Damien Starkey

Starkey has been quoted as saying that he grew up listening to a wide variety of genres. Many artists have influenced him, such as Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Pantera, Candlebox, Dr. Dre, and Bad Company.

From 2007 to 2011 he was songwriter and singer for Society Red, with former Puddle of Mudd rhythm guitarist Adam Latiff and former lead guitarist of Puddle of Mudd Paul Phillips. Also in the band was Brad Stewart formerly of Shinedown who now plays in Fuel. In 2010, following the departure of bassist Doug Ardito, he joined Puddle of Mudd.

Damien Joel Starkey (born October 20, 1982) is an American producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. He has played many roles in several bands, served as a vocalist for Society Red and Burn Season, bassist for Puddle of Mudd, and he also owns a company called Give 2 Get Music Group in which he is a music supervisor and composer for TV and film music. Damien has scored and wrote music for more than 70 TV shows and movies including American Reunion, Nitro Circus Movie, Freeheld, Pawn Stars, Bar Rescue, and Undercover Boss. As a producer he has written for and produced many notable artists including platinum selling bands Saliva, Daughtry and Avril Lavigne. The album "Project X" by Upchurch was co-written and produced by Damien and peaked on the album chart at #4 and #2 on the Hip Hop Chart. Damien was back on tour playing bass in Saliva for most of 2018. Auditioning for Stone Temple Pilots: Via social media, it was later confirmed that Damien was in LA in April 2016 auditioning to be the new singer for Stone Temple Pilots. It was rumored that Starkey was only one of 8 singers selected by the band with them eventually choosing Jeff Gutt. Damien also is CVO and managing partner in the music technology company Songlinkr.