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Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto screams. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond. He also plays keyboards and guitars on studio recordings but uses live shows to focus solely on his vocal performance. Diamond is renowned for his dark lyrical content and his story concepts. He is also known for his distinctive shock rock stage persona (in particular his black and white facepaint). He has been an influence for other rock and metal artists, including Metallica, Slayer and Cradle of Filth.
Mercyful Fate reunited in 1992 (while Diamond simultaneously continued his solo career) and recorded five more studio albums. In 1999, Diamond and Hank Shermann performed the song "Evil" live with Metallica. This performance also featured Diamond without his famous makeup.
In 2000, Diamond decided to put Mercyful Fate on hold and continue on with his solo career.
On 1 August 2019 Mercyful Fate announced a reunion and an accompanying European tour. Then 3 years later on June 2, 2022, Mercyful Fate performed their first live show since 1999 in Hanover as part of a European tour, where they debuted a brand new song titled "The Jackal of Salzbur." King Diamond also confirmed that the band was actively working on a new album. However in January of 2025 the bands Bass player Becky Baldwin stated that the new Mercyful Fate album was not expected to be released before 2025, due to King Diamond's focus on his namesake band's upcoming thirteenth studio album.
In 2001, King Diamond worked out a deal with the band Usurper to sing backup vocals on the song "Necronemesis" in exchange for them shifting their recording schedule around to accommodate the recording of . In 2003 King Diamond released their eleventh album The Puppet Master, the album also featured additional vocals from Diamond's wife Livia Zita. In 2004, Diamond contributed vocals to "Sweet Dreams", the final track on the album of Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot. In late 2005, Diamond appeared on the Roadrunner United – The All-Star Sessions album, contributing vocals for his song "In the Fire", which featured multiple Roadrunner Records musicians (past and present) working together to create individual songs. Diamond also guested on the Cradle of Filth song "Devil Woman" in late 2005.
In April 2006, Diamond reunited with Mikkey Dee (Motörhead drummer) at a sold-out gig at Kåren in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2001 he referred to Dee as "one of the best drummers of all time and that's something that has bothered us since he left."
Diamond released his album Give Me Your Soul... Please, on 26 June 2007. The band received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the track "Never Ending Hill".
He was forced to cancel a United States tour due to a herniated disk, causing severe back pain, which puts him in intense pain almost all of the time. He attributes the problem to the long stressful hours spent working on the album.
Diamond made an appearance at Ozzfest on 9 August 2008 at Frisco, Texas alongside Metallica, performing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs previously released on Metallica's Garage Inc. album. He also performed a cover of the Pantera song "A New Level" with Vinnie Paul, Scott Ian, Max Cavalera, and Nick Bowcott.
In 2009, Diamond was revealed to be a playable character for the rhythm game , appearing with Mercyful Fate's song "Evil". The player must complete the song on any instrument and any difficulty to unlock the character.
On 29 November 2010, Diamond was taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered several blockages in his arteries due to his heavy smoking habit. They determined that he had had several heart attacks and that he needed triple-bypass surgery, during which time he was medically dead for five hours. The surgery was performed successfully and on 11 December 2010 it was announced that he was at home recovering. All his musical projects were placed on hold.
On 7 December 2011, Diamond appeared on stage with Metallica at the Fillmore in San Francisco to celebrate Metallica's 30th anniversary.
In June 2012, Diamond performed his comeback concert at Sweden Rock Festival.
On Saturday 8 September 2012, Diamond appeared along with Mark Tremonti on VH1 Classic's That Metal Show discussing his surgery and various details about upcoming events. He appeared on Volbeat's 2013 album, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, providing guest vocals on the track "Room 24". This collaboration resulted in another Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. In August 2013 Diamond performed at Open Air Bloodstock Festival, UK.
Slayer was chosen to headline the 2015 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. The bands HELLYEAH, King Diamond, The Devil Wears Prada, Thy Art Is Murder, Jungle Rot, Sister Sin, Sworn In, Shattered Sun, Feed Her To The Sharks, Code Orange and Kissing Candice also participated in the Rockstar Tour.
In 2018, King Diamond began work on its thirteenth studio album, which would be divided into two parts to connect with its theme. The first part of the series was later revealed to be titled The Institute; the title has since been changed to Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920. Originally intended for release in 2020, it faced multiple delays before its planned release in 2026. This delay was in part due to Diamond taking his time on perfecting new material by both the King Diamond band and the reunited Mercyful Fate.
In November of 2025 Diamond was honored by the Danish Arts Foundation and was given the lifetime honour for his "very special efforts and contributions to Danish art and cultural life." In addition Diamond will receive a yearly 189,000 Danish Krona (about $26,000) grant from the foundation for the rest of his life.
Diamond cites Arthur Brown, David Byron, Alice Cooper, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Ozzy Osbourne and Robert Plant as his primary influences. According to Diamond's biography on his official website, the first two albums he bought were Deep Purple's Fireball and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality.
Diamond follows LaVeyan Satanism, which he does not see as a religion, but a philosophy by which he lived even before reading Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible.Götz Kühnemund: "'A History of Horror". In: Rock Hard, no. 82, November 2010, pp. 20–27. Michael Moynihan calls him "one of the only performers of the '80s Satanic Metal who was more than just a poseur using a devilish image for shock value".Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: , Feral House 1998, pp. 15f. Diamond has expressed concern that religion has led so many people to kill and destroy each other. He stated that he cannot comprehend why religion has caused so much death and destruction when it is logically impossible to prove the presence or absence of any deity. He states that he has reached a point in his life where he has completely given up believing in anything religious.
King Diamond has appeared on the covers of many rock and metal magazines, and has influenced many artists, including Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Cradle of Filth, Cage,[1] and Andy DiGelsomina of the Wagnerian opera metal project Lyraka.
American heavy metal band Cage devoted to him the song "King Diamond" on the album Hell Destroyer in 2007.
King Diamond has inspired many bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Opeth, Pantera, Cradle of Filth. and Emperor have all cited him as a influence.
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