Sending birthday cheer to Metallica frontman James Hetfield who turns 57 today.

Born August 3, 1963, Hetfield is an American musician and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for Metallica.

We know Hetfield for his intricate rhythm playing. He sometimes performs lead guitar duties and solos, both live and in the studio. Metallica founded in October 1981.

Metallica has received nine Grammy Awards and dropped ten studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays and 24 singles.

In 2009, Hetfield ranked at no. 8 in Joel McIver’s 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 World‘s poll, Hetfield placed as the 19th greatest guitarist of all time and is ranked second (along with Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett) in The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists poll of the same journal. Rolling Stone placed Hetfield as the 87th greatest guitarist of all time.

In the early days of the band, Metallica experimented with a few different vocals and guitar combinations forming a setup analogous to that of British metal band Diamond Head, another significant influence on Hetfield. Some options considered included adding another guitar player, having John Roads play lead guitar, and asking John Bush from Armored Saint (who later joined Anthrax) to sing for the band.

The finished line-up of the band became Hetfield (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Lars Ulrich (drums), Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), and Ron McGovney (bass) who was replaced by Cliff Burton. Hetfield referred to their early sound as power metal. The term “thrash metal“ was first used when Kerrang journalist Malcolm Dome described the Anthrax song “Metal Thrashing Mad“ in an issue of Kerrang in February 1984.