Synyster Gates is a famous American guitarist best known for his involvement with the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. He is well regarded as one of the best metal guitarists in the world and is known for his prowess in heavy metal and progressive metal genres. Gates is ranked number nine in Guitar World's Best Metal Guitarists of all time.
Gates joined A7X two years after the band's formation and serves as their lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and pianist. Having been voted as the Best Metal Guitarist in the World by Total Guitar in two successive years, he has established himself as a heavyweight in the music industry. Aside from being a great performer, there are many interesting facts left to unravel about him. So, in this biography, let's discuss more about how Gates has managed to handle stardom.
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Father Is A Musician And Composer
The instrumentalist was born Brian Elwin Haner Jr. on July 7, 1981, to American parents Brian Elwin Haner Sr., and Jan Gera. Synyster Gates' father is a musician, comedian, and writer and is famous for being part of the Sham & The Pharaohs. The former's dad and mom divorced in 1990, and Brian Sr. remarried Suzy Haner.
The musician has a good relationship with his siblings as well. He has a biological brother named Brent Haner, who works as a Trinity One Insurance agent, while his half-sister and step-brother are named McKenna Haner and Johnny Gera. McKenna is a musician and owns a line of cosmetics. She is very active on social media and has posted a lot of photos with Synyster on her Instagram.
Synyster Gates has a biological brother, a half-sister and a step-brother. Image Source: McKenna Haner Instagram.
Moreover, Gates is of English, German, Creek, and Irish ancestry. Also, as mentioned above, Synyster Gates' dad was a distinguished musician of his time and served as a multi-instrumental musician and composer for over four decades. He used to tour with American comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. The A7X member has also followed in his father's footsteps, drawing inspiration from him. He later started listening to the music of Dimebag Darrell, Steve Vai, Marty Friedman, John Petrucci, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, and Oingo Boingo, among others.
Brian attended the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. He was a part of the Guitar Institute of Music Program and studied Jazz and classical guitar. Gates also went to the Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California, and the Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach.
Synyster Gates Net Worth - $16 Million
With a career that has stretched over two decades, Synyster has managed to take his career to great heights and is renowned for being a consistent musician. With over 20 singles and seven studio albums released, A7X has made quite an impact in the metal music genre. As an integral part of the band, Gates must also have had his fair share. Hence, Synyster Gates' net worth is $16 million.
A7X released their debut studio album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, in 2001 after signing with the record label Good Life Recordings. Following Gates joining, the band re-released the album with Hopeless Records a year later. The former was also involved in the making of Avenged Sevenfold's first extended play, Warmness of the Soul, in 2001.
Likewise, the band released their second album Waking the Fallen, in August 2003, with the next one, City of Evil, coming out in June 2005 through the Warner Bros. label. That album is one of their most successful ones, which was certified platinum by RIAA and gold by BPI and MC. A7X also released a self-titled fourth album in October 2007.
Moreover, Synyster Gates' band gained massive popularity after their 2013 album Hail to the King, which was their last collaboration with Warner Bros before moving to Capitol Records. It topped the US, Canadian, Finnish, Irish, and UK charts and was certified platinum by MC. On top of that, the heavy metal band released one live album, Live at the Grammy Museum, in 2017, and two compilation albums, Live in the LBC and Diamonds in the Rough, in 2008.
Synyster must have earned well from the aforementioned albums' sales. Also, Gates was ranked among the top 30 best shredders of all time in 2010. He also jointly received the Revolver Golden God Award for Best Guitarist with his bandmate Zacky Vengeance. He and his bandmates have also been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
Synyster has released various merch on his website. The merch listing features hoodies, jackets, caps, and other materials. The price range for the product ranges from $6.50 to above. His limited edition guitars are also available from $599 to $3,599. Now, let's see the prices of some of the products below:
| Product | Price |
| Exclusive Autographed Red Rum Guitar | $1,999 |
| Limited Edition Dark Night Guitar | $3,599 |
| Exclusive Golden Goddess Autographed Guitar | $1,899 |
| Cold Blooded Chiller Bomber | $199.99 |
| Unoriginal Syn Hoodie | $60 |
Table Source: Synyster Gates Official Website
Moreover, the YouTube channel of the band has over 2.4 billion total views and 5.38 million subscribers. Synyster has also launched his own YouTube channel, which boasts 8.49K subscribers. As such, aside from tours, albums and merch sales, his channel must also be benefitting him financially. Hence, Synyster Gates' net worth of $16 million seems well-deserved.
Also, look at the seven richest metal band members in the world.
Married For 12 Years
Synyster not only has a successful musical career, but he is also enjoying a very happy married life as well. Gates married his beautiful spouse Michelle DiBenedetto Haner on May 7, 2010, in Mexico. The latter is the co-owner and the Creative Director at Saint Owen.
Synyster Gates' wife was born on April 7, 1982, in Ojai, Califonia. She attended Huntington Beach High School and now designs clothes for her husband's merch store. The couple met each other when they were at school, but it has not been confirmed when they started dating.
Synyster Gates has been married to his wife for 12 years. Image Source: Synyster Gates Instagram.
Nevertheless, the pair seem to be very happy with each other. The guitarist often posts pictures of them having a great time together. Let's hope they can spend years and years with each other.
Proud Father Of Two
Synyster and Michelle have welcomed two children together. Seven years after their marriage, the Haner duo welcomed their first baby. Synyster Gates' son, Nicolangelo Saint James Haner, was born on May 12, 2017.
Likewise, the couple also shares a little girl together. Synyster Gates' daughter and youngest child, Monroe Saint James Haner, was born on October 14, 2019. The family of four is enjoying a great life. Although the Gates kids are mostly raised away from the media, they must be doing well.
With a successful career as a musician, Synyster has certainly left the stamp in the metal genre as one of the very best in the business. He has won several accolades and still looks like he wants to do more. Also, his family seems quite content and happy with each other. So, let's hope he can keep achieving more and make his family proud.
Trivia And Facts
- Synyster can play gypsy jazz.
- He launched The Synyster Gate School in 2017.
- He has 488K followers on Instagram and 51.9K on Twitter.
