Jonathan Davis is a musician known as the frontman of Korn, the pioneers of nu-metal. Korn was founded in 1993 in Los Angeles, and Davis was one of the co-founders and they have released a number of successful albums during their career.
Aside from his distinctive and intense vocal style, Jonathan is also popular with his powerful and energetic live performances. Apart from his work with Korn, Davis has worked on some solo efforts as well. A multi-instrumentalist musician, he has experimented with many genres, including electronic music and rap.
Jonathan Davis is also the main songwriter of Korn, and their music often explores the concepts of trauma, emotional scarring, and pain. As you already know, most musicians work in other fields before achieving fame as musicians. However, it might be surprising for you to learn what Jonathan Davis did before his successful career with Korn.
Jonathan Davis Worked As A Mortician’s Assistant And Performed Autopsies Before Korn
After graduating from high school, Jonathan Davis went to San Francisco to study at the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science. He dropped out after two semesters, then worked as an apprentice at a mortuary closer to his home.
Davis worked there for around six years and was near deceased bodies most of the time. During his time working at the mortuary, he embalmed the dead bodies and performed autopsies, which scarred him for life.
Davis recalled those times in an interview with Kerrang back in 2018. He told Kerrang that he chose the job because he was into dark stuff. Davis then said that he thought it would be cool, yet experienced PTSD as a result of his experiences. He also revealed that he was exposed to things he should have at that age, and added that he needed to go to therapy to overcome his nightmares.
Davis told Kerrang about his job at the mortuary that:
“I got into it because I liked horror movies and all kinds of dark shit. I went on this regional occupation program where they taught you skills, and of course, I wanted to learn how to do autopsies, because I thought it would be fucking cool. But lo and behold, little did I know that that shit would fuck me up for a long time. I saw some really fucked-up shit, which at the time made me a really hard, no-emotions motherfucker.
I had post-traumatic stress from seeing dead babies, and young kids that had died after finding a parent’s stash of drugs – shit that I shouldn’t have been seeing at 16 or 17 years old. I had to have a lot of therapy to make the nightmares go away, but I got through it and it made me appreciate life a lot more.”
Considering his experiences at the mortuary, it seems like it was hard for Jonathan Davis to get over what he saw there. However, as he also claims, working at a mortuary might have helped Davis appreciate his life more.
