MEET ZAK STEVENS

Zachary “Zak” Stevens is best known as the lead vocalist of the band Savatage and current singer for world renowned band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is also the powerhouse singer for progressive metal band Circle II Circle.

Zak first achieved fame singing for a band called Wicked Witch (which eventually evolved into Machines of Grace in 2009). However, after Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva stepped down from the fore of the band in 1992 to concentrate on other projects, Savatage required a replacement. Studying under Paul O’Neill and Jon Oliva, Zak was groomed to be the right man for the job and joined Savatage in 1992. He first appeared on the album “Edge of Thorns.”  His last album recorded with Savatage was “The Wake of Magellan (1997)”, which some fans consider to be Savatage’s best work in the post-1993 Savatage canon.

In 1996, Stevens appeared along with other Savatage members in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra project.  He is credited as a vocalist on their commercially successful Christmas albums, “Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996),” “The Christmas Attic (1998),” and “The Lost Christmas Eve (2004),”, as well as two non-Christmas albums, “Beethoven’s Last Night (2000)” and “Night Castle (2009).”

During the winter of 2001, Zak started his comeback with the first Circle II Circle album, “Watching in Silence” (produced by Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva).  Circle II Circle has released six additional full-length albums since, with their seventh album “Reign of Darkness” reaching number one on the CMJ Loud Rock Charts in the USA. Because of his versatile vocal style ranging from breathtaking ballads to gritty hard rock headlines, Zak has also been invited to participate in many other projects.  In April 2014, he leant his vocal prowess to the first album of the Stardust Reverie Project, “Ancient Rites of the Moon.”  In November 2015, Zak was invited back as the host on the second Stardust Reverie Project album, “Proclamation of Shadows.”  Zak has also contributed vocals on Empires of Eden’s “Reborn in Fire (2010),” Avalon’s “Angels of the Apocalypse (2014),” and Sebastien’s “Dark Chambers of Déjà Vu (2015).”  In 2016, The Fallen Symmetry debuted their hit “Fields of the Fallen” at Lima Metal Fest with Zak as a co-frontman in front of thousands of excited fans.

After the reunion of Savatage, he performed on July 30, 2015 on the first time ever two-stage show at Wacken Open Air festival with Savatage as well as Trans-Siberian Orchestra in front of 90,000 fans.  Zak is currently touring with TSO on stage as a lead vocalist.