Besides being an incredible rhythm guitarist and songwriter, James Hetfield is also a unique singer with an unmistakable voice and style. Since the early ’80s, Metallica has become one of the most influential bands of all time and for decades now, has been the biggest Heavy Metal band in the world.
These days, they are the only ones capable of selling out stadiums across the globe. Over the years, Hetfield has had the chance to meet and see many legendary vocalists perform live and once listed the ones he considers the greatest of all time.
The 3 singers James Hetfield said were the best of all time
1 – Ronnie James Dio
The late legendary Ronnie James Dio is the singer James Hetfield once named the greatest of all time. Hetfield even had the chance to meet him and ask what his secret was to keeping his voice in shape. To his surprise, Dio said he didn’t do anything special, just drink a “little glass of wine.”
“When we did the Ronnie Dio tribute record. We did this medley of a bunch of different Dio songs. I just realised how fucking amazing that guy was. It pissed me off, because when I met him I said, ‘Hey, can I hear your warmup tape? What do you do? What’s your secret to all of this?’”
“And he said, ‘Well, I just have a little glass of wine and go out and sing.’ What?! Yeah right! But I don’t think he was BS’ing me. He was just a natural singer and he had a range that had power all the way through it. He just continues to challenge me which is great,” James Hetfield told Music Radar in 2016.
As the Metallica frontman said, the band had the chance to honor Dio on the tribute album “Ronnie James Dio – This is Your Life”, released in 2014. They recorded a medley called “Ronnie Rising Medley”, which had the Rainbow tracks: “A Light In The Black”, “Tarot Woman”, “Stargazer” and “Kill the King”.
Dio was a Metallica fan
Dio was also a fan of Metallica and when asked by Rhapsody to list some of his favorite Metal songs back in 2005, one the tracks mentioned was “Enter Sandman”. “I thought (Metallica’) was a great album, and I thought that song was especially great, I heard them venturing into another space when I heard that song.”
“I was very surprised. It’s just a well-played, perfect song from them at the perfect time. Everyone expected something different — or maybe they expected something the same — and they gave them something very, very different, so that’s a great song,” Ronnie James Dio said.
2 – Layne Staley
The late vocalist Layne Staley was James Hetfield’s pick for second place, which makes perfect sense, since Alice in Chains is his favorite Grunge band. He has praised them a lot over the years and even had the chance to perform with the group.
“I just love hearing those songs. Those songs are awesome and should be heard, you know? They were so unique. So ahead of their time. And out of all the Seattle stuff, that stuff is the most timeless. I wasn’t really close with Layne. But I remember going to see Alice In Chains many times. I remember when we were down in L.A. (In 1991). I left the studio early to see them play on ‘Clash of the Titans’ with Slayer,” James Hetfield told Revolver magazine in 2009.
Layne Staley tragically passed away in 2002 at the age of 34, and the band reformed in 2005 with new singer William DuVall. One year later, during their performance at Rock am Ring in Germany, James Hetfield joined them on stage to perform the classic track “Would?”. He joined them again later that year at a show in San Francisco.
He remained a big fan of the band after William DuVall took over on vocals and praised their first album with him, Black Gives Way to Blue. Not long after, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich interviewed the band to talk about the record. James praised the album, saying: “It took a while, like for a minute, at least in my mind to figure out what that means (The name of their comeback album ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’). (…) (The song) highlighted the album. I mean, it seems like it captures the feel. The song is amazing, is really cool.”
He continued:
“(This album) is classic sounding Alice in Chains, stuff that people have been waiting for a long time, including myself. To hear it and just go ‘aahh’, I got my Alice (new record), feeling good. (…) The first single ‘Check My Brain’, definitely the hookiest of all the songs, I believe. The song is great and deals… Well, the word ‘California’ in the song, it rolls well, is a cool word to say, even. (…) The next one (we will play in the conversation) is ‘Acid Bubble’. That one to me, dude, the riff. I mean, the riff, dude. I have to rewind that about 20 times, first to learn it and then just to hear it. Because it just jumps to your face. That as a guitarist it’s like ‘hello!’ James Hetfield said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
3 – Rob Halford
The third greatest vocalist of all time for James Hetfield is the “Metal God” himself, Rob Halford. Hetfield has always been a huge fan of Judas Priest, one of the bands that influenced him the most. “Judas Priest is everything we wanted to be as a band starting out. If someone asked you to define what Heavy Metal is, that’s one of the bands you’d show them,” he told Billboard in 2014.
He had the chance to share the stage with Rob Halford in 1994, when the singer joined Metallica during a show in Miami to perform Rapid Fire by Judas Priest. A couple of years later, in 2011, Halford performed the track again with the thrash metal band at their 30th anniversary show, and he repeated the performance in 2013 at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards.
More recently, in 2023 he was filmed right in front of the stage at the Power Trip Festival enjoying Judas’ show. “I just kind of realized we’re down in the very front. (We were) looking up — Rob Halford riding out on a motorcycle and there’s fans behind us, looking at us.”
“They’re watching us enjoy that. How cool. I guess that’s pretty cool. We’re fans at the end of the day. We wanted to be in the mix and see it. So, it’s been a fantastic weekend,” James Hetfield said about the show. One of his favorite songs by the band is “Victim of Changes”, from their second album “Sad Wings of Destiny” (1976). Rob is also a big fan of Metallica and has said that he believes they reached a level of success that very few other bands have ever achieved.
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