List of Megadeth members

Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine—after he departed from Metallica—along with bassist David Ellefson, guitarist Greg Handevidt, and drummer Dijon Carruthers, in 1983. Early in 1984, Megadeth recorded a demo that featured new drummer Lee Rausch, who replaced Carruthers.Slayer guitarist Kerry King covered live dates while a permanent replacement was sought. This lineup was short-lived and after a few shows in 1984, Lee Rausch was replaced by jazz fusion drummer Gar Samuelson, in addition to the second guitarist Chris Poland. During the Megadeth's 1985 tour promoting their debut, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, Poland left the band and was temporarily replaced by Mike Albert. Poland then rejoined Megadeth in October of the same year, shortly before they began work on Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?. After years of problems stemming from substance abuse, Mustaine fired both Poland and Samuelson before recording the third album So Far, So Good... So What!; being replaced by Jeff Young and Chuck Behler, respectively.

During their world tour in support of So Far, So Good... in February 1988, Mustaine noticed problems developing with Behler. Six months later, Mustaine fired both Behler and Young. In July 1989, Nick Menza was hired to replace Behler on the drums. After a lengthy search for a new lead guitarist, Megadeth enlisted Marty Friedman, who officially joined in February 1990. The lineup remained unchanged for almost eight years, until Menza discovered a tumor on his knee, which forced him to leave the tour to undergo surgery. He was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso, temporarily at first. Following the Ozzfest tour in 1998, however, DeGrasso replaced Menza permanently, after Mustaine claimed that Menza had "lied about having cancer". Following the release of Risk, the band began a new world tour in September 1999. Three months into the tour, Friedman announced that he would be leaving the band, citing "musical differences". Megadeth enlisted guitarist Al Pitrelli as Friedman's replacement in January 2000. In early 2002, Mustaine suffered several injuries, which led him to announce in a press release that Megadeth had disbanded. Following nearly a year of recovery, Mustaine began work on what was to be his first solo album. The new material was recorded with session musicians Vinnie Colaiuta and Jimmy Lee Sloas, but the project was put on hold when Mustaine agreed to remix and remaster Megadeth's eight-album back catalog with Capitol Records.

...
Wikipedia