Lars Ulrich R (/ˈʊlrɪk/; Danish: [lɑːs ˈulˀʁæɡ]; born December 26, 1963) is a Danish drummer. He is also a musician, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He is best known as the drummer and co-founder of the American heavy metal band Metallica. The son of tennis player Torben Ulrich and grandson of tennis player Einer Ulrich, he also played tennis in his youth and moved to Los Angeles at age 16 to train professionally. However, rather than playing tennis, Ulrich began playing the drums. After publishing an advertisement in The Recycler, Ulrich met vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and formed Metallica.\n', '

Ulrich was born into an upper-middle-class family in Gentofte, Denmark; the son of Lone (née Sylvester-Hvid) and professional tennis player Torben Ulrich. His paternal grandfather was professional tennis player Einer Ulrich. His paternal grandmother, Ulla Meyer, was from a Jewish family; as a result, Ulrich\'s grandfather was persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich\'s godfather, and he is a childhood friend of musician Neneh Cherry.\n', '

In February 1973, Ulrich\'s father obtained passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tennis tournaments. When one of the friends could not go, they gave their ticket to the nine-year-old Ulrich, who was mesmerized by the performance and bought the band\'s album Fireball the next day. The concert and album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring the start of his music career.\n', '

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