Lars Ulrich

 ( 1963 Births ) 

In February 1973, Ulrich's father obtained passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tennis tournaments. When one of the friends could not go, they gave their ticket to the nine-year-old Lars, who was mesmerized by the performance and bought the band's album Fireball the next day. The concert and album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring the start of his music career.

As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit, a Ludwig-Musser, from his grandmother around the age of 12 or 13. Ulrich originally intended to follow in his father's footsteps and play tennis, and he moved to Newport Beach, California, in the summer of 1980. Despite being ranked in the top ten tennis players of his age group in Denmark, Ulrich failed to make it into the seven man Corona del Mar High School tennis team, contributing to his decision to focus on music.

In the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Ulrich states that witnessing a Y&T show was his defining moment in deciding to become a musician. In 1981, he discovered British heavy metal band Diamond Head. He was excited about the band's style of music after purchasing their debut album Lightning to the Nations, and traveled from San Francisco to London to see the band perform live at the Woolwich Odeon. Ulrich remains a fan of Diamond Head and would later mix their album The Best of Diamond Head. Upon returning to the U.S., Ulrich placed an advert in a local classifieds newspaper looking for musicians to start a band with him. James Hetfield replied to the ad, and Metallica was formed.

He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash , featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" from Kill 'Em All, "Fight Fire with Fire" from Ride the Lightning, "Battery" and "Damage Inc." from Master of Puppets and "Dyers Eve" from ...And Justice for All. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band, as well as his drum techniques, such as the double bass drum in the song "One" ( ...And Justice for All) and "Dyers Eve". Since the release of Metallica, Ulrich adopted a less focused and simplified style of drumming, and reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece.

Between 1998 and 2002, Ulrich tried running a record label, the Music Company. The company was a joint venture with Metallica accountant Tim Duffy. It failed to catch on and folded in the spring 2002. "Lars Ulrich's Record Label Sees Red, Fades to Black", MTV.com, 23 May 2002; retrieved 11 August 2014. His voice can be heard in the opening seconds of "Leper Messiah" and he also counts to four in his native Danish language on the "St. Anger" music video. To unwind after some gigs, Ulrich listens to jazz.

Ulrich made his acting debut in the HBO original film Hemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011 and was released on 28 May 2012. "HBO Builds Cast For 'Hemingway & Gellhorn'", Deadline.com, 10 March 2011. He made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the film Get Him to the Greek, as the partner of the character Jackie Q. "Metallica's Lars Ulrich has cameo in Get Him to The Greek" Artist Direct, 21 May 2010; retrieved 4 June 2012. In 2012, Ulrich was the focus of the documentary film Mission to Lars. The film by Kate and Will Spicer concerns their journey with their brother Tom, who lives in a care home in Devon, England and who has Fragile X syndrome, to try to meet Ulrich at one of Metallica's 2009 gigs in California.

Having led a campaign for several years to get his longtime favorite band, Deep Purple, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ulrich delivered the induction speech when the band went into the Hall in 2016. In 2017, Ulrich began hosting a show on Apple Music called It's Electric, which has featured conversations with Joan Jett, Noel Gallagher, Dave Grohl and Jerry Cantrell.

Ulrich consciously simplified his style in the 1990s to support the hard rock-oriented songwriting of Metallica's albums during that period. He restored some of his earlier thrash metal "signature" techniques for the band's 2008 album Death Magnetic, as well as their 2016 album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, which both albums saw a more aggressive and experimental drumming style from Ulrich.