Dave Shapiro, the pioneer of heavy metal and rock music, has been killed in a plane crash

Dave Shapiro, the pioneer of heavy metal and rock music, has been killed in a plane crash in the San Diego area. He was 42 years old.

Shapiro had a pilot’s license and was listed as the owner of the plane that crashed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Sound Talent Group confirmed that Shapiro was killed in the crash Thursday afternoon along with two employees.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our founder, colleagues and friends," the company said in a statement.

Shapiro co-founded the Entertainment Talent Group in 2018 alongside Tim Borror and Matt Andersen. The organization’s roster focuses on other pop-punk bands, hardcore, later heavy metal and other rock favorites. Some of the most popular brands include Hanson, Pierce The Veil, Parkway Drive, Sum 41 and Vanessa Carlton.

Shapiro was an outspoken advocate for musicians and one of the founding members of the International Association of Professional Musicians. He was inducted into the 2012 “Under 30” Hall of Fame honoring rising stars in the entertainment industry. Industry veterans say Shapiro paved the way for other independent institutions and helped many talented bands of all kinds find a wider audience.

"Finding something you love to do is just going to make you do a better job because you really love it. You don't just show up for a paycheck, it's not a 9-to-5," he said on a music podcast in 2021. "This is part of your life if you really love it."

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Shapiro grew up in upstate New York in the "straightedge hard-core" scene, a subculture that promoted abstinence from drugs and alcohol in response to mainstream punk.

In high school, he started a band with his friends and signed to Victory Records after graduating. They toured for several years, where they made connections in the music industry that would help him on his business journey.

Shapiro says he fell in love with aviation after taking his first flight at age 22. He seems to have a love for music and flying with equal passion, at one point opening his own talent agency office in a hangar in San Diego.

Flying “helps me focus and not think about everything that’s wrong in the world, and everything outside the plane doesn’t matter in those moments,” Shapiro said in a 2020 podcast interview.

Shapiro owns a flight school called Velocity Aviation and a record store called Velocity Records.

He books flights to and from San Diego and Homer, Alaska, where he and his wife, Julia Paulik Shapiro, have a home, according to his online post.

Shapiro married his wife in 2016 in the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska. They got their marriage license, hopped on a plane, flew to a pass in Denali National Park, and landed, strapped to the wheels of the plane.

“When I met Dave, we immediately embraced our unique lifestyles and constant demands,” she wrote in a blog post.

In 2019, he announced on Instagram that he had earned his airline transport pilot rating, the highest level of certification offered in the United States.

"Although I have a job and no intention of changing, I have always wanted to learn more and become a better pilot," he wrote. He was also an adrenaline junkie and loved jumping off base.

On Thursday, musicians and other industry insiders paid tribute to him, describing him as a warm and friendly man who helped put little-known band names on the map.

“He listened to the whole team you put together to give them time,” said Daina Giraldi-Travers, founder of Big Picture Media, a public relations agency that worked with Shapiro for more than 15 years.

Former I Set My Friends on Fire guitarist Nate Blasdell said he was devastated.

"Dave was the first booking agent I worked with, and he was a big part of my teenage music career," she told X .

Sum 41 singer Derick Whibley says Shapiro helped resurrect the rock band at a "short" point in their lives.

"Her character meant a lot to me," Wibley said. "She was the person I went to for advice.”

At the end of his interview, Shapiro jumped on his new plane to watch Sum 41 enter the Canadian Music Festival in March. Wibley promised to return.

"My wife and I, we're flying to you," Whibley told Shapiro. "We're going to take you out to eat somewhere else."