DISTURBED Allows Deaf 'Dancing With The Stars' Contestant To Use Band's Cover Of 'The Sound Of Silence'

May 23, 2016

Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd's freestyle dance on Monday night's (May 23) "Dancing With The Stars" was set to DISTURBED's take on SIMON & GARFUNKEL's "The Sound Of Silence". The pair used the track after Nyle, who is deaf, penned a letter to the band asking their permission to incorporate the song into the routine.

"Nyle emailed us to ask for our permission to use our version of the song that has inspired him and hopes to convey an even bigger message to help people better understand the history of the deaf community," DISTURBED wrote in a Facebook post. "Tonight is the big night so help spread the word and cast your votes for Nyle! This is not only a great honor for a hard rock/metal band like us to be asked to be part of the biggest night of their show but for us to play a role in raising awareness for Nyle's cause."

Nyle's touching letter to DISTURBED was shared on the band's Facebook page and can be found below.

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman told Philadelphia radio station 93.3 WMMR that the band has been amazed by the response to its version of "The Sound Of Silence". Draiman explained: "We're pretty blown away — and surprised, to be honest — by the amount of positivity that has surrounded the cover. Because it was definitely a left turn, and it was something that, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have intended to go to, stylistically, on my own."

Draiman said that it took him three hours to record the vocals for the song — the longest vocal session of his career — and recalled hearing it three days later. He explained, "[I] was kind of tearing up listening to it, because it had been so long since I have allowed myself to go to that place vocally, and hearing it, and hearing it come out as well as I thought it did was not just gratifying, but like having a weight lifted off me."

"The Sound Of Silence" is taken from DISTURBED's sixth studio album, "Immortalized", which was released last August.

The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, making it DISTURBED's fifth effort in a row to enter the chart at Number One, a feat shared only with METALLICA and DAVE MATTHEWS BAND.

DISTURBED kicked off a North American tour — its first in more than four years — on February 10 in Fargo.

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