Dan Spitz

Daniel Alan Spitz (born January 28, 1963) is a three-time Grammy-nominated American musician best known for his work as the lead guitarist, principal songwriter and co-producer of the American heavy metal band Anthrax from 1983 to 1995 and from 2005 to 2007. More recently, Spitz has founded the Christian music group Red Lamb, the first to bring autism awareness into any genre of music or music video. Spitz has earned some of the most coveted Swiss and American degrees in watchmaking and micro mechanical engineering and is a global advocate for autism awareness.

Personal life

Spitz was born in a small town in Rockland County, New York as the second son of a lawyer and a high school substitute teacher. His older brother is former White Lion and Black Sabbath bassist Dave Spitz. His parents were interested in music, his father liked big band and jazz music of Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Tal Farlow, but Miles Davis was a huge influence on Spitz. His mother was into classical music and ballet. In the early 1980s, his brother David played bass and guitar. Dan Spitz got his brother's guitar and started playing. When he reached seventh grade, his mother bought him his first guitar. Spitz reached 12th grade, went to college but left it after a few weeks without graduating and co-founded the band Overkill and later Anthrax.