[5] Raised in Belleville, New Jersey, alongside brother Mikey Way, he first began singing publicly in the fourth grade, when he played the role of Peter Pan in a school musical production.

[6] Also, while in elementary school, the glam metal band Bon Jovi was instrumental in forming his love of music[7] and Bruce Springsteen is the first concert that he ever watched.

As he said in an April 2008 Rolling Stone interview, "I got held up with a .357 Magnum, had a gun pointed to my head and put on the floor, execution-style."

[8] At age 16, he appeared on an episode of Sally Jesse Raphael to discuss the controversy surrounding the publicizing of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes in comic books.

[6][10] As teenagers, Gerard and his brother Mikey Way, who later became the bassist of My Chemical Romance, were influenced by artists including Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Danzig, Black Flag, Queen, Pulp, Alkaline Trio, Blur, Morrissey, and The Smiths.

When he was not successful (one band kicked him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he chose to concentrate on his art career.

[14] Way has also contributed vocally to other bands' songs such as Every Time I Die's "Kill the Music", Head Automatica's "Graduation Day", Say Anything's "In Defense of the Genre", and The Oval Portrait's "From My Cold Dead Hands" and "Barnabus Collins Has More Skeletons in His Closet Than Vincent Price".

[15][16][17] In interviews, Way has stated that music and his artwork were effective outlets for his longtime battles against depression, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse.

[20] Further to this he announced a new song, "Action Cat", released later in June as a promotional single to his new album[21][22] and his first solo shows at Reading and Leeds Festivals 2014.

[27] In February and March 2015, Way performed as a solo artist with The Hormones on the main stage of the Australian 2015 Soundwave music festivals, and headlined an additional sideshow in Melbourne.

[29] On Record Store Day 2016, Way released two exclusive, unreleased tracks from Hesitant Alien titled "Don't Try" and "Pinkish".

The song was featured in the trailer for the Netflix television series adaptation of Way's The Umbrella Academy, which was released the same day.

[38] On October 31, 2019, My Chemical Romance announced they would be reuniting with a date in Los Angeles on December 20 and a new merchandise line.

[40][41] On July 8, 2020, Way released an original song titled "Here Comes the End", which features singer Judith Hill and appears on the second season of The Umbrella Academy.

In 2008, Way and musical project Julien-K remixed a version of the song "Sleep When I'm Dead" by The Cure for their EP Hypnagogic States.

[46] A longtime supporter of the British rock band LostAlone, Way is the executive producer of their second studio album I'm a UFO in This City (2012).

[60] Way and fellow artists Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan co-created another comic-book series entitled The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, which Way announced at 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.

[62] On December 21, 2013, Gerard Way stated that he and Gabriel Bá will be working on parts three and four of his comic book series Umbrella Academy beginning in the new year.

[63] In a podcast interview on December 31, 2013, with Chris Thompson from Pop Culture Hound, Way discussed his new Umbrella Academy series in more detail and confirmed he would do two volumes back-to-back, with a couple of flashback issues in-between.

Although the project doesn't have a publisher or an artist at this stage, he is actively working on the story of cats in high school who are discovering their place in the world.

Additionally, Way's brother Mikey appears in the episode, playing the lead singer of a fictional death metal band called Asthma.

[6] In a November 2010 issue of Spin magazine, he said that having become a happier person and feeling more in control, he had been able to enjoy the occasional recreational drink.

[75] On September 3, 2007, after a concert in Colorado, Way married Lyn-Z, bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence, backstage on the final date of the Projekt Revolution tour.

In a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) hosted by Way in October 2014, he stated: "I have always been extremely sensitive to those that have gender identity issues as I feel like I have gone through it as well, if even on a smaller scale.

I have always identified a fair amount with the female gender, and began at a certain point in MCR to express this through my look and performance style.