James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield is an American musician and songwriter best known for being the cofounder lead vocalistrhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica Hetfield is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and solos both live and in the studio Hetfield cofounded 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 ten studio albums three live albums four extended plays and 24 singles In 2009 Hetfield was ranked at no 8 in Joel McIvers 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 Worlds 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 Rolling Stone placed Hetfield as the 87th greatest guitarist of all time This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by contributors Text is available under the CC BYSA 40 license additional terms may apply