Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American musician who is the lead singer of the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.
Maynard James Keenan was born and raised in Ohio and Michigan. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army, serving for a period of time before pursuing higher education. Following his military service, Keenan attended the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1988, he relocated to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in interior design and set construction for film and television. Shortly after the move, Keenan co-founded the band Tool alongside guitarist Adam Jones.
In addition to his music career, Keenan owns Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars in Arizona, where he resides. Since rising to fame, he has been noted as a recluse, although he does emerge to support charitable causes and for the occasional interview. He has also ventured into acting.
Early life
thumb|right|upright=0.8|Keenan's photo in a [[United States Military Academy Preparatory School|West Point Prep School yearbook|alt=A man with his head turned left smiles slightly as his photograph is taken.]]
James Herbert Keenan was born in Akron, Ohio, on April 17, 1964, the only child of Southern Baptists Judith Marie (née Dougherty) and Michael Van Keenan. He is of Irish and Italian descent. When his parents divorced in 1968, his father moved to Scottville, Michigan, and Keenan would only see him about once a year for the next 12 years. His mother remarried, and moved to Ravenna, Ohio bringing Keenan into an "intolerant and unworldly household" where his intelligence and creative expression would be stifled. His mother suffered a paralyzing subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm in 1976 when Keenan was 11, and this incident would later serve as the inspiration for songs such as Tool's "Jimmy," "The Patient," and "Wings for Marie," "10,000 Days", as well as A Perfect Circle's "Judith." A few years later, she persuaded Keenan to live with his father in Scottville, which he considers "the best move [he] ever made".
Inspired by Bill Murray's performance in the 1981 comedy film Stripes, Keenan joined the United States Army, with the intention of having the G.I. Bill fund his dream of attending art school. He initially served in the Army as a forward observer before studying at West Point Prep School from 1983 to 1984.
In addition to completing a rigorous math and English curriculum, Keenan wrestled, ran on the cross country team, and sang in the glee club., who later became chief of staff of the U.S. Army. It was during his time in the military that he adopted the sobriquet "Maynard" on a whim, based on a fictional character he had created in high school. He declined an appointment to West Point and instead chose to pursue a music career because of his disillusionment with his colleagues' values and because he believed West Point would not tolerate his dissidence.
Music career
Early bands
Upon completing his term of prep school, Keenan studied art at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From there he moved to Somerville, Massachusetts, where his love of animals led him to practice interior design for a Boston-area pet store. He was transferred to a store in Los Angeles, before he was quickly fired and began working in set construction. During the 1980s, Keenan played bass guitar for TexA.N.S. and sang for Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty, both independent bands. He also (with future Tool bandmate Danny Carey) performed live and recorded with Green Jellÿ between 1990 and 1993, playing guitar and performing backup vocals as the voice of one of the pigs on the band's hit song "Three Little Pigs" on their debut album Cereal Killer, and appearing in the music video for "Slave Boy" on the band's follow-up LP 333. Around this time he also struck up a friendship with Tom Morello, who has credited Keenan with introducing him to Drop D tuning. Keenan spent time jamming with Morello and Brad Wilk, as did Zack de la Rocha: Morello and Wilk considered Keenan and de la Rocha as candidates for the vocalist with what would become Rage Against the Machine before deciding to ask the latter.
Tool
After moving to Los Angeles, Keenan met Adam Jones who had heard him singing on a demo in college. Impressed with Keenan's vocals, Jones suggested that they form a band. Reluctant,
thumb|upright=0.7|right|Keenan performing as a part of [[Tool (band)|Tool in 2006|alt=A man with a microphone stands on a major stage set.]]
Tool signed to Zoo Entertainment in November 1991 and released the Opiate EP the following year. To support this release, the band toured with Fishbone and Rage Against the Machine.
Shortly thereafter, Tool released their 1993 debut album, Undertow, in the United States. It was certified gold after just eight months, and platinum less than a year later. In 1994, the band released their single "Prison Sex" with a corresponding music video created and directed by Jones. The video was deemed "too graphic and offensive", and was withdrawn by MTV after a few airings due to "a symbolic dealing with the sensitive subject of child abuse". the members of Tool decided to take some time off. During the hiatus, Keenan went under the alias "Gaylord C." while collaborating with Tim Alexander of Primus and Mike Bordin of Faith No More on "Choked", a track on the 1997 drumming compilation Flyin' Traps.
The band members were outspokenly critical of peer-to-peer file sharing networks, due to the negative financial effect on artists dependent on success in record sales. During an interview with NY Rock in 2000, Keenan stated, "I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs."
Five years after the release of Ænima, Tool announced a new album, Systema Encéphale, with a 12-song track list in January 2001. A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled Lateralus and that the previous announcement had been a ruse. The album was released in May 2001 to positive reviews. Known for his "dark, intelligent, compelling, and unexpected lyrical twists", Keenan was acclaimed for his songwriting on the album, in which he "doesn't cross the line from darkness to ugliness ... as often as he has in the past". In an interview with NY Rock, Keenan explained, "Everything we release with Tool is inspired by our music. It doesn't matter if it is a video or if its lyrics. The lyrics for "Schism" are nothing more than my interpretation of the music." and Tool received their second Grammy Award for the best metal performance of 2001 for "Schism". In 2002, Keenan recorded a song called "Fallen" with Thirty Seconds to Mars that was released on the band's self-titled debut album.
thumb|Keenan performing with Tool on December 12, 2006|alt=Musicians performing on stage in front of a crowd under many lights of different colors.
15 years after the band's formation, Tool had acquired what Dan Epstein of Revolver described as a devoted "cult" following, and in May 2006 the band released 10,000 Days, an album in which Keenan sang about more personal issues in contrast to previous attempts to inspire change. His mother, who inspired the song "Jimmy" on Ænima, also served as the inspiration for "Jambi", and the two-part song "Wings for Marie" and "10,000 Days (Wings for Marie, Pt 2)", which deals with her 2003 death after 27 years, or around 10,000 days, of suffering. The album sold 564,000 copies in its opening week in the U.S. and was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts. However, 10,000 Days was received less favorably by critics than its predecessor Lateralus had been.
Following 10,000 Days, Tool had one album remaining to fulfill the obligation of its record contract. Over the course of the following years, the band slowly made progress towards its fifth studio release. Tool has worked around Keenan and his side projects since 1999, starting with the creation of A Perfect Circle, which has led to several years between projects. Regarding the future of Tool, Keenan stated in a 2007 interview with Spin, "We'll make music together until one of us is dead." and in a March 26 press release Tool was confirmed as a headliner for the second annual Mile High Music Festival in Commerce City, Colorado, with Widespread Panic and The Fray. Tool also headlined Lollapalooza 2009 in Chicago, Illinois.
On August 7, 2019, Tool released the title track for Fear Inoculum across all streaming services. At the 62nd Grammy Awards, the band won Best Metal Performance, for the track "7empest" from the album.