Twisted Sister taps ’80s metal icon to carry on legacy after Dee Snider’s sudden exit
Twisted Sister gets the heavy metal shake.
The hard rock band is moving forward without longtime frontman Dee Snider after the group tapped another iconic voice to take the mic.
On Tuesday, the band announced on social media that former Skid Row designer Sebastian Bach will step in to lead the band on select dates in 2026.
“Twisted Sisters members Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda are thrilled to announce that superstar Sebastian Bach will headline the band on select dates this fall,” an official statement said.
“This does not appear to affect or conflict with Sebastian’s current or future solo travel plans, which remain the same.”
The announcement was paired with a clip of a new version of the band’s 1983 hit, “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll,” this time featuring Bach on vocals.
Bach recently said that getting into Twisted Sister was an emotional hand.
Bach revealed what Snider told him about the health battle that forced him off the road.
“Then I asked him, ‘What does the doctor say to him,’ and he said, ‘No problem, I’ll tell you.’ He says he has arthritis, his bone, knees are coming out, and he has bone in bone. And the doctor said he shouldn’t jump around, and he said, ‘Well, that’s not an option.’ … The doctor said, ‘You’re not going to make it,’” Bach shared on Sirius XM’s Trunk Nation.
He said Snider gave his stamp of approval to join Twisted Sister.
“So he said, ‘You have my full blessing.’ He goes, ‘I love you.’ I told him that I love him. And we were like teary eyes. … And he told me that his family was crying when he said he couldn’t visit. … It’s hard to get old. It’s difficult. It’s hard for everyone to get old.”
Last month, Snider, 70, abruptly resigned from the team due to growing health problems.
In February, she revealed that she is battling degenerative arthritis and has undergone multiple surgeries.
Twisted Sister first announced the cancellation of their anniversary shows in a statement on Instagram.
“Due to the sudden and unexpected resignation of Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider due to a series of health challenges, the band has been forced to cancel all scheduled shows, beginning April 25th (in São Paulo) in Brazil and continuing through the summer,” the band said in a statement.
A separate statement posted on the team’s website on February 5 pulled back the curtain on Snider’s situation.
“A lifetime of violent gambling took its toll on Dee Snider’s body and soul,” it said.
“To add insult to injury, Dee has recently discovered that the intensity of his life’s work has taken a toll on him and his heart. He can no longer push the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll fury as he has done for decades. Says Snider, ‘I don’t know any other way to rock. The idea of slowing down is no longer acceptable to me.’
“In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, ‘A man must know his limitations.’ Sadly, Dee Snider already knows his own.”
Formed in the early 1970s, the group became a household name with the 1984 hit “Stay Hungry,” which catapulted them to MTV-era stardom. After disbanding in 1988, they reunited in 1997 and continued to tour for years without releasing new music.
Snider has been open about the brutal decline in popularity. In a June 2024 interview with Fox News Digital, he reflected on the band’s demise in the late ’80s.
“Going bankrupt twice, my job collapsed,” he said. “I was riding a bicycle to my desk job, answering phones, I was married, I had three children.
“People need to hear those stories and know they are not alone.”
