Ray Gillen
May 12, 1959 – December 1, 1993
Ray Gillen was a hard rock singer who, although he spent a minute as lead singer of Black Sabbath, is perhaps best remembered as the lead singer of Badlands. Gillen had been singing for a series of New Jersey area bands when, in 1986, he was summoned to substitute for then-Black Sabbath vocalist, Glenn Hughes, who was suffering from vocal problems. Following the tour, Gillen began working with Black Sabbath on their The Eternal Idol album, but never finished the sessions due to various factors. In 1988, Gillen formed Badlands with Jake E. Lee, best known as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist, Craig Chaisson, and Eric Singer. Gillen fronted Badlands for three albums, Badlands, Voodoo Highway, and Dusk. The band’s self-titled debut sold respectably due to video play on MTV, but the follow-ups barely registered a blip, so Gillen broke up the band in 1989. Over the next couple of years, he worked on a handful of other projects. On December 1, 1993, Ray Gillen, age 32, died of AIDS-related complications.
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