Lars Ulrich (/ˈʊlrɪk/ⓘ;Danish:[ˈlɑːsˈulˀʁek]; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish[a][1][2] musician who is the drummer and a founding member of Americanheavy metal bandMetallica. Along withJames Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the two of them are the only remaining original members of the band.
The son and grandson respectively oftennis playersTorben andEiner Ulrich, he played tennis in his youth and moved toLos Angeles at age 16 to train professionally. However, rather than playing tennis, Ulrich began playing drums. After publishing an advertisement inThe Recycler, Ulrich met Hetfield and formed Metallica.
Early life
Ulrich was born on 26 December 1963[3] into an upper-middle-class family[4] inGentofte, Denmark;[4][5] the son of Lone (née Sylvester-Hvid) and tennis playerTorben Ulrich.[6] The family lived atLundevangsvej 12 inHellerup.[7][8] His paternal grandfather was tennis playerEiner Ulrich. His paternal grandmother, Ulla Meyer, was from a Jewish family; as a result, Ulrich's grandfather was persecuted by theNazis duringWorld War II.[9] SaxophonistDexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather, and he is a childhood friend of musicianNeneh Cherry.[10]
In February 1973, Ulrich's father obtained passes for five of his friends to aDeep Purple concert held in the sameCopenhagen 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 albumFireball 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, aLudwig, from his grandmother around the age of 12 or 13.[11] Ulrich originally intended to follow in his father's footsteps and play tennis, and he moved toNewport Beach, California, in the summer of 1980.[12] Despite being ranked in the top ten tennis players of his age group in Denmark, Ulrich failed to make it into the seven manCorona del Mar High School tennis team, contributing to his decision to focus on music.[13]
In the documentaryAnvil! The Story of Anvil, Ulrich states that witnessing aY&T show was his defining moment in deciding to become a musician. In 1981, he discovered British heavy metal bandDiamond Head. He was excited about the band's style of music after purchasing their debut albumLightning to the Nations, and traveled fromSan Francisco toLondon to see the band perform live at theWoolwich Odeon. Ulrich remains a fan of Diamond Head and would later mix their albumThe Best of Diamond Head.[14] 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.[15]
Career
Metallica
Later in 1981, Ulrich metJames Hetfield inDowney, California, and they formed theheavy metal bandMetallica upon Ulrich securing a spot in a compilation album of local metal bands namedMetal Massacre.[16] He got the band name from a friend, Ron Quintana, who was brainstorming names for a heavy metal fanzine he was creating, and Metallica was one of the options, the other being "Metal Mania". Ulrich encouraged him to choose Metal Mania, and used the name Metallica for himself.[17]
He became known as a pioneer of fast thrashdrum beats, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" fromKill 'Em All, "Fight Fire with Fire" fromRide the Lightning, "Battery" and "Damage Inc." fromMaster 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 thedouble bass drum in the song "One" (...And Justice for All) and "Dyers Eve". Since the release ofMetallica, 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.[18] His voice can be heard in the opening seconds of "Leper Messiah" and he also counts to four in his nativeDanish on the "St. Anger" music video. To unwind after some gigs, Ulrich listens to jazz.[19]
In April 2000, Ulrich became a vocal opponent ofNapster andfile sharing asMetallica filed a lawsuit against the company forcopyright infringement andracketeering. In July 2000, he testified before theSenate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue, including the then-unfinished track "I Disappear" was found to be freely available for download on the service. The case was settled out-of-court, resulting in more than 300,000 Napster users being banned from the service.[20]
Other activities
Ulrich has been an activist in support of expanding access to health care for U.S. citizens, with his family working with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic of San Francisco, California. He raised $32,000 for the group during a celebrity edition of the game showWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?.[21]
Ulrich made his acting debut in theHBO original filmHemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011 and was released on 28 May 2012.[22] He made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the filmGet Him to the Greek, as the partner of the character Jackie Q.[23] In 2012, Ulrich was the focus of the documentary filmMission to Lars. The film by Kate and Will Spicer concerns their journey with their brother Tom, who lives in a care home inDevon, England and who hasFragile X syndrome, to try to meet Ulrich at one of Metallica's 2009 gigs in California.[24]
Ulrich's drumming style has changed throughout his career. During the 1980s, he was known for his fast, aggressive thrash beats. Unlike most drummers, Ulrich does not have aride cymbal in his kit and instead favors theChina cymbal. He said that he does not like the "ding" sound of the former and prefers the loudness of the latter.[26][27] Although, during some live performances on theM72 World Tour (particularly for "Until It Sleeps"), his drum tech places a ride cymbal next to his China cymbal, and removes it before the next song.[28]
Ulrich consciously simplified his style in the 1990s to support the hard rock-oriented songwriting of Metallica's albums during that period.[29][30] He restored some of his earlier thrash metal "signature" techniques for the band's 2008 albumDeath Magnetic[31], as well as their 2016 albumHardwired... to Self-Destruct, which both albums saw a more aggressive and experimental drumming style from Ulrich.[31][32]
Equipment
Ulrich in 2017
Ulrich endorsesTama drums and hardware.[33] He plays a Starclassic Maple series drum kit, with 10" and 12" rack toms, two 16" floor toms and two 22" bass drums.[34] From 2008 to 2016 he used the kit in orange,[35] and theWorldWired Tour featured the similar kit with a Deeper Purple finish.[36][34] During theM72 World Tour, the kit is bright yellow with black hardware.[37] With Tama, Ulrich has designed his signature 14×6.5" steelsnare drum, model LU1465.[38] Ulrich also endorsesZildjian cymbals,[39][40]Remo drumheads,[41] and Ahead drumsticks.[42]
Personal life
Ulrich's first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour,[43] but they divorced in 1990 during the recordings of theBlack album.[44] His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They had two sons before divorcing.[45] Following his divorce from Satenstein, Ulrich dated Danish actressConnie Nielsen from 2004 to 2012. They had one child together.[46] He married American fashion modelJessica Miller in 2015.[47]
Ulrich's sons Myles and Layne play in a band named Taipei Houston. The duo released their debut album in 2022.[48]
Ulrich is a friend ofNoel Gallagher and his bandOasis and claimed Gallagher was his inspiration to give upcocaine in the 2000s.[49] He also has a passion for fine art. In 2002, he sold a painting from his own collection,Self Portrait byJean-Michel Basquiat, 1982. With a pre-sale price estimate of $5 million, it ultimately sold for triple that at Christie's Auction House.[50]
In 2009, Ulrich revealed he suffered fromtinnitus due to many years of touring without the use of any auditory protection.[51]
^Treo, Thomas (26 September 2016)."Lars Ulrich: Jeg flytter hjem hvis ..." (in Danish).Ekstra Bladet. Retrieved6 December 2017.Nej, jeg er hundrede procent dansk statsborger"/"No, I am one hundred percent Danish citizen
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