Robert Ellsworth (born May 3, 1959), best known as Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, is an American singer who is the lead vocalist of New Jersey
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...
band
Overkill.
He has been the vocalist of Overkill since its inception in 1980, and he and bassist
D. D. Verni are the band's only constant members.
Ellsworth is a member of the supergroup cover band
BPMD
BPMD is an American hard rock/ heavy metal supergroup. Formed in 2019, the band plays cover songs of classic American rock bands of the 1970s. The band consists of Overkill singer Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, former Vio-lence and Machine Head g ...
.
He also previously fronted The Cursed, a now defunct band featuring guitarist Dan Lorenzo, which released the ''Room Full of Sinners'' LP in 2007.
Personal life
In 1998, Ellsworth was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of
nose cancer and underwent immediate surgery, which successfully removed the tumor.
Ellsworth had a
focal seizure
Focal seizures are seizures that originate within brain networks limited to one hemisphere of the brain. In most cases, each seizure type has a consistent site of onset and characteristic patterns of spread, although some individuals experience mo ...
in Germany in June 2002, right in the middle of the song "Necroshine". He commented: "The beauty of a stroke is that you don't remember. I don't know what it changed, because I forget how it used to be (laughs). Occasionally I piss my pants when somebody turns a microwave on (laughs). I'm riding my motorcycle. I still swim, I work out. The idea is that when you have a problem, there's two ways to look at it – you can live in the problem or you can live through the problem. For me, I just lived through it. I thought very soon afterwards if it had actually killed me, I said 'Wouldn't it be something to die in the middle of an Overkill show?'."
Ellsworth was critical of the
Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
. In a 2010 interview, he was asked if he felt that Obama would spawn any songs about political awareness and replied, "You could probably just do one record and call it 'Liar' (laughs)" He then outlined instances where he believed the party displayed hypocrisy and called the
Democratic Party "just an awful thing."
In 2014, Ellsworth again faced health issues, battling borderline pneumonia during a German tour.
Ellsworth has been a resident of
Vernon Township, New Jersey
Vernon Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located about a one hour drive from New York City and is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the ...
.
"Overkill's Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth: 'I've Had Black Bear Hibernate On My Property Now For 15 Years'"
BlabberMouth.net, March 12, 2023. Accessed March 12, 2023."Overkill singer Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth spoke to the ''Appetite For Distortion'' podcast about his current residence in Vernon, New Jersey, saying (as transcribed by BlabberMouth.net): "I'm approximately 60 miles west of the George Washington Bridge. So I live up in northwest Jersey. I'm closer to Pennsylvania than I am to New York City; I'm only about 20 miles from PA. But this is what they call the Skylands."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellsworth, Bobby
1959 births
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
21st-century American singers
American heavy metal singers
Living people
New Jersey Republicans
Overkill (band) members
People from Vernon Township, New Jersey
Singers from New Jersey
Thrash metal musicians