He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan , both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul.
He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time. A son of country music producer Jerry Abbott , Abbott began playing guitar at age 12, and Pantera released its debut album, Metal Magic , when he was Originally a glam metal musician, Abbott went by the stage name Diamond Darrell at the time. Two further albums in the glam metal style followed with Projects in the Jungle and I Am the Night , before original vocalist Terry Glaze was replaced by Phil Anselmo in and Power Metal was released.
The band's major-label debut, Cowboys from Hell , introduced a groove metal sound to which Abbott's guitar playing was central. Tensions within Pantera reduced its output after the release of The Great Southern Trendkill in , and Reinventing the Steel was the band's final studio album before its acrimonious separation in Abbott subsequently formed Damageplan with his brother Vinnie Paul and released New Found Power , the band's only album, in Other works by Abbott included a collaboration with David Allan Coe titled Rebel Meets Rebel and numerous guest guitar solos for bands such as Anthrax.
While on tour with Damageplan, Abbott was shot and killed by a fan during a performance at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, Three others were shot and killed before the perpetrator was killed by a police officer.
Abbott was ranked at No. He placed at No. Abbott's parents divorced in , after seventeen years of marriage, [ 4 ] but his family life remained happy. Abbott took up the guitar when he was 12 years old. His first guitar was a Les Paul -style Hondo , [ 9 ] which he received along with a Pignose amplifier on his twelfth birthday. Vinnie had begun playing the drums before Darrell received his first guitar.
