A few words about Vinnie Paul who is best known as the drummer of "Pantera".
(Photo: Mike Pont)
He was born in Texas on March 11, 1964 as Vincent Paul Abbott.
His father was a producer and writer of country music.
In his youth, he learned to play for Tuba, but very quickly made a switch to drums under the influence of his father who explained to him that there is not much of a career for Tuba players.
He is the older brother of guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who was born on August 20, 1966.
The two formed "Pantera" in 1981. Initially, the band's style ranged from Heavy Metal to Glam Metal, but after singer Phil Anselmo joined the band in 1987, they began to gradually change its style towards Thrash Metal and what would later be defined as Groove Metal.
For more on the band's significant transformation process, read two of the four episodes we wrote in the "Transformers of Metal" series here:
After the disbandment of "Pantera", Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell formed "Damageplan", in 2003.
In December 2004, during a band performance, Vinnie's brother - Dimebag Darrell was shot dead by one of the spectators, in an incident that shocked the metal world.
Following his brother's death, Vinnie Paul was already thinking of giving up on music. He eventually joined the "Hellyeah" supergroup in 2006.
Vinnie Paul was found dead at his home in Las Vegas, on June 22, 2018. He had a heart attack on his sleep.
He was buried next to Dimebag Darrell in Arlington Texas. On his tombstone, there is a quote from a "Hellyeah" song.
During his musical career, Vinnie Paul released 9 studio albums along with "Pantera", one album with "Damageplan" and another 6 albums with "Hellyeah", the last of which was released in September 2019, after his death.
Vinnie Paul also collaborated with quite a few artists, one of the most notable collaborations was with David Allan Coe, as part of the album "Rebel Meets Rebel", which also featured his brother Dimebag Darrell and bassist Rex Brown from "Pantera".