Jason Newsted

Jason Newsted is best known as the bassist with heavy metal legends Metallica. He was part of the band for 14 years, hired after original bassist Cliff Burton died in a road accident.

Prior to Metallica, Newsted was bassist for the thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam for their first album, Doomsday for the Receiver. He auditioned and won the role of bassist for Metallica after Cliff Burton's death in 1986.

Career with Metallica

His first appearance with the band on record was the 5 track Garage Days Re-Revisited, the $5.98 EP, followed by Metallica's fourth studio album, ...And Justice For All in 1988. However, Newsted's contribution to the album was criticised, as was the overall sound quality.

He played on the 1991 self-titled album Metallica, which propelled the band to mainstream success and remained with the band for subsequent albums such as Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc. and S&M.

In 2000, Newsted helped found a side-project called Echobrain, which caused tensions with his Metallica bandmates. James Hetfield was said to have commented about Echobrain's intention to release an album in an interview "Where would it end? Does he start touring with it? Does he sell shirts? Is it his band?"

Newsted quit the band on 17 January 2001 citing "private and personal reasons and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love."

Post-Metallica career

Following his departure from Metallica, Newsted joined the thrash metal band Voivod in 2002 and at the same time was a member of Ozzy Osbourne's live band for Ozzfest 2003.It looked likely that Newsted would join Ozzy for a studio album, but he left the band at the end of Ozzfest in order to focus on his work with Voivod.

He recorded two albums with Voivod before leaving to work on the reality TV series, Rock Star: Supernova with Tommy Lee and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke.

Following an accident trying to catch a falling bass head in October 2006, Newsted hasn't been active, although Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett claims Newsted will perform with the band at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on 4 April 2009.

Useful Links

• Jason Newsted profile on MetallicaWorld.co.uk
• Jason Newsted fansite