Full name: Darrell Lance Abbott
Instrument: Guitars
Birthday: 20th August 1966.
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas

Short biography:
Darrel Abbott grew up outside of Dallas, Texas, where his father owned a recording studio.
He saw many great blues and country artists come through as clients of his father and he
learned from them. He learned quickly. So quickly in fact that he was not allowed to enter
any guitar contests in the whole state because he'd already won them all... He was 16. It
seems though that, even with this prodigical skill, the band wasn't sure which direction to go
artisticly until almost 1990 with the release of Cowboys From Hell. Before the development
of their Power Groove, Pantera released a few unknown albums of cheezy-sounding glam
rock (if you ever get a chance to hear anything from that era, I suggest you do. Songs like
Ride My Rocket off of Metal Magic are quite entertaining. I can only decribe the sound as
something like old Bon Jovi or Poison with amazing guitar solos). As far as the change of
alias from Diamond Darrell to Dimebag Darrell, the six-string guru claims that it has always
been Dimebag, there was just a bunch of confusion about it. Personally, I believe he was
coaxed into toning the Dimebag handle down early on strictly for PR purposes.

And my personal tribute