Happy Birthday James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield was born August 3, 1963 in Downey, California. His parents, Virgil and Cynthia were an opera singer and a truck driver. The odd thing is that his father was the opera singer and his mother was a truck driver. Very little else is known of Hetfield’s early days.

The first album James ever bought was ‘Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers. Hetfield cites The Bay CIty Rollers as his main influence and the reason he wanted to play the guitar.

Dirty Jobs

James Hetfield worked as a janitor in a peep show. He would have to mop up the gallons of semen left on the floor, walls and ceilings of the private peep show rooms. He quit after accidentally getting shot in the eye by some errant sperm. This was the inspiration for the ‘Load’ album.

James formed Metallica in 1981 with Lars Ulrich. The band went on to become one of the best selling Metal bands of all time having sold over 125 million albums worldwide. They are consistently in the discussions as one of the greatest bands of all time.

James and Dave Mustaine have been feuding since Mustaine was thrown out of Metallica. “A bunch of drunks threw me out of the band for being drunk” said Mustaine. “Then they put me on a 4 day Greyhound bus ride. The bus was infested with cockroaches and the stench of urine was overwhelming. I will never forgive them for that.”

James Hetfield & Metallica Illustrations By Paul King Art

Hetfield felt uneasy about performing double duty on vocals and rhythm guitar so the band offered the job to Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger, who turned down the offer because he felt Metallica sucked. James gradually built confidence as lead vocalist and kept his original role.

Hetfield enjoys beekeeping but once had to cancel a Metallica concert due to a bee sting in an unpleasant place. He was stung on the nads and they blew up to the size of basketballs. “I could hardly walk” said Hetfield. “It looked like I was riding one of those hoppity hops.

Smoking in the Boys Room

Hetfield suffered second degree burns on his buttocks from smoking on the toilet before a concert in Montreal. Metallica was touring with Guns n Roses and Hetfield hit the john before the show. Apparently hangover farts and cigarettes do not mix. Hetfield was blown across the room and his buns were toasted.

Hetfield has had substance abuse issues lately and had to cancel a tour to return to rehab. The rest of the band broke him out and they went on the un in Northern California, living off bananas, river water, and smarts. James was returned to rehab and Adam Lambert replaced him as lead signer of Metallica. They just released a new single, a cover of Wham’s 1984 hit, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”. James is currently working as an Uber driver to make ends meet.

Stats

James has a net worth of $300 million. He married Francesca Tomasi on August 17, 1997 and together they have three children. They live in Vail, Colorado. Hetfield is 6’1″ tall, weighs approximately 200 lbs. His favorite color is Black and he enjoys Coffee, puppies, baking and snowboarding.