Ronnie Radke‘s had a tough go of it, but through numerous brushes with the law and several band changes, he’s still making music.
Credited for his talents as a songwriter, singer, and rapper, Radke first rose to prominence back in the mid-2000s. His career has seen several low points in the years since, most notably when legal issues forced the star out of the spotlight and, for awhile there, into prison. He’s since been released, and he’s back on the music scene with a new band, but the many changes he’s made in the years since that long-ago musical debut have remade Radke into a brand new artist.
What happened to Ronnie Radke?
When Ronnie Radke first stepped onto the musical scene, it was as the lead singer of Escape the Fate, a band he started with Bryan Money, Robert Ortiz, and Omar Espinosa. He first joined the band in 2004, and they enjoyed a successful four-year stint before the first of Radke’s legal issues stepped in to slow their roll.
In 2006, just as he was truly starting to experience stardom through his burgeoning band following a radio contest win, Radke was involved in a deadly fight. Evidence suggests that he wasn’t responsible for the death of Michael Allen Cook, but his involvement in the incident, paired with his decision to bring brass knuckles to the fight, landed him five years of probation. To top it off, Radke was ordered to pay $92,372 to Cook’s mother, but he initially avoided jail time.
Then, in 2008, he violated his probation, and landed himself with two and a half years behind bars. His sentence pushed Escape the Fate to fire Radke and replace him with Craig Mabbitt, leaving Radke band-less — for a spell, at least.
His tenure as a solo artist didn’t last long, as Radke had his eyes on his next band before he was even released from his incarceration. He started the work to create Falling in Reverse while he was still behind bars, and once he was released, Nason Schoeffler helped make the band a reality.
Radke’s been the band’s frontman since his release in 2010, and he’s seen real success with the new group. Each of their albums have performed well upon release, and — despite several more legal hurdles — he’s remained a steadily popular figure in the world of music ever since. He may even be more popular these days, with both his tenure and feud with Escape the Fate in the rear-view, just so long as he can keep the legal issues to a minimum.