Top 10 Metal Musicians with Formal Music Education

Formal Music Education is when you studied at a music school, college or university and got a diploma/degree.

With very rare exceptions, playing (true) metal can't make you rich and famous, you won't become a household name or a glamorous rock star. The strongest motivation in metal comes from dedication, passion, talent, attitude and commitment - these are the most important. But what if a metal musician has all these AND formal music training/degree? What happens is that it simply shows. The band Obscura is the best example: their jaw-dropping virtuosity might have something to do with the formal education of the band members.
The Top Ten
1 Linus Klausenitzer

Obscura bassist blows my mind. I love his playing.
He's got 2 degrees:
1) Music College of Regensburg (Germany)
2) Hamburg Music and Art University (Germany).

2 Rafael Trujillo

Obscura lead guitarist (born 1994) is pretty young but:
1) graduated from Munich Guitar Institute (Germany)

2) he is currently studying Jazz at Amsterdam Conservatorium, University of Arts (The Netherlands).

3 Sebastian Lanser

Obscura drummer graduated from Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria (major - drums, minor - piano)

4 Christian Muenzner

Ex-Obscura lead guitarist graduated from Munich Guitar Institute (Germany) in 2002.

(his family name is originally spelled Münzner).

5 Floor Jansen Floor Jansen is a Dutch singer-songwriter and vocal coach. She is currently vocalist of Nightwish and leader of Revamp.

Dutch Rock Academy, Conservatorium Tilburg (The Netherlands)

6 Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born August 17, 1977), generally known as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish singer-songwriter. She is a soprano and has a vocal range of three octaves. ...read more.
7 Simone Simons Simone Johanna Maria Simons is a Dutch singer-songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica.

She graduated from music school.

8 Dianne Van Giersbergen Dianne van Giersbergen is a Dutch dramatic soprano singer, songwriter, and vocal coach who is well-known for being the frontwoman and founder of the progressive metal band Ex Libris and German symphonic metal band Xandria.

Classical music degree from the ArtEZ School of Music (major - classical singing)

9 Steffen Kummerer Steffen Kummerer (born June 1, 1985) is a German guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He is the leader, main songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist for the progressive technical death metal band Obscura as well as the blackened melodic death metal band Thulcandra.

Obscura leader and mastermind was in a school for musically gifted kids where he studied mainly piano, composition, music theory and music history.
I didn't put him higher because it was formal education but wasn't a college or uni (although he's got a uni degree but it isn't music-related: Master degree in Media Technology Engineering)

10 Vogg
The Contenders
11 Roy Khan Roy Sætre Khantatat, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. Commonly known as Roy Khan or simply Khan, he was the lead vocalist for the symphonic power metal band Kamelot from 1997 to his departure in 2011. He co-wrote most of Kamelot's songs with the band's guitarist and founder Thomas Youngblood during his tenure.

He studied opera for 3 years.

12 James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica.

LightningStrike, what music school, music college or music university he graduated from? As far as I know he attended Downey High School.

13 Randy Rhoads Randall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. He was killed in a plane crash.
14 Beata Polak

Beata Polak is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Poznan at the Department of Instrumental Percussion.
Plays technical thrash metal

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