Meet Dee Snider: The Voice-Over Artist

Dee Snider

If the narrator of popular rock docuseries “Breaking the Band” sounds familiar, that’s because it’s former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider — who’s parlayed his hard-rockin’ raspy pipes into a successful voiceover career, according to The NY Post.

“I’m blessed with a voice that people like hearing,” says Snider, 65, on the phone from Belize, where he and his wife own a home. “It’s my cadence, or whatever. Many times I’m in a store and someone will come around the aisle and say, ‘I knew it was you!’

“My [voiceover] agent, Lisa Marber, says ‘You’ve got that cigarette smoker/whiskey-drinker voice.’ I never smoke or drink,” he says, laughing. “Screaming all those years and torturing my vocal cords [with Twisted Sister] has given me that rasp, that husky voice, that people want for certain voiceovers.”

That’s on full display in “Breaking the Band,” which airs on Reelz and chronicles the breakups of A-list bands (including The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue, KISS and Fleetwood Mac) amidst the rock ‘n’ roll tropes: worldwide fame, rampant drug use, sex, paranoia and recrimination — until, at the end, band members are barely speaking to each other.


Snider’s voiceover days date back to his first spot for the New York Lottery’s Quick Draw game in 1995. “It was a time when my career was not going well. I was broke,” says Snider, whose appearances on Howard Stern’s radio show (then on K-Rock) ignited the voiceover spark. “Twisted Sister had been over for a number of years and then grunge hit. As a performer I was looking for some other work and started to audition [for voiceovers]. That New York Lottery spot brought in tens of thousands of dollars for a regional ad and I was like, ‘Holy s–t! This is an amazing gig! And it’s been a consistent ever since.”

That led to a new career.

Snider, 65, has narrated “Breaking the Band” since its 2018 premiere; starting June 8, he can be heard in all his whiskey-voiced glory when Reelz will air four back-to-back episodes every Monday starting at 6 p.m.

He says his days with ’80s hair band Twister Sister — famous for teen anthems “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” — helped him land his narrating gig.

“It was the authenticity of having an actual rocker reading the copy, someone who really gets it, even though I’m learning something on every episode,” he says. “The company that produces the show is out of England and they wanted an American voice, someone who could also insert American colloquialisms. I guess I was the right guy for the job.”