M. Shadows  Matthew Charles Sanders (born July 31, 1981), known as M. Shadows, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and a founding member of the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. In 2017, he was voted third in the list of Top 25 Greatest Modern Frontmen by Ultimate Guitar. Shadows was born on July 31, 1981 in Fountain Valley, California and raised in Huntington Beach, California. His interest in rock was from listening to bands like Guns N' Roses earlier in life after his father gave him his first cassette and his interest in heavy metal music grew as he became older and began to play the guitar. He links his early musical experience with the piano as a major factor in developing his skills with the guitar and his voice. He attended Huntington Beach High School, where he played for a brief stint in a punk band named "Successful Failure." Following this, Shadows formed Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 along with middle school friends Zacky Vengeance, The Rev, and Matt Wendt. Shadows, like the other members of Avenged Sevenfold, uses a stage name. In an interview, Shadows says that he chose his stage name because he thought of himself as "the darker character in the group". The 'M' is in place of his first name, Matthew, which he did not want to be in his stage name because of the way it sounded. He also added that he and the band took stage names because many other successful musicians that they were influenced by had them (e.g. Slash of Guns N' Roses, Munky of Korn and the members of Slipknot). Shadows also mentioned in another interview their reasoning behind choosing stage names also came from their intention to "annoy" people. Shadows possesses a baritone voice. His vocal style has evolved significantly over the years. On the band's first full-length record, "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet", he featured harsh, metalcore-style growls with limited instances of clean vocals. The release of "Waking the Fallen" in 2003 demonstrated his progression towards melodic vocal lines, but still retained a strong screaming influence. However, the most significant change came with the release of the band's major label debut, "City of Evil", in 2005, which featured minimal background screaming, stronger vocal melodies, and increased emphasis on harmonies and melodic hooks. Shadows turned to Ron Anderson, a vocal coach that had previously worked with Axl Rose and Chris Cornell.