Dimebag Darrell

Darrell Lance Abbott (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004), known professionally as Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time.

A son of country music producer Jerry Abbott, Abbott began playing guitar at age 12, and Pantera released its debut album, Metal Magic (1983), when he was 16. Originally a glam metal musician, Abbott went by the stage name Diamond Darrell at the time. Two further albums in the glam metal style followed with Projects in the Jungle (1984) and I Am the Night (1985), before original vocalist Terry Glaze was replaced by Phil Anselmo in 1986 and Power Metal (1988) was released. The band's major-label debut, Cowboys from Hell (1990), introduced a groove metal sound to which Abbott's guitar playing was central. This sound was refined on Vulgar Display of Power (1992), and the group's third major-label record, Far Beyond Driven, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1994.

Tensions within Pantera reduced its output after the release of The Great Southern Trendkill in 1996, and Reinventing the Steel (2000) was the band's final studio album before its acrimonious separation in 2003. Abbott subsequently formed Damageplan with his brother Vinnie Paul and released New Found Power, the band's only album, in 2004. Other works by Abbott included a collaboration with David Allan Coe titled Rebel Meets Rebel (2006) and numerous guest guitar solos for bands such as Anthrax. While on tour with Damageplan, Abbott was shot and killed by Nathan Gale during a performance at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, 2004. Three others were shot and killed before Gale was killed by a police officer.

Abbott was ranked at No. 92 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011, and No. 19 on Louder's list of "The 50 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2018. He placed at No. 5 on Gibson's list of "The Top 10 Metal Guitarists of All Time" in 2015, and the same year was ranked as the most influential metal guitarist of the past 25 years by VH1.

Early life

Darrell Lance Abbott was born in Ennis, Texas, on August 20, 1966, the second son to Carolyn and Jerry Abbott, a country music producer. He had an older brother, Vincent Paul Abbott, born 1964. Abbott's parents divorced in 1979, after seventeen years of marriage, but his family life remained happy. The brothers lived with their mother Carolyn, in a ranch-style house on Monterrey Street in Arlington. Carolyn was supportive of her sons' musical endeavors. Their father Jerry remained in the area after the divorce and Darrell would often go on a bicycle to visit him for guitar lessons "pretty darned regular".

Abbott took up the guitar when he was 12 years old. His first guitar was a Les Paul-style Hondo, which he received along with a Pignose amplifier on his twelfth birthday. Influenced by Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Kiss and Van Halen, he would initially spend time in his room standing in front of a mirror holding the guitar while wearing Ace Frehley-style makeup, though he was unable to play the instrument at the time. Jerry learned Kiss songs on guitar in order to teach Darrell how to play them. Darrell also learned from country musicians who recorded at Jerry's studio, such as Bugs Henderson.

Vinnie had begun playing the drums before Darrell received his first guitar. Darrell had previously tried to play the drums; Vinnie later said: "I just got better than him and wouldn't let him play them anymore." The Abbott brothers' first jam session consisted of six hours of "Smoke on the Water". They took inspiration from Alex and Eddie Van Halen, and Vinnie said in a 2016 interview that he and Darrell were "inseparable" after they began playing music together.

At age 14, Abbott entered a guitar contest at the Agora Ballroom in Dallas, in which Dean Zelinsky, founder of Dean Guitars, was one of the judges. Abbott's mother accompanied him to the club because he was not old enough to enter on his own. He won the competition; Zelinsky recalled that "[Abbott] blew everyone away." Abbott won many other guitar contests in the area, and was eventually asked not to compete and instead judge the competitions so others could win.

Career

Pantera

Early glam metal years

Pantera was formed in 1981. Vinnie was asked to join a band alongside his high school classmates Terry Glaze (guitar), Tommy Bradford (bass) and Donny Hart (vocals). Vinnie accepted the invitation, but on the condition that Darrell would also join the band. Glaze later recalled that they were unsure about this request, as Darrell "wasn't very good" and, two years their junior, "was a little skinny, scrawny dude", but they ultimately agreed. In 1989, Darrell made the same request when Dave Mustaine asked him to join Megadeth. As Mustaine had already recruited drummer Nick Menza and would not hire Vinnie, Darrell decided to stay with Pantera.

By 1982, Hart left the band and was replaced by Glaze on vocals, while Rex Brown took Bradford's place as bassist. Abbott originally shared lead guitar with Glaze, but soon took permanent status as lead guitarist. Glaze said: "[Abbott] just morphed over a six-month period. ... When he came out, he could play, like, 'Eruption' and 'Crazy Train'". Abbott adopted the stage name "Diamond Darrell", in reference to the Kiss song "Black Diamond".

Inspired by Kiss, Van Halen and Judas Priest, Pantera originally had a glam metal style and was image-conscious: the members wore spandex, makeup and hairspray when on stage. The band signed to Metal Magic Records, which was created by "Jerry Eld'n", an alias of Abbott's father Jerry. Jerry also served as the band's manager and producer during this time. Pantera released its first album, Metal Magic, in 1983, when Abbott was 16. A review in the November 1983 issue of Texas-based music magazine Buddy said Abbott's solos "tend to be asymmetrical in that the old theory of musical thought consisting of statements alternating with appropriate responses is ignored and replaced by authoritative delivery of the player's own concept of what should happen".

Pantera released Projects in the Jungle and I Am the Night in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Both albums followed on in the glam metal style, and were comparable to Shout at the Devil-era Mötley Crüe, although I Am the Night had a slightly heavier sound than previous releases. Around this time, the Abbott brothers began listening to bands such as Metallica and Slayer. Darrell was particularly taken by Metallica's Ride the Lightning (1984). Glaze was unhappy with the Abbott brothers' desire to move towards a heavier sound; he later said he "didn't want to go that heavy. I didn't like it as well if the guitar was the main thing, like the Metallica songs." This conflict, along with a contractual dispute, led to his departure in 1986.

Pantera tried several replacement vocalists unsuccessfully during 1986 before discovering Phil Anselmo late that year. This new lineup briefly signed with Gold Mountain Records, but released Power Metal (1988) on Metal Magic. Abbott said Gold Mountain "wanted to change our style and make us sound like Bon Jovi, which is not quite up our alley". Anselmo did not write any of the lyrics for Power Metal, and the band was still in the process of distancing themselves from glam metal, but the album evidenced a stylistic change. A retrospective AllMusic album review by Bradley Torreano said Abbott's "speedy riffs" were one of the "more charming elements" of the band's sound. Brown said in a 1988 interview that "Darrell has always been chunking those riffs out from the start. But now with Phil in the band we've got a chance to make those riffs fully happen instead of having some gay singer over the top of them!"

Development of groove metal

After the release of Power Metal, Pantera formed a relationship with Walter O'Brien and Andy Gould of Concrete Management. As Concrete managed other bands that were signed to Metal Blade Records, Gould contacted Brian Slagel of Metal Blade and asked him to sign Pantera. The $75,000 (equivalent to $184,826 in 2025) requested for the production of a new album was too much for Slagel, who rejected the offer. The Metal Blade rejection was one of many rejections for the band. Pantera eventually attained a major-label deal with Atco Records, after Atco's talent scout Mark Ross was impressed by one of the band's live performances.