Clifford Lee Burton
He was born at 9:38 PM on February 10, 1962 in Castro Valley, California. He died in a tragical bus accident in Ljungby, Sweden, 6:15 AM on September 27, 1986. He was only 24 yrs old.
He was the son of Jan and Ray Burton.
Today, many of Metallica's fans don't know him, because he past away before they got the chance to know him. His death remains as the most regretable deaths in the music world.
According to Ross Halfin, Metallica photographer from '85 - '94, Cliff were the bands heart and soul. He was totally uncomprimising. "Cliff ran that band; absolutely nothing happened without his okay. People don't realize how important he was for the band."
Cliff had flavor; he wore bell-bottoms, read H.P. Lovecraft, studied piano, and went to junior college. He drove a VW stationwagon.
Off-stage he was very laid back, a typical Californian.... This was the opposite of what he was on-stage.
How did he die?
Their tour-bus drove of the road, and Cliff felt out of the bus, and the bus then felt over Cliff and he was instantly killed.
"I saw the bus lying right on him. I saw his legs sticking out. I freaked. The bus driver, I recall, was trying to yank the blanket out from under him to use for other people. I just went; don't fucking do that! I already wanted to kill the guy. I don't know if he was drunk or if he had hit some ice. All I knew was, he was driving and Cliff wasn't alive anymore." James Hetfield 1993.
Cliff was cremated, and his ashes were spread at one of his favourite hang-outs, the Maxwell Ranch. In the final ceremony, a group of his closest friends and family formed a circle around Cliff's ashes, and one by one, each person walked towards the middle of the circle, took a handful of his ashes, said something about Cliff, and then threw it to the ground.
