Ray Burton Passes away at 94

Ray Burton, father of the late METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton, passed away on Wednesday, January 15 at the age of 94.

Ray's death was confirmed by his daughter — and Cliff's sister — Connie, who wrote in a social media post earlier today: "To let you all know that my Dad died last Wednesday. Rest in peace Dad."

Ray died just 15 days shy of his 95th birthday.

Cliff joined METALLICA in 1982 and performed on the band's first three studio albums: "Kill 'Em All", "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets". He also received a posthumous writing credit for the song "To Live Is to Die" from the band's fourth studio album, "...And Justice For All" and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of METALLICA on April 4, 2009.

His life was tragically cut short at the age of 24 in a tour bus crash on September 27, 1986 in Sweden.