Compared to the millions (and billions) of dollars that stars like Beyoncé, Selena Gomez, and Taylor Swift make every year, $26,000 might not seem like a lot. But for those musicians whose names aren't on the Forbes 400, $26k can be life-changing. Heck, even if you're one of the most celebrated vocalists in metal history like King Diamond, that amount could be the difference between hanging up your hat or continuing to pursue your life's dream.
King Diamond first came screaming onto the metal scene in 1980 as the vocalist for Mercyful Fate, a band that had a massive impact on the emerging thrash and black metal genres, influencing groups like Metallicaand Slayer. As part of the eponymous band, King Diamond became one of the most influential metal bands with albums like Fatal Portrait, Abigail, and Them.
King Diamond Awarded Lifelong Art Grant
In recent years, King Diamond (the singer) has performed with King Diamond (the band) as well as with Mercyful Fate. And now, he'll have some help covering the cost of future tours, thanks to a lifelong honorary grant from the Danish Arts Foundation.
As reported by Metal Hammer, the Danish Arts Foundation awards grants to five individuals annually, with each recipient receiving up to 189,000 Danish Krona (approximately $26,000) per year. The grant celebrates "creative artists who have such an artistic production behind them that they have positioned themselves decisively as artists."
King Diamond performs at First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 16, 1988.Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
King Diamond, born Kim Bendix Petersen, is one of the most legendary and visionary figures in heavy metal," wrote the foundation when announcing this year's class of winners. "With his piercing falsetto, theatrical appearance and occult narrative universe, he has created a musical and visual language that is entirely his own….With his music, he put Denmark on the metal world map as early as the 80s."
"King Diamond's music is more than just metal - each album is a chapter in a larger horror opera. He is known for creating conceptual works with overarching stories where fate, death, and the supernatural go hand in hand. It's gothic horror romance in metal form, delivered with technical precision and theatrical grandeur," adds the foundation.
The other winners include author Charlotte Weitze, visual artist Gun Gordillo, poet Lars Skinnebach and filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont.
King Diamond's Health Issues
The world came close to losing King Diamond in November 2010 when he was rushed to a hospital. Doctors determined that he had endured several heart attacks. Diamond's lifelong smoking habit resulted in three of his arteries being blocked, resulting in an emergency procedure.
"I had a triple bypass surgery. It took about seven hours, and for five of those I was actually dead – I was not here," Diamond told Metal Hammer in 2016. "The most horrific experience of my life was waking up in the hospital. I felt like I was in the video Metallica did for 'One' and inside I was begging for them to kill me. I tried pulling the tubes out, so they tied me up!"
Mikkey Dee, Andy LaRocque, King Diamond, Timi Hansen and Michael Denne during the Fatal Portrait Tour on August 11, 1986.Photo by Randy Bachman/Getty Images
In 2011, King was part of Metallica's 30th anniversary concert. "It was the first time I had tried singing after the surgery, during which three metal rods were inserted in my chest," he explained to Metal Hammer in June 2025. "I changed the entire way I sing. The improved lung capacity makes it easier holding long notes."
He also explained that he nearly died "three times" since his surgery ("At one point, my blood pressure was more than three hundred"), which has caused setbacks in his recording career. The last King Diamond album was 2007's Give Me Your Soul…Please. Diamond says he's growing "impatient" with the delays, as he's been writing both for a new King Diamond and a new Mercyful Fate album.
Related: Why Metallica's Most Controversial Album Was a 'Catastrophic Failure'
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