Terry Philip Balsamo II (born October 8, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the former guitarist of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

bands

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

and

Evanescence Evanescence is an American Rock music, rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent extended play, EPs and a Origin (Evanescence demo album), demo ...

Biography

Early projects and Cold

After a brief run with the early lineup of

Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto (drummer), John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers (bassist), Sam ...

in 1995, Balsamo joined fellow

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

rockers

Scooter Ward Scooter Ward (born Ronald Ward Jr. on May 7, 1970) is an American musician who is best known as a founding member and lead singer of the rock band Cold. He has also performed occasional guitar duties both in the studio and live. Ward has been ra ...

, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall and Kelly Hayes of the band

in 1999. Balsamo wrote and recorded with Cold for their albums ''

13 Ways to Bleed on Stage ''13 Ways to Bleed on Stage'' is the second studio album by American Rock music, rock band Cold (band), Cold, released on September 12, 2000. With four popular singles, it gained substantial commercial success, achieving Music recording sales ce ...

'' (2000) and ''

Year of the Spider ''Year of the Spider'' is the third studio album by American rock band Cold. It was released on May 13, 2003, through Geffen Records. The album was Cold's most commercially successful, debuting at number three on the ''Billboard'' album charts, ...

'' (2003). He also appeared alongside

Staind Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and ...

in Staind's 2001

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

performance. Near the end of his stint with Cold, the band joined

as an opening act on the 2003 Nintendo Fusion Tour. Balsamo briefly re-joined Cold for their early 2009 reunion tour. According to a post on Cold's Facebook page on July 8, 2016, Balsamo was returning to the band for the recording of new music. However, he had departed the group again by January 2018, when Cold announced a new album with a new lineup.

Evanescence

When Evanescence guitarist

Ben Moody Benjamin Moody (born January 22, 1981) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is known as co-founder of rock band Evanescence, which he departed in 2003 after the release of their debut album '' Fallen'' (2003). After leav ...

left the band during the European tour of their debut album '' Fallen'' (2003), Balsamo replaced him as lead guitarist on tour and soon joined as Evanescence's permanent guitarist. Balsamo featured on Evanescence's 2004 live album and concert DVD ''

Anywhere but Home ''Anywhere but Home'' is the first live album and concert DVD release by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on November 23, 2004, by Wind-up Records. It includes a recording of a concert at Le Zénith in Paris, an hour of behind the ...

'', and became singer and pianist

Amy Lee Amy Lynn Lee (born December 13, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the co-founder, lead vocalist, lead songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Evanescence. A classically trained pianist, Lee began writing music at ...

's musical collaborator on their second album, '' The Open Door'' (2006). Balsamo continued with the band, playing and co-writing on their 2011 self-titled third album. In August 2015, it was announced on the band's Facebook page that Balsamo had parted ways with the band. He performed with the band again in 2019 for the song " Sweet Sacrifice".

Health issues

In October 2005, two days after having finished recording all of his guitar tracks for Evanescence's album ''The Open Door'', Balsamo suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

from a torn neck artery, leaving the left side of his body paralyzed. The doctors showed him that it was caused by a

blood clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

in his neck, possibly a result of

headbanging Headbanging is the act of violently shaking one's head in rhythm with music. It is common in rock music, rock, Punk rock, punk, heavy metal music, heavy metal and dubstep, where headbanging is often used by musicians on stage. Headbanging is als ...

on-stage and likely formation of an

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...

, allowing for pooling of static blood and a thrombus. His doctors did not think he would ever be able to play guitar again. Balsamo however was determined to overcome the paralysis, and began physical therapy and the process of re-training his hand to play.

Equipment

Band projects

– guitar (2003–2015; 2019 tour performance) *

– guitar (1999–2004, 2009 tour only, 2016–2018) *Shaft – guitar (1996–1999) *

– guitar (1996)

Discography

Cold

*''

'' (2000) *''

'' (2003)

Evanescence

*'' The Open Door'' (2006) *''

'' (2011)

References

External links

Evanescence
– Official Evanescence site {{DEFAULTSORT:Balsamo, Terry Evanescence members American heavy metal guitarists Songwriters from Florida Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida 1972 births Living people Musicians from Tampa, Florida Alternative metal guitarists Guitarists from Florida Alternative metal musicians