)
• Evanescence - Guitar (2003-present)

Discography

Cold

• 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (September 12, 2000)
• Year of the Spider (May 13, 2003)

Evanescence

Main article: Evanescence discography

• Anywhere but Home (November 23, 2004)
• The Open Door (October 3, 2006)

References

External links

• Evanescence - Official Evanescence site
• Ibanez Guitars
• Mesa Boogie
• Tribal Gear