James Hetfield of Metallica performing live on stage at the O2 Arena.
London, England - 02.03.09

The Metallica frontman hated the classical keyboard sessions but they introduced him to music and gave him his first steps towards a career on the stage.

Hetfield tells Metal Hammer, 'My mom had seen me over at a friend's house just kind of start bashing on the piano, and she thought, oh, he's gonna be a musician, OK, we'll sign him up for piano. I did that for a couple of years and it was really a bit of a turn-off because it was learning classical pieces, stuff that I wasn't listening to on the radio, you know?'

'I remember it was an older woman's house and the cookies at the end was the big deal. But I am so glad it was somewhat forced upon me, because the act of left and right hand doing different things, and also singing at the same time, it gave me some inkling of what I do now. Singing and playing are somewhat easier than it probably could have been if I hadn't have had piano.'

Source: WENN