Biography for
Cliff Burton More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 February 1962, Castro Valley, California, USA

Date of Death

27 September 1986, Dörarp, Kronobergs län, Sweden (tour bus accident)

Birth Name

Clifford Lee Burton

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Mini Biography

Clifford Lee Burton was born on February 10th, 1962 in Castro Valley, California, USA. As a youngster he always liked music, listening to genres such as blues, classical, country, and jazz, and he even liked the works of Mozart. He loved all kinds of music, and when he attended college, became educated in music theory. At the age of six, he learned to play his first instrument, the piano. When he became a teenager he learned to play the bass guitar and took lessons from September 1978 to January 1980. He had played in several bands before he joined a band that would later go on to become one of the most popular and successful bands of all-time. In 1982, he played at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles and he was spotted by James Hetfield & Lars Ulrich, who were forming a heavy metal band and were searching for a new bassist with creativity. The two had gone to the Whiskey A-Go-Go under the recommendation of Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records. Hetfield & Ulrich were greatly impressed with Burton's bass playing and asked him to join their band, Metallica. At first, Burton didn't want to join Metallica, but agreed to join if the band was willing to re-locate to San Francisco, which they did. Burton went on to perform on the band's first three albums (Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master Of Puppets), which all became hits and with these three albums, he instantly became a favorite musician amongst many music fans, with his impressive bass-playing, powerful stage presence, and very opinionated and honest personality. Things were looking bright for Burton, but sadly, his life was cut tragically short in 1986. After Metallica had finished touring with Ozzy Osbourne in 1985 they began touring in 1986. On the morning of September 27th, 1986, the bus the band was touring in was driving from Stockholm, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark to perform some more gigs, and it had started sliding on some icy roads, and as the bus was sliding, Burton was thrown out of a bus window and the bus fell on it's side and crushed him. His Metallica band-mates were devastated over Burton's death, as were the band's fans. Burton was a powerful force in Metallica and his loss is seen by many as one of the most tragic losses in the history of music, which it is, because Burton was extremely talented and helped to contribute to some of Metallica's most successful songs. Not only that, but his live performances were also very powerful and he was very friendly and down-to-Earth, very honest and opinionated and always willing to express his thoughts and feelings. Metallica paid tribute to Burton by releasing the home video Cliff 'Em All in 1987 and by using several unused riffs and a poem of his on their song To Live Is To Die, which appeared on their acclaimed 1988 album, ...And Justice For All. Burton may be gone, but he'll never be forgotten, and he will always be remembered by both Metallica and their fans, as well as music fans in general, and his contributions to the music industry are some of the finest that were made.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Trade Mark

Ripped Jeans and T-Shirt

Unique bass style with heavy use of effects and distortion

Rickenbacker bass guitar

Trivia

Former bassist for the heavy metal band Metallica. He worked on their first three albums (Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master of Puppets).

Was killed in a tour bus accident on the morning of September 27th, 1986, when Metallica was touring Europe after they completed a Spring/Summer tour with Ozzy Osbourne in 1985. Jason Newsted replaced Burton as Metallica's new bassist in 1986.

In 1987, Metallica released a home video called Cliff 'Em All, in honor of Burton.

One of the riffs he recorded before he died appeared on the song To Live Is To Die on Metallica's 1988 album, ...And Justice For All.

Metallica's first album, Kill 'Em All, was originally titled Metal Up Your Ass, but the music censors didn't like the title and forced the band to change it. After the band learned of the change, Cliff said "Just kill 'em all, man," and the band members got an idea for the new title, and Metallica's debut album was titled Kill 'Em All, and was released in 1983.

Was a big fan of the band The Misfits. Metallica even covered two Misfits songs (Die, Die My Darling & Last Caress/Green Hell) on their 1998 double cover album, Garage Inc.

Played bass only with his fingers, never used a pick

Metallica's instrumental song Orion (found on their 1986 album, Master Of Puppets) was played at Burton's funeral.

The first instrument he learned to play was the piano.

Personal Quotes

"Why should we change on stage? We're not trying to be something big and fancy, it's just us, doing what we do, we'd like to keep it that way."