GERARD ARTHUR WAY (born April 9, 1977) hails from Newark, New Jersey. He is front man and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance, in which his younger brother Mikey Way plays bass.

Gerard is of Scottish and Italian descent. He first began singing in fourth grade, when he played the part of Peter Pan in a school production of the play. His grandmother Elena Lee Rush (known to friends as Helen), taught him to sing and made his costume, including traditional green tights. After this Way "turned his back" on singing, saying, "Well, I don't want to be this weird singer kid, I'm into other things like comics and Iron Maiden". He then decided to pursue graphic arts. Way had always been interested in drawing and comics because his childhood house was a "dark and dingy gothic-looking" place in the town of Belleville, New Jersey. He says that as a child, you couldn't really go out and play, so he made up imaginary worlds in his head, which led on to his love for artwork. As a child, Gerard came to the revelation that everyone he cares about will eventually die, and that he will die alone. This has led to his current obsession with the idea of death.

After graduating from Belleville High School in 1995, he attended School of Visual Arts in New York City graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. In 2001, Way says he tried to sell an animated television series to Cartoon Network called 'The Breakfast Monkey'. He maintains that Cartoon Network turned down the pitch because it was too similar to 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force', then already in production.

Gerard was working in the comic industry in New York when the September 11th attacks occurred It is stated on the 'Life on the Murder Scene' DVD that Gerard witnessed people jumping from the Towers during the attack. This event inspired him to do something with his life - "I literally said to myself, ‘Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference!'", and so he (with former drummer Matt Pelissier) formed the band My Chemical Romance.

The band's first song "Skylines and Turnstiles" was inspired by Way's experience on 9/11. The band's name, suggested by Mikey Way, came from a book written by Irvine Welsh, entitled 'Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance'. Gerard brought together Ray Toro, Matt Pelissier (later replaced by Bob Bryar), Frank Iero, and his brother Mikey to play gigs along the East Coast. The band released its first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002 under the New Jersey label Eyeball Records. Music turned out to be an effective means for Way to deal with his long-time battle against depression, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse, leading to the creation of deeply personal songs such as "Helena", written after the death of his grandmother.

Despite his success as a musician, Way has continued to draw: he produced the artwork for the band's second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and has designed merchandise for My Chemical Romance and other bands. He has created artwork to raise money for causes such as the fight against breast cancer. Other charity work includes collaborating with The Used lead singer Bert McCracken to release a cover of the Queen and David Bowie single "Under Pressure", on iTunes for Tsunami Relief charity.

Most recently, Gerard has written a comic book, called Umbrella Academy. With artwork by Gabriel Bá, James Jean, and Dave Stewart, the limited series was first released on Free Comic Book Day 2007 (May 05), and it set to have a limited release by Dark Horse Comics in September 2007.

The Umbrella Academy series tells the story of seven extraordinary, maladjusted individuals and their plight to protect the planet. The series begins when the Umbrella Academy, now grown-up and disbanded, learn their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, aka The Monocle, has died. When the former team members become aware of a new world-ending threat, they must put their personal and inter-personal problems aside and unite the super-group once more to do what they were born to do, save the world.

- Sources from wikipedia.org