Kirk Hammett

Hammett was born on November 18, 1962, in San Francisco, California, and raised in the town of El Sobrante. He is the son of Teofila "Chefela" Hammett (née Oyao) and Dennis L. Hammett (a merchant mariner). His mother is of Filipino, specifically Cebuano, descent and his father was of English, German, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, although he has referred to his father as a "a full-blooded Irishman who liked to drink and liked to scrap. He was always fighting people, even fighting his friends. He would get together with my uncles and it was just one big fucking toxic soup of masculinity, and that’s what I came out of." He attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California. While attending De Anza High School, he met Les Claypool of Primus, and they remain close friends. Hammett has a well-known passion for horror movies that stretches back to the late 1960s. After spraining his arm in a fight with his sister at age five, Hammett's parents placed him in front of the television. It was during this time that he first watched The Day of the Triffids. After that, Hammett found himself drawn to his brother's Frankenstein figures and began spending his milk money on horror magazines. For the better part of the next decade, Hammett dove deep into the horror scene. …

Hammett has been married twice. His first marriage to Rebecca lasted three years, having ended in 1990, during the recording of Metallica. His second marriage to Lani lasted from 1998 to 2020, with Hammett filing for divorce back in 2012. They have two sons. He is currently engaged to Monikka De La Zerda. They have a child together. He resides in Sonoma, California, and Hawaii. In addition to playing guitar and collecting horror memorabilia, Hammett's hobbies include reading comic books and surfing.

Kill as One (demo) (producer)