Ex-MEGADETH Bassist DAVID ELLEFSON Is Mourning Death Of His 15-Year-Old Cat: 'He Was My Little Sidekick And Best Friend'

Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson is mourning the death of his cat Percy.

On social media, the 57-year-old musician said Percy died earlier today.

"It's with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our lovely kitty Percy, who passed at 6:20am today from kidney failure," David wrote. "He was my little sidekick and best friend. He was a rescue kitty from just a few days old as we welcomed him into our family, and got to enjoy almost 16 years together before his passing. We are just gutted with this loss to our family....he truly was our 'Fifth Beatle'."

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH a little over a year ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

David was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

As previously reported, Ellefson and former MEGADETH guitarist Jeff Young reunited on stage on May 10 at Ultimate Jam Night, the long-running community-oriented show in residency at the famed Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California, as part of a special tribute to the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX. The event marked the first time David and Jeff had played MEGADETH songs together on stage since the U.K.'s Monsters Of Rock festival on August 20, 1988.

The Whisky A Go Go concert came four months after Ellefson and Young reunited in Los Angeles for interviews to be included in the upcoming feature-length documentary "This Was My Life: The Story Of Nick Menza". Ellefson has signed on as a co-producer of the film, and also will provide narration to guide the viewer through the exploration of the late MEGADETH drummer's life.

Earlier this month, Ellefson told The Neurotic Guitarist that he and Young "have been working on a couple of new songs."

Ellefson, Young and another former MEGADETH guitarist, Chris Poland, will perform "a very special set of thrash classics" at the fall 2022 edition of the Days Of The Dead horror and pop culture convention, set to take place November 18-20 at Crowne Plaza O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. The "Days Of The Deth" performance on Saturday, November 19 will be open to anyone with a Days Of The Dead ticket. V.I.P. pass holders will have early entrance to the event.

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Dave Mustaine, alleging the MEGADETH leader shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.