James Hetfield

Rolling Stone placed him along with bandmate Kirk Hammett as the 23rd greatest guitarist of all time.

James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician.

He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica.

He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and solos both live and in studio.

Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963, in Downey, California, the son of Cynthia Bassett (née Nourse), a light opera singer, and Virgil Lee Hetfield, a truck driver.

He is of English, German, Irish, and Scottish descent.

He has two older half-brothers from his mother's first marriage and one younger sister.

His parents divorced in 1976 when Hetfield was 13.

They were very strict Christian Scientists, and in accordance with their beliefs, they strongly disapproved of medicine or any other medical treatment and remained loyal to their faith, even as Cynthia was dying from cancer.

This upbringing became the inspiration for many of Hetfield's lyrics during his career with Metallica, most notably in the songs "Dyers Eve" and "The God That Failed" from ...And Justice for All and Metallica respectively.

Cynthia died of cancer in February 1980, when Hetfield was 16 years old.

After the death of his mother, Hetfield went to live with his older half-brother David.

Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering an advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler.

Metallica has won nine Grammy Awards and released 11 studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays, and 24 singles.

Hetfield is often regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal rhythm guitar players of all time.

Hetfield attended Downey High School for his freshman and sophomore years and graduated from Brea Olinda High School in 1981.

Hetfield was nine years old when he first began piano lessons, after which he took on his half-brother David's drums and finally, at the age of 14, he began to play guitar with Robert Okner.

He was also in a few bands as a teenager – one being Leather Charm, and another, Obsession.

Hetfield identifies Aerosmith as having been his main musical influence as a child, and has said they were the reason he wanted to play guitar.

In the early days of the band, Metallica experimented with a few different vocal and guitar combinations, essentially creating a setup similar to that of British metal band Diamond Head, another major influence on Hetfield.

Some of the options considered included adding another guitar player, having John Roads play lead guitar, as well as asking John Bush from Armored Saint (who later joined Anthrax) to sing for the band.

The finalized line-up of the band became Hetfield (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Lars Ulrich (drums), Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), and Ron McGovney (bass), who was soon replaced by Cliff Burton.

Hetfield referred to their early sound as power metal.

From 1982 to 1983, Mustaine's overly aggressive behavior and drinking problems led to mounting tensions between himself and Hetfield.

Mustaine once poured beer onto McGovney's bass.

On April 1, 1983, the band recruited lead guitarist Kirk Hammett from the band Exodus, and 10 days later, Hetfield and Ulrich officially fired Mustaine from the band due to his erratic indifference.

Mustaine was sent home on a four-day bus journey from New York to Los Angeles, and went on to form the heavy metal band Megadeth.

Since the recording of Load, Hammett has been recording rhythm guitars as well.

Hetfield occasionally plays guitar solos on songs such as "Nothing Else Matters", "My Friend of Misery", "Just a Bullet Away", the outro solo on "The Outlaw Torn", the second solo on "To Live Is to Die", the first solo on "Suicide and Redemption", the first solo on "Master of Puppets", and the harmonized solo on "Orion".

He also writes the majority of the guitar harmonies, as well as writing the lyrics, vocal melodies, and co-arranging the songs with Ulrich.

The term "thrash metal" was first used when Kerrang journalist Malcolm Dome described the Anthrax song "Metal Thrashing Mad" in an issue of Kerrang in February 1984.

Hetfield was involved in an on-stage accident at Olympic Stadium in Montreal during the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour on August 8, 1992.

During the song "Fade to Black", a pyrotechnic charge reacted.

Hetfield's guitar protected him from the full force of the blast, but it struck his left side, burning his hand, arm, eyebrows, face and hair.

He suffered second and third-degree burns, but was back on stage 17 days later, although his guitar duties were delegated to former guitar tech and Metal Church guitarist John Marshall for four weeks while he made a full recovery.

Hetfield also suffered a broken arm a number of times while skateboarding, which prevented him from playing guitar on stage, and subsequently caused Hetfield's management company, Q Prime, to put a clause in Hetfield's contract forbidding him to ride a skateboard while Metallica was touring.

During a live performance on tour for Metallica, Hetfield experienced complications with his vocals after performing a cover of the Anti-Nowhere League song "So What?", forcing him to take vocal lessons for the first time.

Virgil died in late 1996, during Metallica's Load tour.

In 2009, Hetfield was ranked at No. 8 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists and No. 24 by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time.

In Guitar World's poll, Hetfield was placed as the 19th greatest guitarist of all time, as well as being placed second (along with Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett) in The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists poll of the same magazine.