David Ellefson


David Ellefson is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist and backing vocalist for thrash 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, guitarist Drew Fortier, and drummer Mike Heller. 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. Ellefson appeared on every album and tour from 1985's record Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! up until 2002's Rude Awakening. Mustaine reformed Megadeth without Ellefson in 2004. In the early days of Megadeth, Ellefson played using his fingers, but as Megadeth progressed and the music became more complex, he tended to prefer playing with a pick, or plectrum. Ellefson was credited with some Megadeth songs, including "Family Tree" from 1994's Youthanasia.

Post-Megadeth career and return (2002–2010)

Ellefson formed F5 following Megadeth's 2002 disbandment. The band featured Ellefson on bass, Dale Steele on vocals, Steve Conley on lead guitar, John Davis on rhythm guitar, and former Megadeth bandmate Jimmy DeGrasso on drums. Their first album, A Drug for all Seasons, was released in 2005. F5 appeared in support for Disturbed in February 2006 and toured the American Mid-West in the summer of 2006. Ellefson also appeared on the new Killing Machine record Metalmorphosis in 2006 alongside DeGrasso; he has also been working with Temple of Brutality. Ellefson is currently a member of the melodic power metal band Avian, which features singer Lance King. He commented in an interview with Alternative-Zine.com that "Megadeth was really just a starting point for me, creatively". Ellefson played five tracks for the Soulfly album Prophecy and also played on one track on Dark Ages. He also worked with underground emcee/Record producer Necro for his album entitled Death Rap.
Ellefson is also a member of a cover band called Hail!. Ellefson, DeGrasso, Tim "Ripper" Owens and Andreas Kisser formed the band in late 2008. The band was, as of April 2009, touring Europe. Ellefson participated in the Christmas Rock project Northern Light Orchestra, he performed bass on many of the 17 tracks produced by rock drummer Ken Mary and also at the live show Christmas in April Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona.
In February 2010, Ellefson received a text message from Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover, saying "if ever there was a time for you and Dave to talk, now is it". Ellefson was invited to rehearse with the band. After the phone call, the news was released that Ellefson would return to the Megadeth lineup. Ellefson was quoted saying "it felt like I never left" after their first rehearsal together.

Second tenure with Megadeth and departure (2010–2021)

In 2013, Ellefson announced that his autobiography, entitled My Life with Deth, would be issued by American publisher Howard Books. The memoir was co-written with author Joel McIver, and features a foreword by Alice Cooper.
file:Megadeth performing in San Antonio, Texas.jpg|thumb|upright|Ellefson performing with Megadeth in 2016
In 2018, it was announced that Ellefson had begun work on More Life with Deth, the follow-up to his 2013 memoir My Life with Deth, to be co-written with Ellefson's business partner, and frequent collaborator, Thom Hazaert. The book was released on July 16, 2019, by UK based Jawbone Press, and features contributions from Alice Cooper, K.K. Downing of Judas Priest, Dan Donegan of Disturbed, Brian Welch of Korn, Mark Slaughter, Ron Keel, Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys, Frank Bello of Anthrax, Chris Adler, Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge, Kiko Loureiro and Dirk Verbeuren of Megadeth, actor Kristian Nairn, and more, plus a foreword by My Life with Deth co-author, and Bass Player Magazine editor Joel McIver.
In late 2018, he confirmed he was considered for the role of Metallica bassist twice: in 1986, after Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident, and again in 2002 when bassist Jason Newsted left the band a year earlier. He was not included in the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster showing musicians auditioning for the band, however, and after Newsted's departure the position was ultimately filled by Robert Trujillo. In 2019, Ellefson said since he rejoined Megadeth, he is a salaried member as opposed to being an "equal owner" with Mustaine in order to retain their friendship.
In 2019 Ellefson was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame, he has since joined the Hall of Fames board of directors.
On May 24, 2021, Dave Mustaine released a statement on behalf of the band that David Ellefson had once again parted ways with Megadeth, following allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage fan. Ellefson denied any wrongdoing, and the other party denied being underage and said explicit videos were released without her consent. On June 17, 2021, Dave Mustaine announced in his weekly Gimme Radio show that he intended to hire a new bassist to rerecord Ellefson's bass tracks for Megadeth's 2022 album The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! Ellefson's parts were overdubbed by Steve Di Giorgio of Testament. Former Megadeth bassist James LoMenzo, who Ellefson replaced in 2010, would rejoin Megadeth in 2022 as Ellefson's full-time replacement.

Post Megadeth projects (2021–present)

Following his departure from Megadeth, Ellefson formed a new band named The Lucid. With Ellefson on bass, the band also consists of drummer Mike Heller, guitarist Drew Fortier, and vocalist Vinnie Dombroski. Between September and October 2021, the band released three singles; "Maggot Wind", "Damned", and "Hair". Their self-titled debut, The Lucid, was released on October 15, 2021.
In January 2023, the Lucid released their sophomore effort, a five-track EP titled Saddle Up and Ride. The EP includes a guest performance from Insane Clown Posse vocalist Violent J on the title track as well as a cover of Faith No More's "Epic" retitled as "Sweet Toof". Between December 2022 and January 2023, four singles from the EP were released; "Saddle Up and Ride", "Mumps", "Risk Machine", and "Sweet Toof".
In 2022, Ellefson formed the death metal band Dieth with Guilherme Miranda on guitar and vocals and Michał Łysejko on drums. The band released their first single, In the Hall of the Hanging Serpents, on July 13, 2022. The band released three more singles and their first album To Hell and Back in 2023. Song Walk With Me Forever from the same album marks Ellefson's first time in his career singing lead vocals.
In 2022, Ellefson formed the band Kings Of Thrash with former Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young. The band plays songs from the first three studio albums of Megadeth live. They had former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland as a guest on their The MEGA Years tour in 2022. In February 2023, the group also played shows with an early guitarist for Megadeth, Greg Handevidt.
In April 2024, Ellefson filled in for bassist D.D. Verni on Overkill's Latin American tour when Verni was unable to perform as he was recovering from shoulder surgery.
On November 21, 2025, it was announced that Ellefson has joined Metal Church as their new bassist and performed on the band's upcoming fourteenth studio album that is set for release in 2026.

Other ventures

Ellefson Music Productions – EMP Label Group

In October 2015 it was announced that Ellefson had launched a record label and production company, Ellefson Music Productions, also known as EMP Label Group, and would release In Your Face, the debut EP from Phoenix-based all-girl pop punk group Doll Skin, in conjunction with Megaforce Records in North America, and Cargo Records in Europe. The EP was released October 30 in North America, and December 18 in Europe, and re-released as an LP titled in Your Face in March 2016 via eOne Distribution. The singles from the LP received airplay on many prominent stations in the US and Europe, including Rodney Bingenheimer's weekly show on influential LA Rock station KROQ.
Since forming in 2015, EMP Label Group has secured distribution from eOne in North America and SPV in Europe, with the roster spread among several imprints including EMP Label Group and EMP Underground. Ellefson also appears on a recurring segment "Mandatory Megadeth" on Hazaert's Dash Radio show. In January 2017, Ellefson opened Ellefson Coffee Co. in his hometown, Jackson, Minn.

Ellefson Films

In May 2019 Ellefson along with business partner Thom Hazaert formed Ellefson Films and are producing the upcoming found footage horror film Dwellers; written, directed by, and starring Drew Fortier with James L. Edwards and Douglas Esper co-starring. On top of producing the project, Ellefson and Hazaert will also be appearing in the film as featured cameos.
A 50 second teaser trailer for the film was released in August 2019.
Ellefson Films held a Q&A panel at Rue Morgue's annual Frightmare in the Falls horror convention to speak about Dwellers, which is intended to be released in 2020 through film festival showings eventually leading to digital and physical distribution. During the panel Ellefson along with Drew Fortier revealed that Dwellers is a gritty found footage horror film with the story being told as a documentary gone severely wrong drawing influences from such films as The Blair Witch Project and C.H.U.D.
In November 2019, the full trailer for Dwellers was released.
The film was released October 12, 2021.