{"id":803233,"date":"2020-01-20T07:16:03","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T14:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=940131"},"modified":"2020-01-20T07:16:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T14:16:03","slug":"metallica-pen-moving-tributes-to-cliff-burtons-late-father-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/metallica-pen-moving-tributes-to-cliff-burtons-late-father-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica Pen Moving Tributes to Cliff Burton\u2019s Late Father Ray"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Metallica<\/a> have expressed a sense <\/span>of loss following the death of Ray Burton, father of the band\u2019s late bassist Cliff Burton, saying in a statement that they felt \u201c<\/span>incredible sorrow.\u201d Ray\u2019s daughter Connie revealed Sunday via Facebook<\/a> that her father died last Wednesday. The metal quartet confirmed his age as 94, and Ray\u2019s stepdaughter Casey stated in a <\/span>tribute video<\/a><\/span> that he died of pneumonia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor 38 years, we were lucky enough to have the energy, wisdom and light of Ray in our lives,\u201d Metallica wrote in a statement on their <\/span>website<\/a><\/span>. \u201cHis eternal youth with his drive, positivity and relentless smile were both incredibly powerful and stirringly honest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They continued, \u201cFrom coast to coast and overseas too, Ray\u2019s beaming face would regularly greet us, offering warmth and anchor to our travels, and when it came to the entire Metallica family, band, crew and fans, he viewed us all as his own. That he has passed away leaves an indefinable feeling of sadness and loss, but equally, we know Ray wouldn\u2019t want us \u2018moping around on our darn keisters\u2019 for too long.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSo, in honor of him, and the kind of man he was, we also want to truly celebrate the 94 years of life Ray gave everyone, knowing in certainty that a glint of his light, wisdom, and energy will always be with us all wherever we go,\u201d they wrote, concluding, \u201cWe love you Ray, rest in peace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s four band members \u2014 singer\/guitarist James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Lars Ulrich \u2014 each wrote individual tributes<\/a> to Ray. Hetfield styled his as a poem. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Ray Burton is a hero of mine\/In earthly form, his end of the line\/He weathered many a difficult storm\/A strong compass, true and gracefully worn,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo his last breath, I\u2019ve not met a more positive man\/And to his son there was not a more loyal fan\/So he leaves the material world to be with his sons and wife\/I feel so very blessed to have had him grace my life\/In earthly form, his end of the line\/Mr. Ray Burton is a hero of mine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the tribute video, Burton\u2019s stepdaughter Casey detailed the illness that ultimately took his life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe got a cold, and I took him to the hospital, and for seven days I stayed by this side hoping that he could recover,\u201d Casey said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really strong guy \u2013 he\u2019s always recovered \u2013 but unfortunately he\u2019s lived on 35 percent of his heart for the last several years. And we knew someday his poor little heart would not be able to keep up, and this time it wasn\u2019t. On Wednesday evening, he passed away surrounded by my family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She noted Ray\u2019s love for Metallica members past and present: \u201cJames, Lars, Kirk, Jason [Newsted] and Rob [Trujillo], and Dave [Mustaine].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Casey also recognized Trujillo, Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin and former Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin for \u201cbeing beside [her] for the last seven days and for giving [her] the support [she] needed in the hospital.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ray Burton remained a fixture in the Metallica family after his son\u2019s tragic death in a bus accident in 1986. He attended many of the band\u2019s concerts over the years, including their September S&M2 performance<\/a> with the San Francisco Symphony, which included Scott Pingel\u2019s upright bass version of Cliff\u2019s solo \u201cAnesthesia (Pulling Teeth).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me he was weeping during my solo,\u201d Pingel told <\/span>Ultimate Classic Rock<\/a><\/em><\/span>. \u201cOf this whole experience, that was the most powerful, hearing it from the father [and] what it meant to him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metallica have expressed a sense of loss following the death of Ray Burton, father of the band\u2019s late bassist Cliff Burton, saying in a statement that they felt \u201cincredible sorrow.\u201d Ray\u2019s daughter Connie revealed Sunday via Facebook that her father died last Wednesday. The metal quartet confirmed his age as 94, and Ray\u2019s stepdaughter Casey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-803233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-25 07:13:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}