Tom Araya

Tom Araya (born Tomás Enrique Araya June 6, 1961 in Viña del Mar, Chile^[1]) is an Chilean-American musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Araya is ranked fifty-eighth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time.

Tom Araya
Tom Araya of Slayer performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Tomás Enrique Araya
Born	(1961-06-06) June 6, 1961 (age 64) Viña del Mar, Chile[1]
Origin	South Gate, California
Genres	Thrash metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Bass, vocals
Years active	1981–present
Labels	American

Araya was employed as a respiratory therapist in the early 1980s and used his earnings to finance Slayer's debut album Show No Mercy. Much of Araya's lyrical content is about serial killers, a subject he finds interesting, first making his lyrical contribution to 1985's Hell Awaits with the track "At Dawn They Sleep".