Former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist Jason Newsted married his longtime girlfriend Nicole Leigh Smith last month.
Stated Nicole: "[Jason is] a fantastically talented guy, and I'm happy to be taking on his last name."
In his acceptance speech at METALLICA's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in April 2009, Jason thanked Nicole — whom he referred to as "the love of my life" — for "standing by me through the last seven years of challenges and adventures."
Nicole is an accomplished artist who encouraged Jason in 2005 to find a new hobby after he forced to wear an arm sling, thanks to a surgery to fix his right shoulder after decades of wear-and-tear on stage.
"I said, 'Why don't you paint today?'" Nicole told Contra Costa Times in a 2010 interview. "And he said, 'Paint what?' So I set him up and said, 'I'm going to be gone all day — go crazy.'"
Smith came home to the Montana ranch she shares with Jason eight hours later to find her boyfriend — and much of the room — covered in paint.
"We still haven't got all the paint off the carpet," she said. "He was like. ’Thanks, Nic, that was awesome.' I was like, 'Oh God, what have I done?'"