MILAN – Italy’s “Brother Metal”, a monk who became famous for singing in a heavy metal band – habit and all – is hanging up his microphone, saying the Devil made him too much of a celebrity for his own good.
The white-bearded Cesare Bonizzi (63), a Capuchin monk who recorded CDs for a punk label and was the lead singer for the band Fratello Metallo (Metal Brother), said the Devil was up to his usual mischief.
“The Devil has separated me from my managers, risked making me break up with my band colleagues and also risked making me break up with my fellow monks,” the monk said in his farewell video. “He lifted me up to the point where I became a celebrity and now I want to kill him.”
The video shows one of the band members shaving off Bonizzi’s long mane of white hair as a sign he is turning a new leaf.
For years Bonizzi performed at concerts wearing his traditional Franciscan brown robe, sandals and white rope around his waist.
His second heavy metal CD was called Mysteries, and was inspired by a group of southern Italian women who sang about the Virgin Mary.
Bonizzi fell in love with heavy metal when he attended a Metallica concert some 15 years ago. – (Reuters)