Early life
Davis was born in Bakersfield, California on January 18, 1971 to Rick Davis and Holly Chavez. His father was a keyboardist for musician Buck Owens, while his mother was a professional actress and dancer. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and was raised by father and stepmother in Bakersfield. Davis suffered severe bouts of asthma as a child, and had survived a near-fatal asthma attack when he was five. He also spoke of having a horrible relationship with his stepmother. Davis has said that his earliest musical inspiration as a child was the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", and his favorite musical group was Duran Duran. He graduated from Highland High School in 1989.
Music career
Davis worked as a mortician's assistant at one time, and was the last member to join the band. James 'Munky' Shaffer and Brian 'Head' Welch discovered him in a bar, initially intending to only stay for a few minutes. Upon seeing Davis performing with his then-band Sexart, however, they were compelled to stay for the whole set. Later Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu called Jonathan over the phone and asked him to join their then band L.A.P.D. In early years, he was known for wearing a variety of normal and customized Adidas tracksuits onstage, which became a kind of "trademark" for all Korn fans.
Korn released their self-titled debut in 1994. It peaked at #72 on the billboard To date they have released eight studio albums, with a ninth in the making. Each of the first eight have achieved Platinum certification, with the exception for their newly released Untitled Korn album. Davis is the older half brother of Adema and now defunct Midnight Panic vocalist, Mark Chavez.
Jonathan's personal issues are a big influence in Korn lyrics. Songs such as "Daddy" from Korn's self-titled album are an example how Davis puts all kinds of feelings like anger and sadness in the creation of songs. The song "Daddy" caused many to assume Rick Davis (Jonathan's father) had raped his son. It's a source of embarrassment for him, though his son has gone on the record in many interviews saying it was written about a family friend who sexually abused him. When a 12-year-old Jonathan tried to turn to his family, he said, they ignored him. (Neither Jonathan nor Rick will say who the person was, though both say it was a woman.)
Davis has married twice, marrying his high school sweetheart, Renee Perez, in 1998 in a Medieval themed ceremony. Together they had a son, Nathan Houseman Davis, but were divorced in 2001. On October 5, 2004, a decade after the release of Korn's first album he married again in Hawaii, this time to former pornstar actress Deven Davis. In 2005 his second child, Pirate Houseman Davis, was born. Davis's third son, Zeppelin Houseman Davis, was born on April 28, 2007.
Davis has been sober from alcohol and other drugs since August 22, 1998. He has stated that he gave them up. On the band's Deuce DVD, Davis's bandmates all speak of how they were proud of him for his sobriety.
Jonathan has stated that Untouchables is his favorite Korn album and that "Do What They Say" and "Hollow Life" are his favorite Korn songs.
In late 2006, Davis was recognized and honored at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, Bakersfield, CA, by Buddy Alan, son of the late Buck Owens. Both Buck Owens and Davis are considered by many among their hometown fans as heroes to the sound of Bakersfield, each having their own pioneer sound, contributing to mainstream music worldwide over years past.
While Korn performed at the Download Festival in 2006, Davis was unable to perform with them, as he had developed a rare auto-immune disorder known as Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. This left him bedridden for days after his band's performance. Assorted other artists also at Download filled in singing for Korn during the performance including M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Matt Heafy of Trivium, and Corey Taylor of Slipknot.
