Gerard Arthur Way was born on the 9th of April 1977 in Belleville, New Jersey. He is half Italian, half Scottish - his father (“Handsome Don”) was a mechanic and his mother, Donna, was a hairdresser. Donna was a large influence on his interest in horror and the occult, renting horror movies and making Gerard and his little brother Mikey watch them with her. Gerard was also extremely close to his grandmother Elena, who recognized his creative potential at an early age and taught him how to draw, paint and sing. His family lived in a very dangerous area with a lot of mafia and drug-related crimes, so Gerard and Mikey couldn’t really play outside very much, instead having to create their own worlds inside their heads to live in. To pass the time, Gerard would draw and tell stories for his little brother. When he was in 4th grade, he and his brother moved schools, and Gerard decided that he would use this fresh start to become more involved in things. He played snare in marching band (which he hated – at band camp they made him wake up at 2 in the morning). Gerard also auditioned for the school play and got the part of Peter Pan. His grandma made him a costume with green tights. He quickly got sick of being known as ‘the singer kid’, and when he started middle school he turned his back on performing.
Throughout his teenager years Gerard was regarded by his peers as the weird loner fat kid. On his first 
day of high school at Belleville High he was the guy in the army jacket and horror movie t-shirt eating his lunch alone. He mostly kept to himself during high school, drawing, drinking, and listening to music. He liked Britpop bands like Pulp and Blur because it was social commentary as well as good music. He played games like Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer. At a Dungeons and Dragons party and older friend introduced him to Iron Maiden, and from there he discovered other rock and punk bands like Black Flag, Morrissey and the Smiths, and The Misfits. When Gerard was 15 he bought a blue guitar that looked like Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar. He tried to play guitar in a band, but when he couldn’t play Sweet Home Alabama (by Lynyrd Skynyrd) he got kicked out. He tried starting a few other bands (including Raygun Jones, in which his brother Mikey played the bass), but nothing worked out.
Gerard was into a lot of weird things. When he was young he realized that everyone he knew was going to die, which eventually influenced him in a lot of ways. Having been raised Catholic had given him a fear of death and damnation. When Gerard was 17 he found out that he lived near Christina Ricci, and bought a bike for the sole purpose of stalking her, helping him lose weight. When his girlfriend dumped him (so that she could have fun in Greece) he tried on his mom’s lipstick. Gerard had a friend called Dennis that had an uncle named TT who was into voodoo and could supposedly see into the future. When Gerard asked what he was gonna be when he grew up, TT said that he could see Gerard on the stage. However, his first love was art and comic books.
day of high school at Belleville High he was the guy in the army jacket and horror movie t-shirt eating his lunch alone. He mostly kept to himself during high school, drawing, drinking, and listening to music. He liked Britpop bands like Pulp and Blur because it was social commentary as well as good music. He played games like Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer. At a Dungeons and Dragons party and older friend introduced him to Iron Maiden, and from there he discovered other rock and punk bands like Black Flag, Morrissey and the Smiths, and The Misfits. When Gerard was 15 he bought a blue guitar that looked like Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar. He tried to play guitar in a band, but when he couldn’t play Sweet Home Alabama (by Lynyrd Skynyrd) he got kicked out. He tried starting a few other bands (including Raygun Jones, in which his brother Mikey played the bass), but nothing worked out. 
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