Robert Ellsworth (born May 3, 1959), best known as Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, is an American singer who is the lead vocalist of New Jersey

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Overkill. He has been the vocalist of Overkill since its inception in 1980, and he and bassist D. D. Verni are the band's only constant members. Ellsworth is a member of the supergroup cover band BPMD. He also previously fronted The Cursed, a now defunct band featuring guitarist Dan Lorenzo, which released the ''Room Full of Sinners'' LP in 2007.

Personal life

In 1998, Ellsworth was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of

nose cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...

and underwent immediate surgery, which successfully removed the tumor. Ellsworth had a

focal seizure Focal seizures (also called partial seizures and localized seizures) are seizures which affect initially only one hemisphere of the brain. The brain is divided into two hemispheres, each consisting of four lobes – the frontal, temporal, parie ...

in Germany in June 2002, right in the middle of the song "Necroshine". He commented: "The beauty of a stroke is that you don't remember. I don't know what it changed, because I forget how it used to be (laughs). Occasionally I piss my pants when somebody turns a microwave on (laughs). I'm riding my motorcycle. I still swim, I work out. The idea is that when you have a problem, there's two ways to look at it – you can live in the problem or you can live through the problem. For me, I just lived through it. I thought very soon afterwards if it had actually killed me, I said 'Wouldn't it be something to die in the middle of an Overkill show?'." Ellsworth was critical of the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

. In a 2010 interview, he was asked if he felt that Obama would spawn any songs about political awareness and replied, "You could probably just do one record and call it 'Liar' (laughs)" He then outlined instances where he believed the party displayed hypocrisy and called the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

"just an awful thing." In 2014, Ellsworth again faced health issues, battling borderline pneumonia during a German tour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellsworth, Bobby 1959 births American heavy metal singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers Living people Singers from New Jersey Overkill (band) members 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers