Early Life
Jon was originally introduced to rock music at the age of three. His older sister introduced Jon to bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Blue Öyster Cult. In 1979, at the age of eleven, Jon attended a Kiss concert with his father. Since then, Jon has said that this was the moment when he realized what he wanted to do for a living.
Jon Schaffer went to a Lutheran school for five years, during which he developed a lot of anger and rebellion, due to the abusive nature of the pastors. On one occasion, one of the pastors shoved a bar of soap down Jon's throat, because the pastor felt threatened due to Jon's refusal to submit, after he couldn't answer Jon's questions about evolution versus creationism. According to Jon, this did have an effect on him forming a band, so that he could "prove these people wrong".
In 1984, at the age of 16, Jon moved to Tampa, Florida. Shortly before he left, one of Jon's childhood friends died in a motorcycle accident, which made Jon even more determined to move to Florida and start a band. While in Tampa, Jon slept in his car until he nearly lost his life in a car accident, after which he got an apartment and a job as a hot mop roofer.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)