Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He was the lead singer and songwriter of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He was ranked 83 in the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. Early life Born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, Snider was raised in nearby Freeport, New York and Baldwin, New York, both on Long Island. His father, Bob, is a retired New York State Trooper and Nassau County court clerk, and his mother, Marguerite, is a retired art teacher. His father is Jewish, whereas his mother is from a Catholic family of Swiss descent. He is also of Ukrainian descent from his grandfather. Snider and his siblings were raised as Episcopalians after his mother joined the church. As a child, he sang in a church choir, several school choruses, and concert choir in high school. Snider was also selected for the All-State Chorus for singing. He graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1973. Career 1970s–1980s In early 1976, Snider joined Twisted Sister and became the band's sole songwriter. The group released their first studio album, Under the Blade, in September 1982 and developed a following in the UK. Less than a year later, Twisted Sister released their second album, You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll. Their third album, Stay Hungry, hit shelves on May 10, 1984. This became the band's most successful record with the hits "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock". To emphasize the "twisted sister" image, Snider adopted a trademark persona of metal-inspired drag with long blond curly hair, an excessive amount of eye shadow and rouge, a beauty mark, and bright red lipstick. During the mid-1980s, before the premiere of Headbangers Ball, the first MTV program to consist entirely of heavy metal videos was Heavy Metal Mania. The first episode aired in June 1985 and was hosted by Snider. It featured metal news, interviews with metal artists, and in-studio co-hosts. That same year, in November, Twisted Sister released Come Out and Play, which sold over 500,000 copies in the US, but was marred by a poor concert tour. In 1985, Snider was involved in a Senate hearing instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), which sought to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. Prior to the PMRC's appearance in Congress,