Born on November 18, 1962 to a Fillipino mother and merchant seaman father. Learned guitar at age 15. Joined Metallica to replace Dave Mustaine in 1982. Has won several Grammys with Metallica and participated in their class action law suit against Napster.

Took guitar lessons from Joe Satriani .Has his birth date and place tattooed on his stomachVegetarianAvid surferCollects horror film memorabiliaHas one dog, DarlaKnown for his custom made guitars with horror film graphicsIn a 1998 issue of Guitar Legends: The Top 100 Guitar solos, Kirk is credited with 3 songs: "One" (No. 7), "Fade To Black (No. 24), and "Master of Puppets" (No. 51).Previous band before Metallica was the trash metal band Exodus.His musical influences are Led Zeppelin, UFO and Jimi Hendrix.Replaced Dave Mustaine as permanent guitarist for Metallica in 1983.In November 6, 1998 he suffered from appendicitis when Metallica was on tour in England. He went to a London hospital, recovered, and couple of weeks later flew back to San Francisco.Son Angel Ray Keala, born October 6, 2006.Officially endorsed by ESP Guitars (a Japanese company). He has several signature ESP guitar models (mostly identified by "KH" letters) and he has worked with the company since the late 80s.Son, Vincenzo Kainalu was born on June 28, 2008.His mother is Filipino and his father is Irish.Lives in San Francisco, California.