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Doro Interview

© Chad Bowar

Doro is a heavy metal pioneer. In many articles she's been described as a "German heavy metal goddess", and I concur. She got her start in music in Dusseldorf, Germany in the early 80s as the lead singer for a metal band called Snakebite. She left that band in 1983 to join Warlock. In 1984, their debut album Burning the Witches was released. They followed that up in 1985 with Hellbound, 1986's True As Steel, and Triumph and Agony in 1987.

By this time there had been many lineup changes, so in 1989 they dropped the name Warlock and Doro began her solo career. Her solo material was more mainstream heavy metal than Warlock's gothic style. Force Majeure was Doro's first solo release in 1989. She followed that up with the Gene Simmons produced Doro in 1990. That would be her last U.S. release for 10 years.

Doro continued to record and tour in Europe, releasing True At Heart in 1991, Angels Never Die and the live CD Doro Live in 1993, Machine II Machine in 1995, and Love Me In Black in 1998.

Doro signed a U.S. record deal and released Calling The Wild in 2000. Late in 2002 she released her latest CD, Fight. She had several guest musicians on the CD. Jean Beauvoir co-composed "Sister Darkness", the legendary Gene Simmons (Kiss), with whom she worked on her 1990 release Doro, contributed "Legends Never Die". "Descend" features a duet with Type O Negative vocalist Pete Steele, and Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery can be heard on the same number, was well as on "Salvaje", the first Spanish language track of Doro's career. "'Salvaje' is a thank-you to her Spanish fans, who voted Doro Best Female Rock Vocalist for the thirteenth time running this year. It's dedicated to Lemmy of Motörhead.

Doro is currently working on a DVD for release later in 2003. That's where she was when I recently had the pleasure of speaking with her:

Chad Bowar: First of all, how are you doing? I understand you were in a car accident recently.

Doro: Yes. It was Christmas Day, and I was going about 120mph when the tire blew. I came really close to not surviving, but I'm okay now. It was really scary. We had to cancel the rest of the tour.

How does the sound of your latest CD, Fight, compare with your earlier work?

It's really raw with super aggressive songs and sad ballads. The whole spectrum from hardcore to really sweet ballads. One song I really like is "I Will Fight By Your Side". It's an anti-war song. I wrote it after the World Trade Center incident. Another song called "Fight" is the anthem for a woman boxer from Germany named Regina Halmich. We talked about a year ago and she said she would like a new song for an upcoming fight. I sent her the demo of "Fight" and she liked it. I saw her go into the ring a couple of times to it and that was really exciting.

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