HALESTORM Singer On Getting Vocal Lessons From KIX's STEVE WHITEMAN: 'He Taught Me Literally Everything He Knows'

HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale has credited Steve Whiteman with helping her learn to sing properly. Hale started taking lessons from the KIX frontman when she was in her mid-teens, and said he taught her proper breathing and vocal techniques to navigate the rigors of the road.

In an interview with Metal Master Kingdom prior to HALESTORM's May 13 concert at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Hale elaborated upon her early beginnings as a vocalist. "I kind of threw myself into this — I started the band when I was 13 and my little brother was 10," she said (see video below). "I threw myself into it and basically I was trying to figure out how to sing like Tom Keifer [CINDERELLA], how to sing like Ann Wilson [HEART], how to do all of that. Then, when I was 16, we got to open up for a band called FUNNY MONEY, which is a side project of KIX's frontman Steve Whiteman. I knew who KIX was. I'm a child of the '90s, but I grew up listening to '70s and '80s rock. That's just my M.O."

She continued: "It was interesting — we opened up for him. I saw him singing before he went on. I'm like, 'What's that all about?' I asked him about it, me being a teenager, 'Why are you making those noises?' He would always sing in a towel not to annoy anybody. I asked 'What are you doing?' He said 'I'm warming up.' I'm like 'What is that?' I had no idea that people do these things. He's, like, 'Actually, I give lessons at Marty's Music Store in Harrisburg.' I'm, like, 'Wow, that's so close to where I live.' 'Do you want to come down on Tuesday?' 'Yes!' I went down there every Tuesday afternoon for about two years with him. He taught me literally everything that he knows. Not just what I had — I walked out of that situation so much more confident than I had ever been in my entire life because all you want to do is sing, but you don't really know what the tools are. You don't even know what you have."

Hale added: "What Steve showed me was that I have these different resonance areas and I have this semi-five octave situation and I don't always dwell on that because I don't want to talk about octaves. It's not about the octaves. It's what you do with them. Also, one of the biggest things he taught me was how to troubleshoot. If I have a cold, if something happens, if you're tired and on the road, the show must go on and this is how you do it without hurting yourself. I owe literally the fact that I'm able to be 110 [percent] every night is because of that guy. We still keep in touch and he's just a sweetheart guy, as are all of his boys."

HALESTORM's latest album, "Vicious", came out in July 2018 via Atlantic. It was recorded at Nashville, Tennessee's Rock Falcon recording studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz (RUSH, ALICE IN CHAINS, DEFTONES).

The group's 19-date summer tour with ALICE COOPER will kick off on July 17 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.