Kiko Loureiro | |
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Background information | |
Born |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
June 16, 1972
Genres | Heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, neo-classical metal, jazz fusion, chorinho, bossa nova |
Instruments | Guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums, vocals |
Years active | 1988–present |
Associated acts | Angra, Megadeth, Tarja Turunen, Neural Code |
Website | kikoloureiro |
Notable instruments | |
Ibanez KIKO100 |
Pedro Henrique "Kiko" Loureiro (born June 16, 1972) is a Brazilian heavy metal guitarist, best known as a member of the bands Angra and Megadeth. Along with Angra's other guitarist and primary songwriter Rafael Bittencourt, Loureiro has appeared on all of the band's releases.
Loureiro began studying music and playing acoustic guitar at age 11. He studied with two big famous Brazilian musicians: Pedro Bueno and Mozart Mello. Inspired by various artists, mainly Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Randy Rhoads, he moved to the electric guitar at 13 and by 16 had already joined two bands, Legalize (with Edu Mello on vocals, Dennis Belik on bass and Alja on drums) and A Chave, and was playing in nightclubs in São Paulo. At 19, he helped co-found Brazilian power metal band Angra, with whom he still plays.
Due to the increase in popularity of power metal, Loureiro has become quite successful, both playing in Angra and as a solo artist.
In addition to his rock/metal achievements, Loureiro has also played guitars on several eurobeat songs in collaboration with Dave Rodgers, including "Fevernova", "Ring of Fire" and "The Road is on Fire".
On April 2, 2015 it was announced that Loureiro had joined the American thrash metal band Megadeth, replacing Chris Broderick.
On 12 February 2017 Loureiro won his first Grammy Award for the Megadeth song "Dystopia" which won "Best Metal Performance" at the 59th Grammy Awards along with Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson and Chris Adler.