In 1990, LaBrie learned that Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The trial went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in the band.

LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but until recently has had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater’s music – 2011’s A Dramatic Turn of Events features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on eight of the twelve albums Dream Theater has released with him in the band, Images and Words, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Dream Theater and The Astonishing containing none of them.

Asked by Prog-Sphere.com what is his favourite Dream Theater song to play live, James said “The favourite song for me is Scarred, I love performing that live. And… well, Octavarium, that whole freakin’ thing.”

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