Christian Death

Death Rock band formed in October 1979 - Los Angeles, California.

Named as a satirical play on words derived from the designer brand 'Christian Dior', Christian Death was founded by vocalist Rozz Williams, bassist James McGearly, drummer George Belanger, and a guitarist named Jay brought in from a previous band Rozz had been in called Daucus Karota. The group went on hiatus briefly in 1981, but reformed that summer with Rikk Agnew replacing Jay on guitar. Their debut album - the death-rock classic Only Theatre Of Pain was released in March 1982.

Later that year, Agnew and Belanger had left the band and were replaced by Eva O and 'China' respectively. Eva O was soon replaced by Michael Montana, and by the end of the year the band had split once again.

In 1983, Williams formed a new band with members of Pompeii 99, a band that Christian Death had played some shows with just before they had split. This new group consisted of Rozz, Valor (2), Gitane Demone, David Glass & Constance Smith. Rozz wanted to bring back the Daucus Karota name for this new band, but Valor and his European record company convinced him to retain the name Christian Death. This line-up remained more or less constant for a couple of years, although there were some problems during that time that led to stress between the members. These problems came to a head in 1985, when Rozz left the band just before a European tour and insisted the remaining members not use the Christian Death moniker. Valor, Demone and Glass made an agreement with Rozz to rename the band with the prefix 'Sin And Sacrifice', however the remaining members of the band soon agreed amongst themselves to continue using the name Christian Death.

This version of the band relocated to England and continued to record and tour until 1989, when all members except Valor had left to pursue other projects. In 1992, Valor and his second wife Maitri once again resurrected the project, this new version of the group was closer to dark heavy metal than the Gothic rock they were previously known for.

Around this same time, Rozz and Rikk Agnew had begun playing some reunion shows in the US also using the name Christian Death, Rozz also started recording new Christian Death material with his wife (and early C.D. member) Eva O. Valor threatened legal action, claiming that he owned the band name and most of Rozz's material ended up being released under the name Christian Death featuring Rozz Williams. This version of the group came to a close on April 1, 1998 when Rozz Williams committed suicide.

During 2006 various original members of the band including Rikk Agnew, Eva O and James McGearty reunited as Christian Death 1334, however due to copyright infringement issues the group had to change their name to CD 1334. They have since split up.

Valor and Maitri continue to record and tour as Christian Death.