Ross the Boss

Ross Friedman was born on 3 January 1954 in the Bronx, New York City. He grew up taking piano and violin lessons, and his official biography calls him a prodigy on both. Television changed his direction. "Oh, I loved the Monkees," he recalled. "As a kid, seeing them on TV was really exciting." From there he moved on to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, the Who, the Doors and Jimi Hendrix, and later to the heavy sounds of Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Black Sabbath.

He described himself as "a young Jewish kid with glasses and short hair" who changed his image and became a rocker. At the Fillmore he watched B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Albert King and Freddie King walk on stage, plug straight into an amplifier and play, an approach he kept for life. His first serious instrument was a white 1963 Gibson SG Custom. His father would not simply buy it for him, so he helped his son take out a bank loan, which Ross repaid. He still owned and played that guitar decades later.

Friedman's formal training was in classical piano and violin as a child in New York. He was largely self-directed on the guitar, learning from records and from watching blues and rock players live. He cited jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery as the source of the octave runs that became a signature of his solos, beginning on the first Dictators album. Details of his schooling have not been made public.

The Dictators (1973 onward). Friedman met Andy Shernoff while playing at a house party, and in 1973 they formed the Dictators with Scott Kempner. Managed by Blue Oyster Cult producer Sandy Pearlman, the band released Go Girl Crazy! in 1975, a year before the Ramones' debut, followed by Manifest Destiny (1977), which reached the Billboard 200, and Bloodbrothers (1978). They played CBGB regularly. The Dictators reunited in the mid 1990s, released D.F.F.D. in 2001, and Friedman stayed with them until 2008 before rejoining Shernoff and Kempner for new music in the 2020s, including The Dictators (2024).

Shakin' Street (1979 to 1981). With the Dictators stalled, Pearlman brought him to France to play with Fabienne Shine's band Shakin' Street. He lived in France for a year, learned French and recorded the album Shakin' Street (1980).

Manowar (1980 to late 1980s). On Black Sabbath's 1980 Heaven and Hell tour, which Shakin' Street supported, he met Sabbath bass technician Joey DeMaio (his official biography says Ronnie James Dio made the introduction). They co-founded Manowar, pairing epic, mythological songs with enormous volume. Friedman played on Battle Hymns (1982), recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Into Glory Ride (1983), Hail to England (1984), Sign of the Hammer (1984), Fighting the World (1987) and Kings of Metal (1988). Hail to England was later ranked number 87 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. He left the band after the Kings of Metal era.

New York projects (1989 to 2006). He joined Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, which released ...And You? in 1990, and then played with the Pack, Heyday and the Spinatras. He also recorded with Dictators drummer J.P. "Thunderbolt" Patterson and joined Albert Bouchard's band the Brain Surgeons, recording Black Hearts of Soul (2004) and Denial of Death (2006).

Ross the Boss and Death Dealer (2005 to 2026). After a 2005 guest set with Manowar at the Earthshaker Festival he formed the Ross the Boss band, signed to AFM Records, and released New Metal Leader (2008), Hailstorm (2010), By Blood Sworn (2018) and Born of Fire (2020). In 2012 he co-founded Death Dealer with Sean Peck, Stu Marshall, Mike Davis and Rhino Edwards, releasing War Master (2013), Hallowed Ground (2015), Conquered Lands (2020) and Reign of Steel (2026). He also guested on records by Majesty, Wotan, Atlantean Kodex, the Vibrators and Burning Starr, and was still touring in 2025.

Friedman was a lifelong New Yorker and proudly described as "the Bronx's own". His son was born in 1991, and his official biography says he chose to stay closer to home in the years that followed to be a hands-on father. His family has kept his son's name and other family details private. He spoke openly about being Jewish and about growing up as a bespectacled Jewish kid who reinvented himself as a rocker. His main guitar for most of his career was the Gibson SG.

Musically, Friedman believed in practice and craft. He was critical of the idea in early punk that sloppiness did not matter: "I was the opposite of that. I practiced while everybody else was partying." He preferred to plug straight into an amplifier without effect pedals, a habit he traced to watching blues masters at the Fillmore. Across punk, hard rock and metal he insisted he was always "just playing rock and roll". He also held outspoken political views; guitarist Alex Skolnick noted after his death that the two "didn't agree politically (far from it)" but bonded over music.

Few guitarists can claim to have helped found two genres' defining bands. The Dictators' Go Girl Crazy! is regularly cited as one of the first punk rock records and influenced generations of New York bands. Manowar's early albums, all featuring Friedman, are widely seen as foundational to power metal and epic heavy metal, and many fans regard him as the definitive Manowar guitarist. His octave-driven soloing style, borrowed from Wes Montgomery, showed up decades later in 1990s rock. The Metal Hall of Fame named him its "Global Metal Ambassador" and said his playing "helped shape generations of musicians and fans around the world".

On 18 January 2017 Friedman was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History, later renamed the Metal Hall of Fame, for his contributions to metal with Manowar, in a class alongside Randy Rhoads, Lemmy Kilmister and Don Airey. Hail to England, one of the six Manowar albums he played on, was ranked number 87 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. His 2010 solo album Hailstorm received four and a half stars out of five from AllMusic.

Selected recordings. With the Dictators: The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (1975), Manifest Destiny (1977), Bloodbrothers (1978), D.F.F.D. (2001), Every Day Is Saturday (compilation, 2007), The Dictators (2024). With Shakin' Street: Shakin' Street (1980). With Manowar: Battle Hymns (1982), Into Glory Ride (1983), Hail to England (1984), Sign of the Hammer (1984), Fighting the World (1987), Kings of Metal (1988). With Manitoba's Wild Kingdom: ...And You? (1990). With the Spinatras: @Midnight.com (1999). With the Brain Surgeons: Black Hearts of Soul (2004), Denial of Death (2006). As Ross the Boss: New Metal Leader (2008), Hailstorm (2010), By Blood Sworn (2018), Born of Fire (2020), Legacy of Blood, Fire and Steel (compilation, 2023). With Death Dealer: War Master (2013), Hallowed Ground (2015), Conquered Lands (2020), Reign of Steel (2026).

He gave many interviews about the early New York punk scene and the founding of Manowar, including a 2022 Guitar World feature and a 2015 interview with Manuela Schon.

Friedman's exit from Manowar after Kings of Metal was not amicable. He later said he was effectively let go, telling Brave Words in 2009 that he was "kinda fired" from Manowar, and that Joey DeMaio had asked him to leave in 1988. In a 2013 interview he said he no longer expected to reconcile with DeMaio. He nevertheless guested with Manowar at the 2005 Earthshaker Festival and continued to perform Manowar songs with his own band, and Manowar paid tribute to him when he died.

On 9 February 2026 Friedman's publicist announced that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The diagnosis followed several months of seemingly unrelated symptoms, including weakness in his hands and legs, which were first thought to have been caused by a series of very minor strokes. Changes in diet, exercise and physical therapy did not slow the disease. "It's difficult to know what lies ahead, and it crushes me not to be able to play guitar," he said, "but the outpouring of love has been so, so strong." A GoFundMe set up to support him raised more than 38,000 US dollars.

He died on the night of 26 March 2026, aged 72. On 27 March his official Instagram and Facebook accounts announced that "the Bronx's own Ross 'The Boss' Friedman" had died "after battling ALS", calling him "a legendary guitarist and beloved father". Manowar said that "music was Ross's life, and he left his mark across both heavy metal and punk rock". Tributes also came from the Metal Hall of Fame, Alex Skolnick, Eddie Trunk, Todd La Torre and Mark Menghi. The place of death and funeral arrangements were not made public.