About David Ellefson
David Ellefson is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist and backing vocalist for heavy metal band Megadeth across two stints. Ellefson initially became an accomplished bassist and honed his songwriting skills while leading several of his own bands through the club scene of North America's Midwest region before relocating to Los Angeles. He was then the bassist of Megadeth from 1983 to their breakup in 2002, and again from 2010 to 2021. Ellefson co-founded the hard rock band the Lucid in 2021 alongside vocalist Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), guitarist Drew Fortier (formerly of Bang Tango), and drummer Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy, Raven). In addition to playing bass guitar in Megadeth and the Lucid, Ellefson had various side projects, which include Temple of Brutality, F5, Killing Machine, and Metal Allegiance, and he is also the current bassist of Metal Church. == Biography == Ellefson is of Norwegian ancestry. === Pre-Megadeth === Ellefson played in a band called Killers, which featured himself on bass, Greg Handevidt on guitar, Brett Frederickson on drums and Jerry Giefer, during Frederickson's senior year of high school. === First tenure with Megadeth and initial departure (1983–2002) === Other than guitarist, vocalist, and primary lyricist Dave Mustaine, Ellefson was the only constant member of Megadeth from early in the band's history in 1983 until the group's dissolution in 2002. Ellefson has maintained that he was a founding member of the band, though Mustaine has disputed the idea in multiple interviews. Mustaine referred to Ellefson as "Dave Junior", which was often shortened to "Junior" after vocalist Lor Kane used the nickname to differentiate between the two Daves.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.