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Artist
MenzA
12+ albums
Power metalmetalthrash metalMegadeth
about
Nick Menza was born July 23rd 1968 in Munich, Germany. As the son of famed jazz musician Don Menza, Nick began playing drums at the age of two. It was then Nick performed at his first public concert when during the intermission someone sat him down on Jack De Johnette's drums and he proceeded to play. Nick was nurtured around the tutelage of such notables as Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Nick Ceroli, Jeff Porcaro and Louis Bellson. Beginning his professional musical career at the age of 18 drumming in the band Rhodes featuring singer Kelly Rhoads, brother of the late Randy, Nick released his first record with Rhoads called "Into The Future" in Europe. The band hit the road with Foghat for a short time. Moving on to session playing including styles ranging from R&B to Gospel, Funk and Heavy Metal recording with the likes of John Fogerty, Nick caught the attention of then Megadeth drummer Chuck Behler and became his tech. When Megadeth needed a drummer, Nick Menza was asked to join the band. This was in 1989. In 1998, after the Cryptic Writings tour, Nick was fired from Megadeth, presumably because he faked having cancer and not being able to tour. In 2002 Nick released his solo album 'Life after Deth'. For a while in 2004 it seemed that Nick would rejoin Megadeth, but eventually he was replaced with Shawn Drover. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
