Matt Fallon (born Matthew Frankel; September 30, 1965) is a heavy metal singer best known for his work with

Skid Row A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...

and

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

Early life

Fallon moved to central New Jersey at the age of eight with his parents and younger brother, and by 15 he was playing in a neighborhood garage band with drummer Paul Monroe (aka Paul Schneiderman) who later played with the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based band, XYZ.

Career

Inspired by bands like

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

and

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, Fallon fronted several local acts in the early 1980s including Steel Fortune where he teamed up with guitar player

Dave Sabo David Michael Sabo (born September 16, 1964), nicknamed The Snake, is an American musician best known as one of the guitarists of heavy metal band Skid Row. Biography Pre-Skid Row Sabo was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and grew up in nearby ...

. Steel Fortune and Anthrax were both on the bill when

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

came to the Sayreville, New Jersey area in 1983 to promote the release of their first album. In mid 1984

Scott Ian Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, lyricist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax, of which he is the sole continuous member. Ia ...

of Anthrax crossed paths with Fallon again at a Steel Fortune show in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. After the show Ian asked Fallon if he would like to try out for the lead vocals spot recently vacated by

Neil Turbin Neil Turbin (born December 24, 1963) is an American singer known for being the first full-time vocalist for thrash metal band Anthrax. He is the current lead vocalist and songwriter of heavy metal band DeathRiders

. Fallon accepted and Anthrax began writing & recording their next album Spreading the Disease at Pyramid Studios in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. However, Fallon left before finishing the album, and he was replaced by

Joey Belladonna Joey Belladonna (born Joseph Bellardini; October 13, 1960) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist for thrash metal music, thrash metal band Anthrax (American band), Anthrax. He is also the vocalist and drummer of the cover band Chief ...

. In 1986, Fallon was contacted by Sabo about fronting his newly formed band Skid Row. Fallon accepted, and Skid Row began recording a demo at Jon Bon Jovi's studio in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

while playing crowd favorites like " Youth Gone Wild" and " 18 and Life" in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania area clubs throughout the year. Fallon also co-wrote the song “Midnight/Tornado” with Sabo. In December 1986 Fallon & Skid Row opened for

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

on their Slippery When Wet tour in

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

and

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

. Fallon and Skid Row parted ways in 1987 and he was later replaced by

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...

. Fallon continued to front local bands from 1987 through the mid-1990s. In 1990, he married Debra Contillo, and in 1991 he had a daughter, Brittany Rene. In 1991 he recorded a solo album named ''Fallon'', which was released in November 2015.

Discography

Anthrax * '' Spreading the Disease'' (1985) (Lyrics) Skid Row * ''The Matt Fallon Demos'' (1986) * ''

'' (1989) (Writing credit on "Midnight / Tornado") Fallon ''(1991/2015)''
01. Blue Sky in the Rain
02. Light It Up
03. Not a Thing
04. Queen
05. The Rain Inside
06. No Stranger
07. Modern Love
08. Feel It for the First Time
09. Me
10. Bad Attitude
11. Tears
12. Easy Come, Easy Go

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallon, Matt 1965 births American heavy metal singers Anthrax (American band) members Living people Musicians from Brooklyn Singers from New York City Skid Row (American band) members