Gerard Way’s Wife Lyn-Z Left Scotland at the Age of 2 Became an Artist in the United States

The lead vocalist of “My Chemical Romance,” Gerard Way, is happily married to artist and bass guitarist Lyn-Z, who was born in Scotland.

Gerald Way is a multitalented man. He is a singer, a songwriter — and as a comic book writer, he’s seen his work adapted as a Netflix mini-series, “The Umbrella Academy.” Lyn-Z, Gerard Way’s wife since 2007, matches him in musical and artistic talent.

The lead vocalist of “My Chemical Romance” found his match in the Scottish-born Lyn-Z. Like Gerard, she is also a musician, a respected visual artist, and a devoted mom to the couple’s only child.

Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence at the Reading Festival in 2008 in Reading, England. | Source: Getty Images

Music brought Lyn-Z and Gerard Way together, but she didn’t start as a musician. She became a musician almost by accident when she was invited to audition for a band.

It turned out o be a happy accident that shaped Lyn-Z’s life and gifted her with a rewarding career as a bassist in a rock band, a loving husband, and a beautiful child –and she fulfilled her dream of becoming a visual artist too.

Lyn-Z Is Originally from Scotland

Lyn-Z’s story starts on the other side of the Atlantic in Dunoon, Scotland, where she was born Lindsey Ann Ballato on May 21, 1976. The Ballato family moved to the United States when she was two years old and, from an early age, showed a passion for the arts.

At 17, Lyn-Z left home to enroll in The Pratt Institute in New York, where she studied art and illustration. However, Lyn-Z never graduated and started working as a window display artist and was an assistant to contemporary artist Ron English.

Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence at the House Of Blues Chicago in 2014, in Chicago. | Source: Getty Images

Lyn-Z Is the Bass Player in the Industrial Rock Band

Lyn-Z met the producer of electropunk rock band Mindless Self Indulgence at an art show in 2001, and he invited her to audition. The band had lost its bass player, Vanessa YT, and was looking for a replacement.

Even though she didn’t play bass, Lyn-Z decided to try it. The audition was going badly, and Lyn-Z had to start over three times, but she finally impressed, not by her playing, but with a spectacular fire-breathing trick. She was hired and became a valuable member of the band.

Mindless Self Indulgence has Jimmy Urine as a lead singer, Steve Righ on the guitar, Kitty on drums, and Lyn-Z on the bass guitar. The band was founded in 1995 by Jimmy Urine and his brother Markus Euringer and prided itself on its shock value and pushing the boundaries.

Like fellow punk Iggy Pop, Jimmy Urine is facing misdeeds from his past, and in 2021, a lawsuit was brought against him by an underage girl he allegedly had a relationship with.

Lyn-Z’s Paintings Are Exhibited in Galleries

Taking up music doesn’t mean that Lyn-Z left her art behind. In 2017 she had a joint exhibition entitled “Ghosts for Sale” with Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, which was exceptionally well received.

She also had a showing with visual artist and former lead woman of the alternative rock band Jack Off Jill, Jessicka Addams, in 2016. Her segment of the exhibition delved into Lyn-Z’s anguish and the conflict of her teenage years, and she since turned the concept into a clothing line.

Critics lauded the show, but since then, the two artists seem to have had a falling out. In 2020 Jessicka stated in a tweet:

“Lynz Way is the most dangerous, corrupt, complicit, manipulative, deceptive, person I have ever met. That is a huge statement as I’ve been fooled many times..”

Lyn-Z and Gerard Way Got Married Quickly at the End of the Tour

It’s unclear when Gerard Way and Lyn-Z met, but their bands My Chemical Romance and Mindless Self Indulgence played on the 2007 Projekt Revolution tour, a project created by Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington.

By the end of the tour, on September 3, 2007, Gerard and Lyn-Z tied the knot backstage, with Bennington as one of their 30 or 40 wedding guests. In 2008 Gerard and Lyn-Z announced they were expecting a child.

The couple kept the pregnancy announcement until the last minute and welcomed their daughter Bandit Lee Way on May 27, 2009. Since then, they have done their utmost to keep little Bandit out of the limelight.

Lyn-Z Lost Two of Her Friends

Sadly, Lyn-Z has had to deal with losing two friends in her life. She shared her sorrow on Instagram in 2009 over the death of her friend Lauren. Alongside a photo of herself and her friend in a happy moment, Lyn-Z wrote:

“I held her hand yesterday and today she’s gone. I was able to tell her how much I loved her, how much better my life was because she was in it. I was fortunate to be able to do that. Please don’t wait, you may never get the chance.”

Lauren’s loss wasn’t the first. She lost her best friend, Patrick, in their early twenties. She cherished a drawing he’d given her when she was 18, and her version of it became the inspiration behind her drawings turned clothing line.

Dolly Parton’s Song Changed Lyn-Z

Surprisingly for a member of a punk-rock band, Lyn-Z has revealed that “her song,” the song that changed her life was country icon Dolly Parton’s “Wildflowers.” “Wildflowers” is a song about freedom and finding a place to belong.

Lyn-Z also revealed that she loved Gospel and soul group Staple Singers. The artist recommended that every white person fight racism by reading Layla Saad’s 2020 book, “Me and White Supremacy,” and becoming conscious of the impact of white privilege in the world.

If Dolly Parton’s “Wildflowers” is her favorite song, Lyn-Z’s favorite artist is the Polish painter Aleksandra Waliszewska, who creates eerily disturbing paintings that often feature cats as personages.