Stephen Shareaux (born September 16, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as lead vocalist for the hard rock band

Kik Tracee Kik Tracee was a 1990s hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1988, during the last years of the glam metal movement, before the influx of grunge and alternative rock. History The band was formed in a Los Angeles suburb in 1988 by ...

. He is a

solo artist In music, a solo (from the Spanish and Italian based-word: ''Solo'', meaning ''alone'' or ''by yourself'') is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an ...

as well as lead vocalist and co-founder of

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Zen From Mars Zen From Mars (often abbreviated as ZFM) is an American recording project formed in 2015 by members of Bang Tango, Kik Tracee, Enuff Z'Nuff, Flipp, and Fear Factory. Background Formation The band was founded in 2015 by, then current, Bang Ta ...

which includes members of

Bang Tango Bang Tango is an American hard rock band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to MCA Records the same year. History Formation (1988) Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 1 ...

Enuff Z'Nuff Enuff Z'Nuff (a sensational spelling of "enough's enough") is an American rock band from Blue Island, Illinois, founded by singer Donnie Vie and bassist Chip Z'Nuff. The Chicago-area band is best known for their charting singles "Fly High Michel ...

Flipp Flipp is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1994, founded by singer/guitarist/producer Brynn Arens. They were signed to Hollywood Records and later Artemis Records, releasing 3 studio albums up until their dissolution in ...

, and

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of ...

Career

Kik Tracee

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles in 1987, Shareaux formed the hard rock band Kik Tracee with L.A. bassist Rob Grad, guitarist Gregory "Hex" Offers, guitarist Michael Marquis, and drummer Scott Donnell (Later replaced by Johnny Douglas). The group were signed to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

and initially managed by

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...

until Slaughter bassist

Dana Strum Dana Strum (born Dana Strumwasser on December 13, 1957) is an American musician whose career spans over 45 years. He is best known as a co-founder, bass player, and one of the two primary songwriters of the US-based hard rock band Slaughter, ...

persuaded the band to seek elsewhere for representation; Strum would then go on to produce their debut record ''No Rules''. The music video for the track ''Don't Need Rules'' had moderate rotation on MTV's Headbanger's Ball and the single ''You're So Strange'', which also had a music video, peaked at No. 46 on Billboard's

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...

chart in 1991. The band's follow up, the

Chris Goss Christopher Ryan Goss (born August 17, 1958) is an American record producer and musician. Best known for producing records for Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, he is regarded as an important figure in the development of stoner rock and deser ...

produced EP ''Field Trip'', was released in 1992. Kik Tracee's marketing team treated almost the entire New York staff of RCA, the band's label, to a real life field trip to present the marketing plan for the album. A video was then released for the single ''In Trance''. Also in 1992, Shareaux was named a top contender to replace

Vince Neil Vincent Neil Wharton (born February 8, 1961), best known by the stage name Vince Neil, is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, which he fronted from their 1981 format ...

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albu ...

; Shareaux turned down the offer to join, and

John Corabi John Corabi (born April 26, 1959) is an American hard rock singer and guitarist. He was the frontman of The Scream during 1989 and the frontman of Mötley Crüe between 1992 and 1996 during original frontman Vince Neil's hiatus from the band. C ...

ultimately got the gig. In 1993 the band began work on its second full-length release, ''Center of a Tension'', with producer

Garth Richardson Garth "GGGarth" Richardson is a Canadian record producer and music engineer. He is the son of music producer Jack Richardson (Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Badfinger, Poco), a pioneer of the music recording industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Ga ...

. The band would end up falling apart at this point resulting in the album never making it past the pre-production stage. In 2017, Kik Tracee signed with

EMP Label Group EMP Label Group, also known as Ellefson Music Productions, is an American record label formed in October 2015, which was founded by former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson. History In October 2015 it was announced that Ellefson had launched a r ...

to release a 2-disc demos and b-sides album titled ''Big Western Sky''.

Post Kik Tracee

Still having to deliver an album to RCA after the break of up Kik Tracee, Shareaux then teamed up with guitarist/singer Brynn Arens to write together; Shareaux parted ways and Arens carried on to form

. Following Kik Tracee's break up, Shareaux would resurface in Revel 8 as well as Nectar, which featured

Rik Schaffer Rik Schaffer is an American composer and musician. He formed Womb Music in 1996 after being in the music industry as a member of several acts such as Tomorrow's Child and Engines of Aggression. He often works with his partner Margaret Tang. Rik ...

of Tomorrow's Child and Engines of Aggression. As shown in the VH1 documentary ''The Rise of Velvet Revolver'', in 2002 Shareaux had auditioned for the lead singer position in ''The Project''; which would end up becoming

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...

. The position eventually went to

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from ...

. Shareaux's debut solo album ''Golden'' was released in November 2013. The album was produced by Bernie Larsen and features a guest appearance by

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The b ...

and Faces keyboardist

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was i ...

, who performs on the track ''R&R''. The single ''Stay'' was released along with a music video which was directed by

Kii Arens Kii Arens (born May 7, 1967) is an American contemporary, pop-artist, graphic designer and director. He is the owner of La-La Land Gallery in Los Angeles. In 2021 Arens was part of the dearMoon project and created numerous Non-fungible token ar ...

. In 2016, Shareaux had been chosen to audition in person for the then vacant frontman position in

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric K ...

. Jeff Gutt would end up getting the gig.

Zen From Mars

In 2015, Shareaux began performing acoustic shows with

guitarist

Drew Fortier Andrew Lawrence Fortier (born July 14, 1987) is an American musician, guitarist, filmmaker, actor, and author. He is best known for his work with The Lucid; which he cofounded alongside Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), David Ellefson (ex Megadeth), ...

for which Kik Tracee material was performed live for the first time since the band's break up in 1993. This eventually led to the duo forming

band

along with bassist Chip Z'Nuff, drummer Mike Heller, guitarist Brynn Arens, and pianist Kate Catalina. The band released an early version of their track ''New Leaf'' in 2016 which was mixed by

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are conside ...

Quadrophenia ''Quadrophenia'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's third rock opera, the two previous being the "mini-opera" song "A Quick One, Whi ...

. Shareaux also performs in The Who Generation, which is a

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are conside ...

tribute band that have been featured on

AXS TV AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat s ...

's World's Greatest Tribute Bands.

Legacy and accolades

Kik Tracee's debut album ''No Rules'' appeared at No. 46 on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

's ''Top 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time'' list. Kik Tracee landed at No. 78 for VH1's ''Hair Metal 100 Countdown'' list which ranked the greatest 80's

hair metal Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal an ...

bands of all time.

Discography

Kik Tracee

* ''No Rules'' (RCA, 1991) * ''Field Trip'' (RCA, 1992) * ''Center of a Tension'' (unreleased, 1993) * ''Big Western Sky'' (EMP Label Group, 2017)

Nectar

* ''Afterglow'' (Dream Cirlcle, 1997)

Zen From Mars

* ''The Ultra Head Frequency'' (TBA)

Solo

* ''Golden'' (2013)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shareaux, Stephen 21st-century American singers American rock songwriters Singers from Los Angeles 20th-century American singers American male singer-songwriters Living people 1965 births 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from California