Vincent Paul Abbott (March 11, 1964 – June 22, 2018) was an American musician best known for being the drummer and co-founder of the
heavy metal band
Pantera. He also co-founded
Damageplan
Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The pair recruited former Diesel ...
in 2003 with his younger brother,
'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott, and was a member of
Hellyeah for 12 years from 2006 until his death in 2018.
Several rock media outlets have ranked Abbott as among the greatest metal drummers of all time.
Early years
Vincent Paul Abbott was born in
Abilene, Texas, on March 11, 1964. His parents were
Jerry, a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
songwriter and producer, and Carolyn Abbott. Abbott originally played the
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
but was directed towards the drums by his father, who said there were no career prospects for a tuba player. His father bought him his first drum kit.
Abbott cited
Peter Criss
George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. Criss established The Ca ...
,
Alex Van Halen
Alexander Arthur Van Halen (; born May 8, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen. The band was formed in 1972 by Alex Van Halen, his younger brother Eddie, David Lee Roth, and Mark S ...
and
Tommy Aldridge
Tommy Aldridge (born August 15, 1950) is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesna ...
as his biggest influences as a drummer.
Career
Pantera
Abbott formed the heavy metal band
Pantera in 1981 with his brother
Darrell Abbott and
Terry Glaze
Terrence Lee Glaze (born November 29, 1964) is an American singer and musician best known for his work with heavy metal band Pantera from 1981 to 1986. He appeared on the band's first three albums during their "glam metal" era as the band's lea ...
on guitars, bassist Tommy D. Bradford, and vocalist Donnie Hart. Upon Hart's departure, Terry Glaze assumed vocal duties. In the summer of 1982, Bradford left the band and was succeeded by
Rex Brown
Rex Robert Brown (born July 27, 1964) is an American musician. He is best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Pantera, from 1982 to their disbandment in 2003. As of their reunion in 2022, he is the band's only constant member.
Brown i ...
. The band released three albums with that lineup.
Pantera recruited vocalist
Phil Anselmo in 1987 and released ''
Power Metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...
'' (album) in 1988. By 1990, the band had been signed to Atco Records and released ''
Cowboys from Hell
''Cowboys from Hell'' is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990 by Atco Records. It marked the band's major label debut and their first collaboration with producer Terry Date. This was also the al ...
'', which proved to be the band's turning point. Over the course of four more studio records, a live album and
a greatest hits compilation, Anselmo and Pantera were nominated for four
best metal performance Grammys for the songs "
I'm Broken
"I'm Broken" is a song by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Pantera from their seventh album, ''Far Beyond Driven''. It was the first single issued from the album. Kerry King said on the Japanese TV show ''Rock Fujiyama'' (featuring gui ...
", "
Suicide Note Pt. I", "
Cemetery Gates
"Cemetery Gates" is a power ballad by American heavy metal band Pantera. The song is the fifth track from the 1990 album ''Cowboys from Hell'', the band's fifth record and second with lead singer Phil Anselmo. The song, the longest in Pantera ...
", and "
Revolution Is My Name
"Revolution Is My Name" is a song by American heavy metal music, heavy metal band Pantera. It was the first single from the band's final album, ''Reinventing the Steel''. It was also included on the band's compilation album ''The Best of Pantera ...
".
In 2001, Anselmo decided to put Pantera on hold because of
back pain
Back pain is pain felt in the back. It may be classified as neck pain (cervical), middle back pain (thoracic), lower back pain (lumbar) or coccydynia (tailbone or sacral pain) based on the segment affected. The lumbar area is the most common ...
while he toured and recorded with his side projects. Pantera's official disbandment took place in 2003 for several reasons, but mainly because of the ongoing dispute between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers, although Rex Brown remained neutral. In the years to follow, animosity would stir up between Abbott and Anselmo although Anselmo had publicly announced that he wished for Abbott to forgive him and reform a friendship. However, Abbott stated that he was not interested in speaking to Anselmo.
Damageplan
After the breakup of Pantera, the Abbott brothers formed the heavy metal band
Damageplan
Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The pair recruited former Diesel ...
with former tattoo artist
Bob Zilla
Robert Kakaha (born March 5, 1970), also known as Bob Zilla, is an American musician who is the bassist for rock band Hush Money. He is best known as the former bassist of heavy metal bands Damageplan and Hellyeah.
Life and career
Kakaha w ...
on bass and former
Halford guitarist
Pat Lachman
Patrick "Pat" Lachman (born in 1970) is an American heavy metal guitarist and vocalist.
Biography
Portland, Oregon native Lachman was a short-lived member of Dr. Mastermind, featuring former Wild Dogs vocalist Matt McCourt, before joining his ...
on lead vocals. Damageplan recorded one album, ''
New Found Power
''New Found Power'' is the only studio album released by heavy metal supergroup Damageplan. The group was formed by brothers "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott (guitar) and "Vinnie Paul" Abbott (drums) after the breakup of their previous band, Pantera.
...
'', which was released on February 10, 2004.
The song "Ashes to Ashes", a collaboration with
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
guitarist/vocalist
Jerry Cantrell
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...
, was not completed in time to be featured on the album,
but it was featured on the soundtrack to the 2004 film ''
The Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...
'', and was a bonus track on the Japanese version of ''New Found Power''.
On December 8, 2004, while on tour to support Damageplan's album, Darrell was
shot and killed along with three others by Nathan Gale at the Alrosa Villa in
Columbus, Ohio. Damageplan disbanded shortly thereafter. In a 2016 interview with
Loudwire, Abbott revealed that there are five unreleased Damageplan tracks that were meant for the band's second album that was set to be released in 2005, but that those tracks have no vocals, only him and Darrell playing on them.
Abbott said that he didn't know what to do with those tracks, but he often thought about having some of Darrell's favorite singers like
Rob Halford of
Judas Priest and
Chris Cornell
Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave ...
of
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...
to record vocals for the songs, but he didn't have time to do it because he was focused on his band Hellyeah.
Hellyeah
After the death of Darrell, Abbott formed Big Vin Records in February 2006 and released ''
Rebel Meets Rebel
''Rebel Meets Rebel'' is a country metal album by David Allan Coe and Pantera members Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown, and Vinnie Paul. The music was written and recorded by the band when the musicians had time aside from their other projects, incl ...
'' and a DVD, ''
Dimevision, Volume 1''. Abbott, along with
Cristina Scabbia
Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia (; born 5 June 1972) is an Italian singer, best known as one of the two vocalists of gothic metal band Lacuna Coil.
Scabbia used to write an advice column in the popular rock magazine ''Revolver'', alongside mus ...
(co-lead vocalist of
Lacuna Coil), wrote a monthly question-and-answer column in ''
Revolver''. Abbott maintained endorsement deals with
ddrum
ddrum is an American based Swedish company, currently a division of Armadillo Enterprises, Inc. that manufactures acoustic drum sets, electronic drum sets, and Electronic Triggers.
Ddrum was originally a brand of Clavia, makers of the Nord ...
,
Sabian cymbals, and
Vic Firth
Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets.
Biography
Vic Firth was born June 2, ...
drumsticks. He previously endorsed
Tama,
Pearl drums
, simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments.
History
Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- o ...
, and Remo drumheads and hardware.
In June 2006, after an 18-month hiatus, Abbott was not sure if he would return to music, but eventually joined the heavy metal
supergroup Hellyeah, which featured vocalist
Chad Gray
Chad Gray (born October 16, 1971) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal bands Mudvayne and Hellyeah.
Career Mudvayne
Gray quit his factory job that paid $40,000 a year to move to Peoria, Illinois and formed Mudv ...
and guitarist
Greg Tribbett
Gregory Arnold Tribbett Jr. (born November 7, 1968) is an American guitarist who is one of the founding members, lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the metal band Mudvayne. He is also the former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the met ...
from
Mudvayne
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...
, guitarist
Tom Maxwell from
Nothingface, and bassist
Bob Zilla
Robert Kakaha (born March 5, 1970), also known as Bob Zilla, is an American musician who is the bassist for rock band Hush Money. He is best known as the former bassist of heavy metal bands Damageplan and Hellyeah.
Life and career
Kakaha w ...
from
Damageplan
Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The pair recruited former Diesel ...
, who was a replacement for original bassist
Jerry Montano. Abbott recorded six studio albums with the band. In May 2019, it was announced that Hellyeah would tour for the first time since Abbott's death to support the final album he recorded with the band, ''
Welcome Home''.
Stone Sour drummer
Roy Mayorga
Roy Mayorga (born April 6, 1970) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of heavy metal bands Hellyeah and Stone Sour and is currently the drummer for the industrial metal band Ministry.
Early life
Mayorga was born in Forest Hi ...
was chosen as Abbott's replacement.
Collaborations
In November 2008, he handpicked several of his most memorable drum parts to demonstrate in a promotional video for the drum company
ddrum
ddrum is an American based Swedish company, currently a division of Armadillo Enterprises, Inc. that manufactures acoustic drum sets, electronic drum sets, and Electronic Triggers.
Ddrum was originally a brand of Clavia, makers of the Nord ...
: "Use My Third Arm", "Primal Concrete Sledge", "13 Steps to Nowhere", "Domination", and "Becoming".
In 2009, he started American Drummer Champions with the aide of friend and influence M. Ludowise, former Downset drummer.
In August 2013, Abbott was featured in a music video for
Black Label Society
Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde. To date, the band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, and three vid ...
's cover of "
Ain't No Sunshine
"Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album '' Just As I Am,'' produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass guitar, Al Jackson Jr. on drums and Stephen Stills on guitar. String arran ...
", appearing alongside a horse-masked
Zakk Wylde
Zachary Phillip Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy meta ...
. Wylde and Abbott were well known to be close friends, with Wylde also having been particularly close with Abbott's brother Darrell before his death in 2004.
For several years, Abbott had been trying to publish a cookbook called ''Drumming up an Appetite with Vinnie Paul''.
Death
On June 22, 2018, Abbott died at his Las Vegas home at the age of 54.
It was later revealed that Abbott had died from "dilated
cardiomyopathy and
coronary artery disease." News of his death was initially released on the official Pantera Facebook page, stating only his association with the bands Pantera, Damageplan, and Hellyeah, along with a statement requesting that the privacy of his family be respected.
Five days before his death, Abbott's final performance took place at The Vinyl at the
Hard Rock Hotel
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ro ...
and Resort in Las Vegas. Following his death, tributes from all over the metal community began pouring in, including members of
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
,
Guns N' Roses,
Metallica,
Megadeth,
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
,
Lamb of God,
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
,
Slipknot,
the Acacia Strain
The Acacia Strain is an American metalcore band originally from Chicopee, Massachusetts. They are currently signed to Rise Records. The band has released ten full-length albums.
History
Forming in 2001, The Acacia Strain was started by h ...
,
In Flames, and many others. He is buried beside his mother, Carolyn, and brother,
Darrell
Darrell is a given name derived from an English surname, which was derived from Norman-French , originally denoting one who came from Airelle in France. There are no longer any towns in France called Airelle, but is the French word for huckleberr ...
, at Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Texas. In late 2020, a protective fence was installed around the Abbott burial ground in an effort to stop vandalism; Abbott remarked, following the defacing of his brother's grave, that the vandalism was "a real disrespectful thing".
Equipment
Abbott used
Tama drums
Tama Drums, (from Japanese: (Kanji), (Kana), read as ) is a brand of drum kits and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with produc ...
during the ''
Cowboys from Hell
''Cowboys from Hell'' is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990 by Atco Records. It marked the band's major label debut and their first collaboration with producer Terry Date. This was also the al ...
'' album and tour from 1990 until 1992. On the ''
Vulgar Display of Power'' and ''
Far Beyond Driven
''Far Beyond Driven'' is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on March 22, 1994 by East West Records. Pantera's fastest-selling album, it peaked at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified Platinum ...
'' albums and tours respectively, he used
Remo
Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumhead
A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched ov ...
drums. Abbott endorsed Remo until ''
The Great Southern Trendkill'', when he changed his endorsement to
Pearl drums
, simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments.
History
Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- o ...
. He endorsed Pearl from 1996 until 2008, when he made his latest change to
ddrum
ddrum is an American based Swedish company, currently a division of Armadillo Enterprises, Inc. that manufactures acoustic drum sets, electronic drum sets, and Electronic Triggers.
Ddrum was originally a brand of Clavia, makers of the Nord ...
.
Abbott used
Sabian cymbals and
Vic Firth
Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets.
Biography
Vic Firth was born June 2, ...
drumsticks throughout his career.
He was also known for using triggered
samples mixed with live-
miced drums during live shows. Starting in 2010, he used a
ddrum
ddrum is an American based Swedish company, currently a division of Armadillo Enterprises, Inc. that manufactures acoustic drum sets, electronic drum sets, and Electronic Triggers.
Ddrum was originally a brand of Clavia, makers of the Nord ...
Vinnie Paul signature series drum kit, with
Evans
Evans may refer to:
People
*Evans (surname)
*List of people with surname Evans
Places United States
*Evans Island, an island of Alaska
*Evans, Colorado
*Evans, Georgia
*Evans County, Georgia
*Evans, New York
*Evans Mills, New York
*Evans City, ...
drum heads, drum hardware, ddrum and
Roland electronics, and Danmar red wood beaters and kick pads.
Discography
Pantera
Hellyeah
Damageplan
* ''
New Found Power
''New Found Power'' is the only studio album released by heavy metal supergroup Damageplan. The group was formed by brothers "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott (guitar) and "Vinnie Paul" Abbott (drums) after the breakup of their previous band, Pantera.
...
'' (2004)
David Allan Coe and Cowboys from Hell
* ''
Rebel Meets Rebel
''Rebel Meets Rebel'' is a country metal album by David Allan Coe and Pantera members Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown, and Vinnie Paul. The music was written and recorded by the band when the musicians had time aside from their other projects, incl ...
'' (2006)
References
External links
*
Official Pantera website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Vinnie
1964 births
2018 deaths
People from Abilene, Texas
Nu metal drummers
Thrash metal musicians
Pantera members
American heavy metal drummers
Musicians from Dallas
Hellyeah members
Damageplan members
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
21st-century American drummers
Deaths from cardiomyopathy
Deaths from coronary artery disease