Lars Ulrich R (/ˈʊlrɪk/; Danish: [ˈlɑːs ˈulˀʁek]; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his youth and moved to Los Angeles at age 16 to train professionally. However, rather than playing tennis, Ulrich began playing drums. After publishing an advertisement in The Recycler, Ulrich met James Hetfield and formed Metallica.
Along with Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs. He was the face of the band during the Napster controversy.