Darrell Lance Abbott, best known by his stage name Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time.
A son of country music producer Jerry Abbott, Abbott began playing guitar at age 12, and Pantera released its debut album, Metal Magic, when he was 16. Originally a glam metal musician, Abbott went by the stage name Diamond Darrell at the time. Two further albums in the glam metal style followed with Projects in the Jungle and I Am the Night, before original vocalist Terry Glaze was replaced by Phil Anselmo in 1986 and Power Metal was released. The band's major-label debut, Cowboys from Hell, introduced a groove metal sound to which Abbott's guitar playing was central. This sound was refined on Vulgar Display of Power, and the group's third major-label record, Far Beyond Driven, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1994.