Cliff Burton

American bassist (1962–1986)

  • Fame62.7
  • Momentum4.8
  • Wikipedia94K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1962–1986, aged 24United States
United StatesUnited StatesMusiciansSinger / Musician
  • Wikipedia
    54 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1962–1986
    Aged 24
  • Known for
    Metallica: Cliff 'Em All
    1987
Summary
Updated 2026-06-09

Metallica's bassist from 1982 until a tour bus crash in Sweden killed him at 24, four months after Master of Puppets made the band inescapable.

Biography

About

Clifford Lee Burton played in EZ-Street and Agents of Misfortune before James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich saw him in Los Angeles and asked him to replace Ron McGovney. He recorded Kill 'Em All in 1983 and Ride the Lightning in 1984, then Master of Puppets in 1986—the album that broke Metallica worldwide and is still called one of the greatest metal records ever made. On September 27, 1986, while touring Europe to support it, Burton died when the band's bus crashed in Sweden. He was 24. He received a posthumous writing credit on "To Live Is to Die" from ...And Justice for All, was inducted into th…

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
62.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum4.8
Historical27.4
Source confidence75.0
Completeness85.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence