Savatage
Sign in to saveSavatage () is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album Sirens (1983), they changed their name to Savatage, as Avatar was already taken by at least one other band. Savatage is considered to be an integral part of the American heavy metal movement of the early-to-mid-1980s and has been cited as a key influence on numerous metal genres. The band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, five compilations and three EPs.
Key facts
- Musical artist.background
- group_or_band
- Musical artist.name
- Savatage
- Musical artist.image
- Savatage - Wacken Open Air 2015-0996 (cropped).jpg
- Musical artist.landscape
- yes
- Musical artist.caption
- Savatage at Wacken Open Air 2015
- Musical artist.alias
- Avatar (1979–1983)
- Musical artist.origin
- Tarpon Springs, Florida, U.S.
- Musical artist.works
- Discography
- Musical artist.current_members
- Jon Oliva Johnny Lee Middleton Chris Caffery Zachary Stevens Jeff Plate Al Pitrelli
- Musical artist.past_members
- See: List of Savatage band members
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- musical group
- Genre
- power metal
- Country of origin
- United States
- Record label
- Nuclear Blast
- Official website
- www.savatage.com
- Image
- Savatage at Shepherds Bush Empire 16 June 2025 (54595598785).jpg
Show 8 more facts
- topic has template
- Template:Savatage
- topic's main category
- Category:Savatage
- Commons category
- Savatage
- inception
- 1978-00-00
- location of formation
- Florida
- start of work period
- 1979-00-00
- social media followers
- 43300
- name
- Savatage
via Wikidata · CC0
~44 min read
Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- History
- Early days (1979–1986)
- Rise to popularity and death of Criss Oliva (1987–1993)
- After Criss and second era of the band (1994–2000)
- Hiatus and side projects (2001–2013)
- Criss Oliva 10th anniversary memorial concert
- Reunion rumors
- One-off reunion, death of Paul O'Neill and second hiatus (2014��2019)
- Second reunion and upcoming twelfth studio album (since 2020)
- Musical style
- In popular culture
- Band members
- Discography
- References
- External links
Savatage () is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album Sirens (1983), they changed their name to Savatage, as Avatar was already taken by at least one other band. Savatage is considered to be an integral part of the American heavy metal movement of the early-to-mid-1980s and has been cited as a key influence on numerous metal genres. The band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, five compilations and three EPs.
For their fourth album Hall of the Mountain King (1987), Savatage teamed up with producer/songwriter Paul O'Neil. This new partnership earned the band significant critical acclaim, and O'Neil would work with Savatage on all their future albums until his death in 2017. The band's success continued with the albums Gutter Ballet (1990) and Streets: A Rock Opera (1991), both of which cemented their transition from their earlier power metal sound to progressive metal, with the band also experimenting with opera-inspired lyrics.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Savatage” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.