Jesse Hughes (musician)

Jesse Hughes
Hughes playing at Steel Blue Oval (2010)
Background information
Birth name	Jesse Everett Hughes
Also known as	The Devil, Boots Electric, J Devil
Born	(1972-09-24) September 24, 1972 (age 44) Greenville, South Carolina, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, garage rock revival, blues rock, hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, flute
Years active	1998-present
Labels	AntAcidAudio, Downtown Records, MapleMusic Recordings (Canada)
Associated acts	Eagles of Death Metal, Desert Sessions, Queens of the Stone Age

Jesse Everett "The Devil" Hughes (born September 24, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal, with whom he has recorded four studio albums.

At age 7, Hughes' mother, Jo Ellen, moved him to Palm Desert, California. In high school, he became friends with Josh Homme (later of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age). They became good friends after Homme stopped a bully from picking on Hughes. Hughes graduated from the Greenville Technical College with a degree in journalism and worked as the manager of a video depot in Palm Desert for several years.

Hughes and Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal in 1998. Hughes credits Homme with saving his life, claiming that during the recording of the second Eagles of Death Metal album Death By Sexy, he fell into serious drug addiction and that Homme not only drove him to rehabilitation, but paid for it as well.

On November 13, 2015, the Bataclan theatre in Paris was attacked by terrorists while Eagles of Death Metal were performing. Hughes escaped with the rest of the band via the backstage, however the band's merchandise manager, Nick Alexander, was killed. The terrorist attacks killed 89 fans at the theatre, and 130 people overall.

Months after the Paris attacks, Hughes spoke out against Muslims in an interview with Gavin McInnes for Taki's Magazine. In the interview, he claimed that Muslims "[celebrated] in the streets during the attack". As a result of these controversial statements, he and his band were banned from two French music tours. He spoke out against Islam and liberal values as the reason why the attack happened. He also speculated about an involvement of the Muslim security personnel. While it was rumored he was refused entry to the venue when he tried to visit on the anniversary of the attack, he and his management claim this was not true, and that he was present outside of the venue but never tried to enter.