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Lars Ulrich

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Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Birth Name Lars Ulrich 
Birth Date December 26, 1963
Place of Birth Gentofte, Denmark
Marital Status  Separated - 2 Children
Eyes Green
Hair Brown
Height 5'7" / 1.70 m

Lars Ulrich (born December 26 1963) is the drummer and founder of Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to a middle-upper class family and worked in a gas station and as a paper boy during his childhood and teens. At the age of thirteen he begged his grandmother to buy him his first drum kit. The kit was a Ludwig because he wanted to have the same drum kit as Ian Paice of Deep Purple. A tennis prodigy in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of seventeen, to pursue his training. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper, called The Recycler, he met James Hetfield and created a band — Metallica.

Contents

Inspiration

His father, Torben Ulrich, who was an acclaimed tennis pro from the late 1940s into the early 1980s, was also a musician, playing jazz with such giants as Stan Getz and Miles Davis; another jazz legend, Dexter Gordon, was Ulrich' godfather. He had a jazz club in which Ulrich spent a lot of time as a child. In February of 1973, Torben Ulrich obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Ulrich. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the very next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of rock and roll and later on, heavy metal.

Early Acclaims

Since the 1980s when he co-formed Metallica, Ulrich has been arguably one of the Metal/Rock scene's drumming greats, and has been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band and his trademark drum phrases such as the machine-gun double-bass in the hit song 'One' (...And Justice For All). Ulrich is also known for his fast thrash drum beats featuring on many songs, but in particular during 'Dyers Eve' (...And Justice For All) and Battery (Master of Puppets). Much of this early drum work was pioneering for its time.

Later Years of Metallica

In 2000, the use of Napster was at a peak, and Ulrich was one of the first artists to take direct action against the service. In 2001 he gave a testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue was found to be freely available for download on the service. Despite mass outcry and hysteria from Napster users, none were ever sued for copyright infringement, and the case was settled out-of-court.

In June 2004, Lars failed to appear at the Download Music Festival where Metallica were going to perform, due to a mysterious "medical emergency". In an article by NME.com, he was later quoted as saying: "Somebody asked me if it was true that my wife caught me with two prostitutes and an 8-ball [of cocaine]. But that's actually not what happened. What happened was I caught my wife with two prostitutes and an 8-ball. And she wouldn't fucking let me join them! I got all hot and bothered and I didn't make it." [link]

In 2005 a band called Beatallica (a band that mixed lyrics and riffs from The Beatles and Metallica) received a cease-and-desist order from Sony (who hold a lot of the rights to the music of the Beatles). In support of Beatallica, Ulrich asked Metallica's attorney, Peter Paterno, to help Beatallica. Since then [beatallica.com] has been online.

Personal Life

In 2004 Ulrich separated from Skylar Satenstein, to whom he was married for seven years and had two sons, Myles (b. August 5, 1998) and Layne (b. May 6, 2001). He is currently dating the Danish actress Connie Nielsen.

Equipment

Ulrich is a long time endorsee of both Tama drums and Zildjian cymbals, and is never seen without them onstage. He is believed to be the first Tama endorsee ever to have their own signature drumkit, beginning in 1991 with his white 9-piece Tama Artstar II kit of which only 25 were produced for sale to the general public in 1992. One such kit, which had been played by Ulrich himself at the American Music Awards in January 1993, surfaced on the popular eBay auction website during March 2006 and sold for over $8,500. He has, however, been known to use a mixture of brands when recording in the studio, including Ludwig drums and Sabian cymbals.

Ulrich was also a long time endorsee of Calato Regal Tip wooden sticks, before making the move to Easton Ahead metal alloy drumsticks in 1994 after Metallica's 'Shit Hits The Sheds' US stadium tour. As his reason for moving he cited the problem of wooden sticks easily breaking, especially during outdoor gigs in cold weather. He has had his own signature series of Ahead sticks since about 1995, although he occasionally uses a wooden stick in one hand and an Ahead stick in the other during studio recording, due to the fact that he prefers the sound of wood when striking cymbals.

2003 - Present

Tama Starclassic Maple, Green Sparkle finish, Chrome Hardware

1996 - 2000

Tama Starclassic Maple, Silver Sparkle finish, Chrome Hardware

1994 - 1995

Tama Artstar II Maple, Piano White finish, Custom Black Hardware, Granstar lugs

1991 - 1993

Tama Artstar II Maple, Piano White finish, Custom Black Hardware, Granstar lugs, Also known as the "Tama Artstar Lars Ulrich Signature"

1990

Tama Granstar birch, White finish, Chrome Hardware

1988 - 1989

Tama Granstar Birch, Custom Dark Gray (sometimes quoted as 'Gunsmoke Blue') finish, Custom Black Hardware

1985 - 1987

2x Tama Superstar Mahogany, Mirror Chrome finish, Chrome Hardware

(Lars used these two probably identical kits throughout the 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets' tours. One was based in the US and the other in Europe.)

Tama Artstar, White, Chrome Hardware

1984

Tama Imperialstar, Mirror Chrome Finish, Chrome Hardware

1983

Ludwig, Black Finish, Yamaha Hardware

1982

Camco

External links

 

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