biography.
( yes, i did write this all on my own! keep in mind that this is all true information; the only things in this biography that won't be canon with my kirk is his marriages and his children. )
Kirk Lee Hammett was born on November 18, 1962 in San Francisco, California. At 5 years old, he watched Day of the Triffids and pretty much immediately fell in love with everything horror after that. Not much is known about his childhood, but his mother did say in an interview that Kirk wanted to build rockets growing up, which his father encouraged.
Kirk's parents were a filipino woman named Teofila "Chefela" Oyao and Dennis Hammett, a merchant marine of English, Irish, Scottish and German descent. Kirk has mentioned that his father was abusive, though he remains very close with his mother. Kirk had two siblings, Rick and Jennifer. Rick, his older brother, was the one who inspired him to begin playing guitar, which Kirk soon began doing at 15 years old; one thing that also inspired Kirk to begin playing the guitar was watching a movie about legendary guitar player Jimi Hendrix.
In 1980, at the age of 17 or 18, Kirk formed a band called Exodus with his friends Paul Baloff, Gary Holt, and Tom Hunting. Though, on April 1, 1983, Kirk received a call from the boys of Metallica asking him if he was interested in playing guitar for them, as they were going to fire their lead guitarist at the time, Dave Mustaine. Given that it was April Fool's Day, Kirk thought it was a prank. When he realized it wasn't, though, he agreed, and he flew out to New York to meet up with them. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has said in interviews that when they got to the guitar solo while playing their song Seek and Destroy, about 10 seconds into the solo, he and vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield just gave each other a look and immediately knew that Kirk was going to be their new lead guitarist. Though, they never officially told him that he got the job; he just assumed he did when they started working on their debut album, titled Kill 'Em All, with him. The band released two more albums, Ride the Lightning in 1984, in which Hammett got 4 writing credits, and Master of Puppets 1986, in which Hammett received 5 writing credits; though, on September 27, 1986, their tour bus crashed in Dörarp, Sweden, killing bassist Cliff Burton. Soon after, former Flotsam and Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted became the new Metallica bassist, and with Newsted, Metallica released 1988's ...And Justice for All, in which Hammett received 4 writing credits. On December 3, 1987, Hammett married his girlfriend of 5 years, Rebecca Kestelyn; they divorced in 1990.
In 1991, Metallica released their incredibly famous self-titled album - it's also called the Black Album - in which Hammett received 4 writing credits. Although hardcore fans do thing that they sold out when they released that album, it's the most famous metal record in history; it's sold 16.4 million copies, and people are still buying it today. On April 20, 1992, Metallica opened for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and they went on to take a two year long tour before taking a one year break from each other. While on the tour, though, in 1992, they did a few shows with the very famous band Guns n Roses. At one show in Montreal, Metallica vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield accidentally got burned by one of the stage flames, and Metallica couldn't continue their performance. Guns n Roses went on stage, but they soon went off stage as well due to singer Axl Rose's microphone complaints. The fans were really mad, and they started a riot at the stadium. During Metallica's year long break in 1994, Kirk actually went to art school; after the break, they all came back together to create their album Load, in which Hammett received 7 writing credits. The album was not received well by fans, but nonetheless, Metallica released their 1997 album Reload, in which Hammett received 6 writing credits. On January 31, 1998, Hammett married his girlfriend of one year, Lani Gruttadauro. Later that same year, Hammett suffered from appendicitis while on tour with Metallica in England. He went to a hospital in London, quickly recovered, and flew back out to San Francisco a few weeks later. In 2003, Metallica released St. Anger, in which Hammett received writing credits for all 11 songs. After the 2001 departure of Jason Newsted, Metallica auditioned many bassists over 2 years and finally selected former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo. On September 29, 2006, Kirk had a son named Angel Ray Kaela Hammett. Then, on June 28, 2008, he had a son named Vincenzo Kainalu Hammett; later that same year, Metallica released Death Magnetic, in which Hammett received writing credits for all 10 songs. In 2016, Metallica released Hardwired... To Self-Destruct, though Hammett did not receive any writing credits on that album. It is said he wasn't involved in the writing for that album because he'd started heavily drinking in 2012, though he was fortunately able to get clean in 2015.
Over the years, Kirk has been collecting horror memorabilia; he now has a collection in a museum in Colombia, South Carolina. Hammett has also been doing some shows with his side project band, the Wedding Band, which metallica bassist Robert Trujillo is also involved in. Way back in 1985, Kirk also had a side project: a joke punk rock supergroup called Spastik Children; it ran until 1990, and Kirk played bass for the joke band. Kirk has lived in Hawaii for about 14 years now.
