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The metal community is once again shocked hearing that on Friday night (22/6) Vinnie Paul passed away at the age of 54. The cause of his death remains unknown and his family and friends are requesting respect at their privacy during this hard time.

Vincent Paul Abbot, born in Abilene in Texas, was the co-founder of Pantera in 1981. During the golden years of Pantera, in 1998 the band took a short break due to Phil Anselmo’s health issues. Vincent, Dimebag Darrell and Rex Brown created a short live-side project called Tres Diablos and recorded one song which was a cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Heard It On The X‘. Returning in 1999 and after 10 albums Pantera went on hiatus and disbanded in 2003. With his brother Dimebag Darrell founded then Damageplan and released one album ‘New Found Power‘. After the death of Dimebag the same year, Vinnie returned to music in 2006 with the metal supergroup HELLYEAH which released five albums.

Vinnie Paul had stated that his main drum influences were Peter Criss (KISS) and Tommy Aldridge, mentioning also Bill Ward (Black Sabbath), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Mikkey Dee (Scorpions), Alex Van Halen (Van Halen) and Neil Peart (Rush).

Mary Kalaitzidou