Adam Lazzara

Adam Lazzara initially met the members of Taking Back Sunday at a show in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the performance, Phil Hanratty of the band Errortype:11 was filling in for Taking Back Sunday’s bassist. Lazzara, whose high school band had performed in a show earlier that year with Errortype:11, connected with Hanratty before the show. Hanratty informed Lazzara that Taking Back Sunday’s bassist, Jesse Lacey, had recently left to start his own band, "Brand New," and Taking Back Sunday was looking for a new bassist. He stayed after the show to meet them and asked to try out for the open bassist slot. They said yes, and about a month later, Lazzara drove from North Carolina to Long Island to try out. A week after that, Eddie Reyes, the guitarist of Taking Back Sunday at the time, called Lazzara and asked if he wanted to play with them for a couple of shows. Lazzara booked a flight to New York in 2001 and by the end of that year, he had gone from temporary bassist to the band's frontman.{{cite news |last1=Pearlman |first1=Mischa |title=An oral history of Taking Back Sunday: "We’re not just a band that was in the emo scene. We got past that…" |url=https://www.kerrang.com/an-oral-history-of-taking-back-sunday |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Kerrang |date=20 May 2019}}File:Taking Back Sunday - Rock am Ring 2018-4724.jpg in 2018]]

Taking Back Sunday recorded their first album with Mike Sapone, which was then burned onto CD’s at band members Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell’s apartment. In the Spring of 2002, they released their debut album "Tell All Your Friends" with Victory Records.{{cite web |title=Tell All Your Friends: 20th Anniversary Edition |url=https://victoryrecords.com/products/taking-back-sunday-tell-all-your-friends-20th-anniversary-edition-digital-album/ |website=victoryrecords.com |publisher=Victory Records |access-date=15 February 2024}} They did two tours after that release and began selling out venues they opened for only a year before. In 2004, they went on to release “Where You Want To Be” which became one of the top-selling independently released rock records of the year. It debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200 and reached No. 16 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. In the following year, they signed with Warner Bros.{{cite news |author=Billboard Staff |title=Taking Back Sunday Signs With Warner Bros. |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taking-back-sunday-signs-with-warner-bros-62633/ |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Billboard |date=6 October 2005}}

In April of 2006, Taking Back Sunday put out their third album, "Louder Now". The album contained the hit song "Make Damn Sure"{{cite web |title=Louder Now Taking Back Sunday |url=https://genius.com/albums/Taking-back-sunday/Louder-now |website=genius.com |publisher=Genius |access-date=15 February 2024}} which is largely thought of as their breakout song and is their most successful song to date.{{cite web |title=Best of Taking Back Sunday |url=https://app.discotech.me/articles/best-taking-back-sunday-songs-of-all-time-top-tracks |website=Discotech.me |publisher=Discotech |access-date=15 February 2024}} It peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 8 on the Alternative charts,{{cite web |title=Taking Back Sunday, MakeDamnSure |url=https://www.last.fm/music/Taking+Back+Sunday/Louder+Now/MakeDamnSure |website=Last.fm |publisher=Last.fm |access-date=15 February 2024}} and ranked number 52 on Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Songs of 2006"{{cite news |title=The 100 Best Songs of the Year |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214083443/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/12769472/the_100_best_songs_of_2006/6 |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=2006}}

Today, the current members of Taking Back Sunday are: Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keyboards, vocals), Shaun Cooper (bass guitar) and Mark O'Connell (drums), accompanied by Nathan Cogan (guitar) for their live performances

Adam Lazzara was born September 22, 1981 in Sheffield, Alabama. His family moved to High Point, North Carolina when he was a young child and he attended Southwest Guilford Elementary School, Middle School and High School.{{cite news |last1=Poulos |first1=Garrett |title=TAKING BACK SUNDAY’S ADAM LAZZARA RETURNS TO HIS NC ROOTS |url=https://highlark.com/taking-back-sunday/ |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Highlark |date=18 July 2018}} Looking back at this time, Lazzara has described himself as a quiet, shy kid who had a stutter{{cite news |last1=Pearlman |first1=Mischa |title=Adam Lazzara: "Sometimes you don’t want to remember the person you used to be... but it helps to make peace with yourself" |url=https://www.kerrang.com/adam-lazzara-sometimes-you-dont-want-to-remember-the-person-you-used-to-be-but-it-helps-to-make-peace-with-yourself |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Kerrang |date=1 September 2020}} and wanted to be a dolphin trainer.{{cite news |last1=Slessor |first1=Dan |title=7 things you probably didn’t know about Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara |url=https://www.kerrang.com/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-taking-back-sundays-adam-lazzara |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Kerrang |date=20 March 2020}} At age 13, he was introduced to Nirvana for the first time and began to "live and breathe rock music." He started playing in bands throughout highschool and was inspired by artists like Nirvana, Michael Jackson, and Lifetime and "skateboarded everywhere until I was probably 19 or 20."{{cite podcast

| url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/rqnx56/taking-back-sunday-notes-from-the-past

| title=Taking Back Sunday: Notes From The Past

| website=Vice.com

| publisher=Vice

| host=Ezra Marcus

| date=11 February 2014

| access-date=15 February 2024

}}

:"I heard Nirvana and my whole world changed forever. Later on, maybe when I was about 14 years old, an older friend of mine let me borrow Earth Crisis’ Destroy The Machines and Lifetime’s Hello Bastards. [...] that Lifetime record changed my whole world all over again. Even when I listen to it now, it gives me this feeling that I can’t describe. That lead me to searching out bands on labels like Jade Tree and so on."

:– Adam Lazzara, interviewed by Mischa Pearlman.

Lazzara was briefly engaged to Chauntelle Dupree, guitarist of Eisley, in 2007, but the pair split before marrying.

He went on to meet Misha Vaagen, a student at UT Tyler and bartender at a local restaurant.{{cite web |title=Misha Lazzara's Website |url=https://mishalazzara.com/about-me/?v=7516fd43adaa |website=MishaLazzara.com |publisher=Misha Lazzara |access-date=30 May 2023}} They were married in June 2008 and had their first child in January 2009.{{cite news |last1=Khvan |first1=Olga |title=Taking Back Sunday Took the House of Blues |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2014/04/15/photos-taking-back-sunday-house-blues/ |access-date=15 February 2024 |publisher=Boston Magazine |date=15 April 2014}} They currently live in North Carolina with their three children. Misha is the author of Manmade Constellations.{{cite web |title=Manmade Constellations |url=https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/manmade-constellations-epdg.html#541=7521 |website=blackstonepublishing.com |publisher=Blackstone Publishing |access-date=30 May 2023}}

In February 2015, Lazzara was arrested for a DWI while in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was released on a $2,500 bond.{{Cite web |last=Hartmann |first=Graham |title=Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara Arrested for DWI |url=https://loudwire.com/taking-back-sunday-adam-lazzara-arrested-driving-while-impaired/ |access-date=September 20, 2022 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}

With Taking Back Sunday

• Tell All Your Friends (2002)
• Where You Want To Be (2004)
• Louder Now (2006)
• New Again (2009)
• Taking Back Sunday (2011)
• Happiness Is (2014)
• Tidal Wave (2016)
• 152 (2023)

Solo

• "Because It Works" (2013)

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{{Taking Back Sunday}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:People from Sheffield, Alabama

Category:People from High Point, North Carolina

Category:People from Long Island

Category:American rock singers

Category:Singers from Alabama

Category:21st-century American singers

Category:21st-century American male singers

Category:1981 births