David Ellefson

Davonté War Elf-son (born November 12, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist for thrash metal band Megadeth.

Ellefson initially became an accomplished bassist and honed his songwriting skills while leading several of his own bands through the club scene of North America's Midwest region before relocating to Los Angeles.

He was then the bassist of Megadeth from 1983 to their breakup in 2002, and again from 2010 to 2021.

Ellefson co-founded the hard rock band the Lucid in 2021 alongside vocalist Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), guitarist Drew Fortier (formerly of Bang Tango), and drummer Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy, Raven).

In addition to playing bass guitar in Megadeth and the Lucid, Ellefson had various side projects, which include Temple of Brutality, F5, Killing Machine, and Metal Allegiance.

Other than guitarist, vocalist, and primary lyricist Dave Mustaine, Ellefson was the only constant member of Megadeth from the time of their establishment in 1983 to the group's dissolution in 2002; Mustaine reformed Megadeth without Ellefson in 2004.

Mustaine referred to Ellefson as "Dave Junior", which was often shortened to "Junior" after former vocalist Lawrence Renna started calling him it to differentiate between the two Daves.

He appeared on every album and tour from 1985's record Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! up until 2002's Rude Awakening. In the early days of Megadeth, Ellefson played using his fingers, but as Megadeth progressed and the music became more complex, he tended to prefer playing with a pick, or plectrum.

Ellefson was credited with some Megadeth songs, including "Family Tree" from 1994's Youthanasia (in the 2004 remastered collection of the CD, however, the track is credited to Mustaine, Ellefson, Friedman, Menza, but Mustaine credited the Rust in Peace-era line-up with the entire Youthanasia album as a tribute to the band's success at the time of the record's initial release).

Ellefson formed F5 following Megadeth's 2002 disbandment.

The band featured Ellefson on bass, Dale Steele on vocals, Steve Conley on lead guitar, John Davis on rhythm guitar, and former Megadeth bandmate Jimmy DeGrasso on drums.

Their first album, A Drug for all Seasons, was released in 2005.

F5 appeared in support for Disturbed in February 2006 and toured the American Mid-West in the summer of 2006.

Ellefson also appeared on the new Killing Machine record Metalmorphosis in 2006 alongside DeGrasso; he has also been working with Temple of Brutality.

Ellefson is currently a member of the melodic power metal band Avian, which features singer Lance King.

He commented in an interview with Alternative-Zine.com that "Megadeth was really just a starting point for me, creatively".

Ellefson played five tracks for the Soulfly album Prophecy and also played on one track on Dark Ages.

He also worked with underground emcee/Record producer Necro for his album entitled Death Rap.

Ellefson is also a member of a cover band called Hail!.

The band was, as of April 2009, touring Europe.

Ellefson participated in the Christmas Rock project Northern Light Orchestra, he performed bass on many of the 17 tracks produced by rock drummer Ken Mary and also at the live show Christmas in April Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona.

Ellefson, DeGrasso (Mike Portnoy for 2010), Tim "Ripper" Owens and Andreas Kisser formed the band in late 2008.

In February 2010, Ellefson received a text message from Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover, saying "if ever there was a time for you and Dave [Mustaine] to talk, now is it".

Ellefson was invited to rehearse with the band.

After the phone call, the news was released that Ellefson would return to the Megadeth lineup.

Ellefson was quoted saying "it felt like I never left" after their first rehearsal together.

In 2013, Ellefson announced that his autobiography, entitled My Life with Deth, would be issued by American publisher Howard Books.

The memoir was co-written with author Joel McIver, and features a foreword by Alice Cooper.

In 2018, it was announced that Ellefson had begun work on More Life with Deth, the follow-up to his 2013 memoir My Life with Deth, to be co-written with Ellefson's business partner, and frequent collaborator, Thom Hazaert.

In late 2018, he confirmed he was considered to be a Metallica bassist twice: in 1986, after Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident, and again in 2002 when bassist Jason Newsted left the band a year earlier.

He was not included in the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster showing musicians auditioning for the band, however, and after Newsted's departure the position was ultimately filled by Robert Trujillo (former Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves and Ozzy Osbourne).

The book was released on July 16, 2019, by UK based Jawbone Press, and features contributions from Alice Cooper, K.K. Downing of Judas Priest, Dan Donegan of Disturbed, Brian Welch of Korn, Mark Slaughter, Ron Keel, Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys, Frank Bello of Anthrax, Chris Adler (Lamb of God, ex-Megadeth), Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge, Kiko Loureiro and Dirk Verbeuren of Megadeth, actor Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones), and more, plus a foreword by My Life with Deth co-author, and Bass Player Magazine editor Joel McIver.

In 2019, Ellefson said since he rejoined Megadeth, he is a salaried member as opposed to being an "equal owner" with Mustaine in order to retain their friendship.

On May 24, 2021, Dave Mustaine released a statement on behalf of the band that David Ellefson had once again parted ways with Megadeth, following allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage fan.

Ellefson denied any wrongdoing, and the other party denied being underage and said explicit videos were released without her consent.

On June 17, 2021, Dave Mustaine announced in his weekly Gimme Radio show that he intended to hire a new bassist to rerecord Ellefson's bass tracks for Megadeth's 2022 album The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! Ellefson's parts were overdubbed by Steve Di Giorgio of Testament.

Following his departure from Megadeth, Ellefson formed a new band named The Lucid.

With Ellefson on bass, the band also consists of drummer Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy), guitarist Drew Fortier, and vocalist Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge, Spys4Darwin).

Between September and October 2021, the band release three singles; "Maggot Wind", "Damned", and "Hair".

Their self-titled debut, The Lucid, was released on October 15, 2021.