Courtney LaPlante

Courtney LaPlante (born February 26, 1989) is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist of the Canadian heavy metal band Spiritbox. Born in the United States, LaPlante began singing in bands as a teenager after moving to Canada. She first gained success as the lead singer of the now-defunct American metalcore band Iwrestledabearonce. As the successor of the band's original vocalist, LaPlante recorded and performed with the band from 2012 until 2015. She left the group months after the release of her second album with them, Hail Mary.

In 2016, LaPlante returned to Canada with longtime bandmate Mike Stringer, where the two married; they have played together in each of LaPlante's bands. Desiring to have their own creative identity following their experience in Iwrestledabearonce, the pair founded Spiritbox in 2017. They have released two studio albums, Eternal Blue (2021), Tsunami Sea (2025), and several extended plays.

In 2023, Jake Richardson of Loudwire included her in his list of the "10 Best Clean Singers in Metalcore". In 2025, Stephen Andrew Galiher of Vice included her in his list of "4 Metal Vocalists Who Mastered Both Screaming and Singing".

Early life and career beginnings Courtney LaPlante was born on February 26, 1989, in Bangor, Maine. She grew up with her parents as the eldest of six children, The LaPlante family moved to Alabama when Courtney was six. This led to her switching over to the Methodist Church, where she enjoyed singing rock-oriented music as opposed to what she was accustomed to in the Catholic Church. Before fame, LaPlante had regular employments as a barista, a payroll clerk and a receptionist.

LaPlante's musical career began at the age of 18, when she and Jackson formed the metal band Unicron. The group started by playing music inspired by Rage Against the Machine which resulted in a sound similar to their spinoff Audioslave, influenced by the likes of Protest the Hero and Between the Buried and Me.

Career

Iwrestledabearonce (2012–2015)

Steven Bradley, guitarist of the Louisiana-based metalcore band Iwrestledabearonce, announced in 2012 that the band's vocalist Krysta Cameron was pregnant, and had thus abruptly departed from the band. The group was in Dallas, Texas for a show on the 2012 Warped Tour. A Warped Tour representative suggested LaPlante, Though she knew few of the lyrics to the band's songs at first, she would go on to play with the band for the rest of the tour, and joined the band officially later that year. though Ganey's formal departure was never announced. In 2015, with two weeks of tour left, the couple decided to quit the band after completing their touring commitment. No announcement by Iwrestledabearonce was ever made on the couple's departure, and the band has remained inactive since.

Spiritbox (2017–present)

LaPlante and Stringer got married in 2016, and two weeks after the wedding, they began investing their money into recording songs for a new project. The couple based the band in their hometown of Victoria. During the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, LaPlante became the subject of a series of memes when Grammy reporters mistook her for fellow Best Metal Performance nominee, Poppy. Instead of trying to correct the reporters, LaPlante decided to go along with the interview as Poppy. The band released their second full-length album, Tsunami Sea in March 2025.

Musical style LaPlante's goal for her band, Spiritbox, is to have a fluid, variable sound. Deftones, Tool, though Meshuggah is her leading example in heavy metal as a whole. She has also expressed admiration for Gojira, Björk,

LaPlante's first experience with the death growl came from listening to Cannibal Corpse at the age of five, which developed into a marked interest in harsh vocals during her early adolescence while listening to nu metal. At the age of eighteen, LaPlante laid down her screamed vocals for the first time on a breakdown of a song written by her brother. She said that it is necessary to push the boundaries of the metalcore genre by bringing modernity and diversity of vocal styles to stay relevant. LaPlante's singing has received acclaim from music critics. Metal Injection's Max Morin hailed her as "one of the best vocalists in the modern metal scene", and Sam Coare of Kerrang! lauded the "skill, depth and ferocity" of LaPlante's ability to transition between growls and singing. Valorant