David Mustaine

Mustaine married Pamela Anne Casselberry in 1991; they have a son, Justis David Mustaine and a daughter, Electra Nicole Mustaine. After two separations, the couple has reconciled.

This famous guitarist holds black belts in Taekwondo and karate and was made a Goodwill Ambassador of the World by the World Taekwondo Federation, in 2007.

Dave Mustaine was born to Emily and John Mustaine, in La Mesa, California. Although his mother was Jewish, he was brought up as a staunch Jehovah's Witness.

By the age of 17, he was peddling drugs to pay for his apartment rent. One of his clients paid for the drugs with albums by AC/DC, Motorhead, and Judas Priest which kindled his appetite for heavy metal music.

In the 1970s, he played the piano and the electric guitar and also became the member of the band, ‘Panic’.

He began his musical career by playing for ‘Panic’; a band member and the sound man were killed in a car crash after the band’s first show.

In 1981, he joined ‘Metallica’ as the band’s lead guitarist. He toured with them and wrote/co-wrote several songs, including, ‘Kill Em All’ and ‘Ride the Lightning’. He was officially fired from the band two years later.

After moving to California, he secured his first real job as a telemarketer. He quit it after he had made enough money to move to an apartment in Hollywood and started the short-lived band, ‘Fallen Angels’.

He formed the band ‘Megadeth’ (based on the name of a song he wrote) with Dave Ellefson and Greg Handenvidt who lived in the apartment below his. 'Lor' Kane lent his voice for a short time as the lead vocal but Mustaine chose to be the lead vocal himself.

In 1984, Megadeth cut a three-song demo and later that year, the band signed a deal with ‘Combat Records’ and began touring.

‘Countdown to Extinction’, released in 1991, debuted at the No. 2 position on the Billboard 200 and featured the band's most commercially successful songs - ‘Symphony of Destruction’, ‘Sweating Bullets’, ‘Skin o' My Teeth’, etc.