Top 10 American Metal Musicians of Foreign Descent

The Top Ten
1 Ronnie James Dio - Italian Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona; July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010) was an American heavy metal singer, songwriter and musician. He fronted and/or founded numerous groups including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. He is credited with popularizing the "metal horns" hand gesture ...read more.
2 Tom Araya - Chilean Tomás Enrique "Tom" Araya Díaz is a Chilean American musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer.
3 Lars Ulrich - Danish Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica.
4 Phil Anselmo - Danish, Italian and French Philip Hansen "Phil" Anselmo is an American musician who is best known as the former lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Pantera. He currently is the vocalist of heavy metal bands Down and Superjoint Ritual.

Born Philip Hansen Anselmo.

5 Mike Portnoy - Italian Michael Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. Known for his technical skill as a drummer, Portnoy has won 30 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine.

Both of them are Italian.

6 Kirk Hammett - Filipino Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and songwriter for the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus.

His mother is of Filipino descent and his father was of part Irish ancestry.

7 John Petrucci - Italian John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Compared to his level of skill, John Petrucci is relatively unknown in the modern music industry.

Yeah, Dream Theater are mostly of Italian descent.

8 Mike Mangini - Italian Mike Mangini is an American drummer. Since 2010, he has been a member of progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy.

The surname Mangini is a name for a person who was equally adept and skilled in the use of both hands, i.e. ambidextrous. And guess what - Mike Mangini is an ambidextrous drummer! This is a rare gift.

9 Geoff Tate - German Geoff Tate is a German-born American singer and musician who rose to fame in the 1980s with the progressive metal band Queensrÿche.
10 John Myung - Korean John Ro Myung is an American bassist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater.
The Contenders
11 Joey Belladonna - Italian Joey Belladonna is the American Thrash Metal singer, best known for leading the band Anthrax. He also sings and drums for the cover band Chief Big Way.

He is part Italian American and part Native American.

12 Vinny Appice - Italian Vincent Samson Appice is an American rock drummer of Italian descent and the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice. He is best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and Big Noize.
13 Joey DeMaio - Italian Joey DeMaio is an American bass player and main songwriter for the heavy metal band Manowar which he founded in 1980. He is also the founder and CEO of Magic Circle Music.
14 Charlie Benante - Italian
15 Frank Bello - Italian Francis Charles Joseph "Frank" Bello is an Italian-American musician who plays bass guitar for the thrash metal band Anthrax.

Yeah, Anthrax are pretty Italian, too.

16 Greg Puciato - Italian
17 Ralph Santolla - Italian
18 Dino Cazares - Mexican
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