Jason Curtis Newsted is an American metal musician, known for being the third bass guitarist with the band Metallica from November 1986 until his departure in January 2001, he was also a part of Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. Joining Metallica in 1986 after Cliff Burtons death, Newsted remained a member until 2001. He continued with his project Echobrain, played with Ozzy Osbourne and joined heavy metal band Voivod. Newsted uses the pseudonym Jasonic, which serves as both his alias in Voivod and the name of his music publishing company. He is also the founder of the Chophouse Records studio and label based in California. From 2012 to 2014 he played in his selftitled band Newsted, for which he provided lead vocals as well as bass.
Jason Curtis Newsted was born into a family of musicians his mother taught piano and one of his brothers plays trumpet. He was exposed to music as a child, listening to the record collections of his older brothers. His first instrument was a guitar, which he started to play atyears old, but he moved to bass at 14, after listening to Gene Simmons of Kiss. Newsted cites Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath as his major influence. He lists Lemmy Kilmister of Motrhead, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, Peter Baltes of Accept, Geddy Lee of Rush, Rob Grange of Ted Nugent and Bill Church of Montrose as other significant influences.
Source: Wikipedia