Dave "The Beast" Spitz (born February 22, 1958) is an American musician best known for having played bass guitar for the heavy metal group

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped de ...

from 1985 to 1987, appearing on the albums '' Seventh Star'' and being credited for (but not playing on) ''

The Eternal Idol ''The Eternal Idol'' is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 23 November 1987 (UK) and 8 December 1987 (US). It is the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Tony Martin. It spent six week ...

''. Dave also helped discover

Ray Gillen Raymond Arthur Gillen (May 12, 1959 – December 1, 1993) was an American rock singer. He is best known for his work with Badlands, in addition to his stint with Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s and recording most of the vocals on Phenomena's ' ...

, the vocalist who joined Black Sabbath mid-tour in 1986, following the sudden exit of

Glenn Hughes Glenn Hughes or Glen Hughes may refer to: *Glenn Hughes (musician), born 1951 *Glenn Hughes (American singer) (1950–2001) *Glenn Hughes (cricketer), born 1959 *Glen Hughes Glen Hughes is an Australian former professional rugby league footbal ...

. Spitz was born in the Forest Hills neighborhood in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He is the older brother of musician Dan Spitz, former lead guitarist of the American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The s ...

. Spitz has also been a member of

Great White Great White is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records ''Once Bitten'' (1987) and '' ...Twice Shy'' (1989), and those albums ...

, having recorded the albums '' Psycho City'' and '' Let it Rock'' with the Californian hard rock band during the 1990s. He played with

White Lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest r ...

and on albums by Americade,

Slamnation ''SlamNation'' is a documentary film by director Paul Devlin. The film follows the National Poetry Slam in Portland, Oregon. It follows the 1996 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team (Saul Williams, Beau Sia, muMs da Schemer and Jessica Care Moore) as ...

Insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy ...

Nuclear Assault Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, ...

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

, Kuni, Deepset,

War Pigs "War Pigs" is an anti-war protest song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1970, it is the opening track from the band's second studio album '' Paranoid'' (1970). Overview The original title of "War Pigs" was "Walpurgis", ...

and others. He is also a member of McBrain Damage, featuring

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

drummer

Nicko McBrain Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...

and tours with this band when Nicko has time off. Dave Spitz graduated from

SUNY Geneseo The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The coll ...

in upstate New York in 1979, and during his college years he played in bands around that area, including Freeway and Buzzoleo. Beyond this, Dave is a second degree black belt (Nidan) in traditional Okinawan

Gōjū-ryū , Japanese for "hard-soft style", is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Both principles, hard and soft, come from the famous martial arts book used by Okinawan masters dur ...

Karate-dō. Beginning his karate training at the age of 14 in New York, Dave initially studied under the U.S.A. Kata champion

sensei Sensei, Seonsaeng, Tiên sinh or Xiansheng, corresponding to Chinese characters , is an East Asian honorific term shared in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese; it is literally translated as "person born before another" or "one who ...

Chuck Merriman Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * ...

, and fought in numerous karate tournaments. Following his Black Sabbath years, he continued his martial arts training in California, undertaking training with the highest ranking practitioner of Gōjū-ryū in the world, sensei Morio Higaonna, President of the International Okinawan Gōjū-ryū Karate-dō Federation. Spitz also studied and trained with sensei Mel Pralgo, sensei Rodney Hu, sensei Stan O'Hara, and sensei Miko Peled, and had the distinct honor of being Dai Senpai (highest ranking student and assistant instructor) for many years at sensei Pralgo's

dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak trees ...

, before moving to Florida in 1996 to attend law school.

References

Spitz on Black Sabbath Online
1958 births Living people Black Sabbath members American heavy metal bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American rock bass guitarists Jewish American musicians Jewish heavy metal musicians Great White members White Lion members American male guitarists Impellitteri members 20th-century American guitarists {{US-musician-stub