Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, author, and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Slipknot, where he performs under the number 8, and as the vocalist and guitarist of Stone Sour. Across both groups, Taylor has become one of the most recognizable voices in modern heavy music, moving between abrasive screams, melodic singing, spoken delivery, and emotionally direct songwriting.
Taylor was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and developed his musical identity in the local rock and metal scene. In 1992, he co-founded Stone Sour with drummer Joel Ekman. The band played in and around Des Moines for several years and recorded demo material, but Taylor left in 1997 after joining Slipknot. At the time, Slipknot were developing an unusually aggressive sound built from distorted guitars, extreme vocals, dense percussion, and a theatrical stage image. Taylor replaced original vocalist Anders Colsefni and became an important part of the band's transition from a regional act to an international metal force.
Slipknot's self-titled album appeared in 1999 and established the group as one of the leading bands of the nu metal era. Taylor's performances combined fury with a strong sense of melody, helping songs such as "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out" reach audiences beyond the underground metal scene. He remained central to the band's most influential releases, including Iowa (2001), Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004), All Hope Is Gone (2008), and We Are Not Your Kind (2019). Slipknot's music often addresses alienation, anger, grief, addiction, and social pressure, subjects that Taylor presents with a highly personal but broadly accessible intensity. The band's "Before I Forget" won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2006.
While continuing with Slipknot, Taylor revived Stone Sour in the early 2000s with guitarist Josh Rand and former collaborators including Jim Root and Shawn Economaki. Stone Sour's self-titled album was released in 2002 and offered a more conventional hard rock setting for Taylor's songwriting. The group's breakthrough came with Come What(ever) May (2006), which included the singles "30/30-150," "Through Glass," and "Sillyworld." Later releases such as Audio Secrecy (2010), the two-part concept project House of Gold & Bones (2012-2013), and Hydrograd (2017) showed his interest in melody, narrative songwriting, and styles outside Slipknot's most extreme sound. Stone Sour has remained inactive since 2020.
Taylor launched his solo career with CMFT in 2020. The album expanded his palette with hard rock, punk, blues, country, glam, and hip-hop influences. Its follow-up, CMF2, appeared in 2023 and continued that deliberately eclectic approach. He has also collaborated with artists including Korn, Soulfly, Anthrax, Apocalyptica, Tech N9ne, and Code Orange.
Beyond music, Taylor has written books including Seven Deadly Sins, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven, and You're Making Me Hate You. His screen work includes appearances in films, television programs, documentaries, and music videos, notably Fear Clinic and Thunder Force. Whether performing with Slipknot, writing for Stone Sour, or working independently, Taylor's career is defined by versatility, theatrical presence, and a willingness to treat heavy music as both spectacle and emotional release.