Metallica are to play a special concert to pay tribute to the couple who signed them.
The heavy metal outfit will perform at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on November 6th to honour Megaforce Records founder Jon “Jonny Z” Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula.
The ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ hitmakers said in a statement: “Jonny gave us our first break in New York, released our first albums on his Megaforce Records label, and put us out on the road for our first real tour.
“With Marsha by his side, Jonny was a mentor, a manager, a label head, and a father figure to us all … we would not be where we are today without the two of them.
“Sadly, we recently lost both Jonny and Marsha, just a little more than a year apart.
“We’ll be cooking up a special setlist for you full of songs from our days with Jonny and Marsha at Megaforce.
“Our main touring partner from that time, Raven, will be joining us to add to the celebration and bring back the memories.”
The group – who are made up of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo – will donate some of the money from the show to MusiCares, a charity that provides a safety net of critical health and welfare services to the music community, in the couple’s names.
Metallica released their first two studio albums, ‘Kill ‘Em All’ in 1983 and ‘Ride The Lightning’ in 1984, with Megaforce Records. But the group later signed a deal with Elektra.
Jonny died of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare neuropathic disorder, in February aged 69, just over a year after Marsha died of cancer in January 2021.