Jason Newsted Biography
Jason Newsted born Jason Curtis Newsted is an American musician who was the bassist of the heavy metal band Metallica from 1986 to 2001. He first performed with the thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam from 1981 to 1986 before joining Metallica to succeed the deceased Cliff Burton.
Newsted performed on the albums …And Justice for All (1988), Metallica (1991), Load (1996), and Reload (1997), the most album appearances among Metallica’s bassists. After leaving Metallica, Newsted was a member of metal bands Echobrain and Voivod, using the pseudonym Jasonic for the latter, and toured with Ozzy Osbourne.
He also fronted the heavy metal band Newsted from 2012 to 2014. Newsted was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Metallica in 2009.
10 Quick Facts About Jason Newsted
Here is a list are 10 facts
- Name: Jason Curtis Newsted
- Age: 59 years old as of 2022
- Birthday: March 4th
- Zodiac Sign: Pisces
- Height: 5 feet 9 inches
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Musician
- Marital Status: Married
- Salary: To be Updated
- Net worth: $5 million
Jason Newsted Age
Jason Curtis Newsted is 59 years old as of 2022. He was born on March 4th, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. He also celebrates his birthday on March 4th every year. Moreover, his birth sign is Pisces.
Jason Newsted Height and Weight
Newsted measures an average standing height. He stands at a height of 5 feet 9 inches tall which is equivalent to 1.75 meters tall. He has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. However, his weight as well as his other body measurements are currently under review and will be updated as soon as it has been made publicly available.
Jason Newsted Early Life and Education
Details regarding his early childhood as well as his educational background are not disclosed at the moment, we will update this section once we get any information about the schools he attended or what she studied in college as well as her early childhood.
Jason Newsted Family, Parents, and Siblings
Curtis Newsted was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. He has two older brothers and a younger sister. He grew up on a farm and at the age of six was given the responsibility of looking after animals. He was tasked with looking after hundreds of chickens and rabbits.
He told author Paul Stenning, “It’s where I learned about life – seeing a baby cow born right in front of your eyes when you’re eight years old is pretty intense…I was from a very strong family and I was raised to be a strong, pure Americana farm boy.”
Newsted’s 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 at 9 years 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 Motörhead, 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.
Jason Newsted Husband, Wife, Dating
Newsted was married in 1988 to Judy Talbert but the couple divorced in 1991 during the recordings of the Black Album. He is currently married to Nicole Leigh Smith, whom he wed in October 2012.
She was his girlfriend of 11 years, to whom he refers as the “love of my life”. While still his girlfriend, it was Nicole, an artist herself, who suggested he try painting. She now encourages Newsted to “move forward with his art”.
Jason Newsted Salary
Details about Jason’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much she makes will be updated as soon as it is available.
Jason Newsted Net Worth
Newsted has an estimated net worth of $5 million dollars as of 2022. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a musician. Through his various sources of income, Jason has been able to accumulate good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Newsted.

Jason Newsted Wiki
- Full Name: Jason Curtis Newsted
- Popular As: Jason Newsted
- Gender: Male
- Occupation / Profession: Musician
- Nationality: American
- Race / Ethnicity: White
- Religion: Not Available
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
Jason Newsted Birthday
- Age: 59 years old as of 2022
- Zodiac Sign: Pisces
- Date of Birth: March 4th, 1963
- Place of Birth: Battle Creek, Michigan, United States
- Birthday: March 4th
Jason Newsted Body Measurements
- Height / How Tall?: 5 feet 9 inches
- Weight: To be Updated
- Eye Color: To be Updated
- Hair Color: Dark Brown
- Shoe Size: Dark Brown
- Dress Size: To be Updated
- Chest Size: To be Updated
- Waist Size: To be Updated
- Hip Size: To be Updated
Jason Newsted Family and Relationship
- Father (Dad): Not Available
- Mother: Not Available
- Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): 3
- Marital Status: Married
- Dating / Girlfriend: Married to Nicole Leigh Smith
- Children: Not Available
Jason Newsted Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth: $5 million
- Salary: Under review
- Source of Income: Musician
Jason Newsted Career
Newsted’s music career started with the thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam, with whom he played bass from 1982 to 1986. He wrote the majority of lyrics for their 1986 album Doomsday for the Deceiver.
Metallica
On September 27, 1986, during the European leg of the Damage, Inc. Tour, Metallica’s bassist Cliff Burton died when the band’s tour bus crashed. Following Burton’s death, the group began a search for a new bassist.
They considered and auditioned over 50 musicians, including Greg Christian of Testament, Gene Gilfen of Blind Illusion, Mel Sanchez of Abattoir, Mike Jastremski of Heathen, Troy Gregory, Les Claypool, David Ellefson of Megadeth, and various others. Newsted was the last in line and ended up winning the part.
Newsted said in a 2015 interview that he learned about Metallica’s plan to open for Ozzy Osbourne’s tour at the time. To his advantage, Newsted strategically procured the band’s setlist, studied it, and presented it to drummer Lars Ulrich saying he knew all these songs, much to Ulrich’s surprise.
Two days later, Metallica invited Newsted back and told to him that he had been chosen to fill the bassist position. The band involved both of Burton’s parents in the decision to choose Newsted. After the band broke the news to Newsted, Burton’s mother hugged him tightly and said, “You are the one. Please, be safe.”
Newsted’s first live performance with Metallica was at the Country Club in Reseda, California, on November 8, 1986. His studio debut with Metallica was on The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited in 1987 in which he was credited as ‘Master J Newkid’ in the liner notes.
This was followed by his first studio album with the band, …And Justice for All (1988), which was criticized for its undermixed bass guitar and thin tone. Newsted claims this was deliberate on the part of Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, although both Ulrich and Hetfield claim they were also disappointed with the production of the album.
They claim that most or all of Newsted’s bass lines closely followed the rhythm guitar lines to the point of being indiscernible from each other. However, Steve Thompson, who mixed the album, claims that Ulrich was to blame for the inaudible bass and unusual drums.
Thompson wanted to be relieved of his mixing duties when Ulrich presented his ideas on the production, but Thompson was not allowed to leave and received the majority of the criticism for the poor sound quality of the record. Nonetheless, the album peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and projected the band to higher success.
Newsted also performed on the self-titled album Metallica (1991), which is the best-selling Metallica album to date, as well as on Load (1996), ReLoad (1997), and Garage Inc (1998). The live concert releases Live Shit: Binge & Purge and Cunning Stunts, produced in 1993 and 1997 respectively, also featured Newsted, as did the live album S&M in 1999. Newsted also played bass on the song “I Disappear” in 2000, his last studio appearance.
During his time with Metallica, Newsted also sang backing vocals on a number of Metallica songs. During tours, beginning in 1989, he would often sing parts of “Creeping Death”, “Whiplash” and “Seek & Destroy”, and he performed the lead in most songs for three shows at the Summer Sanitarium Tour where Hetfield was recovering from injury.
He is known for his bass solo which included parts of “My Friend of Misery” (which Newsted had originally written as an instrumental) and bass parts from his former band, Flotsam, and Jetsam.
Art career
Thanks to Lars Ulrich’s interest in collecting art, Newsted became interested in the work of artists such as Jean Fautrier, Pablo Picasso, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. After leaving Metallica, Newsted took up painting as a hobby. He is a proficient artist and has displayed art around the United States.
While recovering from his shoulder injury in 2006, Newsted found solace through painting. Newsted has turned out a number of large original works of art over the last half a decade. Newsted says that he went “from making crazy and colorful music to making crazy and colorful paintings.” His first gallery show opened on May 4, 2010, at Micaëla Gallery in San Francisco.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction
On April 4, 2009, Newsted was present with his former Metallica bandmates James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, as well as Ray Burton, the father of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. He performed with the band alongside current bassist Robert Trujillo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was his first performance with the band in nearly a decade, their last performance together having taken place during the VH-1 Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in November 2000. Both Newsted and Trujillo performed onstage at the same time, which was a first for the band.
WhoCares
In October 2010 Newsted joined a supergroup with singer Ian Gillan and former keyboardist Jon Lord from Deep Purple, guitarist Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, second guitarist Mikko Lindström from HIM, and drummer Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden. The band, called WhoCares, recorded a charity single titled “Out of My Mind”. The charity single also features a track titled “Holy Water” and is available as a digital download or CD format as of May 6, 2011.
Newsted
In December 2012, Newsted formed his own band called Newsted with drummer Jesus Mendez Jr. and guitarist Jessie Farnsworth, with Staind guitarist Mike Mushok joining later in March 2013. The band released a four-song EP, titled Metal, on January 8, 2013.
Newsted released its debut album entitled Heavy Metal Music on August 6, 2013. In September 2014, the band appeared inactive as its website contained only a brief message that as of September 15, 2014, Jason Newsted was no longer on any social networking sites. As of 2018, the Newsted official website has been deactivated.
He ceased touring with Newsted due to other musical interests as well as the band being unprofitable. He says “It cost me an awful lot of money – hundreds of thousands of dollars to take the Newsted band around to the 22 countries we played.”
Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band
In August 2016, after being out of the public eye for two years, Newsted formed a new acoustic group named Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band and scheduled several performing dates throughout the fall.
A fan-made video showed the band (with Newsted on acoustic guitar and lead vocals) playing the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land Is Your Land.”
Megadeth Rumors
In 2021 following the firing of original bassist David Ellefson, there was speculation of the possibility that Newsted would return to touring and replace him in Megadeth. Shortly after the rumors began circulating, on May 30th, Newsted’s wife Nicole immediately denied any possibility that he would have taken the position.
Despite Newsted claiming he had the physicality to perform again, he was ultimately unwilling to commit to extensive touring once again due to persisting issues with his back and shoulder recovery.
Jason Newsted Quotes
As long as you keep going, keep working, keep creating, the road will keep opening up for you.
Life is too short to waste time doing things that don’t fulfill you. Find what you love and go after it with all your heart.
The best way to honor the past is to create something new and exciting for the future.
The biggest enemy of creativity is self-doubt. You have to believe in yourself and your abilities to make great things happen.
Success is not about the destination, it’s about the journey. Embrace the challenges and learn from them along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jason Newsted
Who is Jason?Jason Newsted born Jason Curtis Newsted is an American musician who was the bassist of the heavy metal band Metallica from 1986 to 2001. He first performed with the thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam from 1981 to 1986 before joining Metallica to succeed the deceased Cliff Burton.
How old is Newsted?Jason Curtis Newsted is 59 years old as of 2022. He was born on March 4th, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. He also celebrates his birthday on March 4th every year. Moreover, his birth sign is Pisces.
How tall is Jason?Newsted measures an average standing height. He stands at a height of 5 feet 9 inches tall which is equivalent to 1.75 meters tall. He has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. However, his weight as well as his other body measurements are currently under review and will be updated as soon as it has been made publicly available.
Is Newsted married?Newsted was married in 1988 to Judy Talbert but the couple divorced in 1991 during the recordings of the Black Album. He is currently married to Nicole Leigh Smith, whom he wed in October 2012.
How much is Jason worth?Newsted has an estimated net worth of $5 million dollars as of 2022. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a musician. Through his various sources of income, Jason has been able to accumulate good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
How much does Newsted make?Details about Jason’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much she makes will be updated as soon as it is available.
Where does Jason live?Details pertaining to where he lives is currently under review and will be updated as soon as it has been made publicly available.
Is Newsted dead or alive?Newsted is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.
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