Tony MacAlpine
| Tony MacAlpine | |
|---|---|
MacAlpine performing in Zoetermeer, 2012
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| Background information | |
| Born |
August 29, 1960 Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Instrumental rock, neoclassical metal, progressive metal, heavy metal, hard rock, jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, keyboard, piano |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Labels | Shrapnel, PolyGram, Favored Nations |
| Associated acts | Planet X, CAB, Steve Vai, Seven the Hardway, Ring of Fire |
| Website | tonymacalpine |
Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning three decades and twelve studio albums, he is best known as an instrumental rock solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in guest appearances and collaborations.
Having started playing piano at the age of five and guitar at twelve, MacAlpine studied classical music for a number of years at the Springfield Conservatory of Music in Massachusetts, as well as various music programs at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. One of his musical influences is Frédéric Chopin, to whom he pays homage in his interpretations of the latter's études, which are featured on the majority of his studio albums.
Together with his first studio releases, Edge of Insanity (1986) and Maximum Security (1987), he had a prominent role on other works during the popular shred era, including keyboard performances on the debut albums of fellow guitarists Vinnie Moore (Mind's Eye, 1986) and Joey Tafolla (Out of the Sun, 1987). Soon after his own debut, he played guitar in a heavy metal supergroup named M.A.R.S. (an acronym for MacAlpine/Aldridge/Rock/Sarzo), which resulted in the 1986 album Project: Driver.
As part of a band effort named 'MacAlpine', Eyes of the World was released in 1990 as a more commercially oriented attempt to emulate other hard rock acts at the time. The venture was short-lived, and his subsequent album Freedom to Fly (1992) was a return to his instrumental-based work. A further consecutive string of instrumental albums followed throughout the 1990s, most of them through the renowned Shrapnel Records label: Madness (1993), Premonition (1994), Evolution (1995) and Violent Machine (1996). For his last album of the decade, Master of Paradise (1999), MacAlpine briefly assumed singing duties in an effort to experiment with different styles. After the release of Chromaticity in August 2001, he took an extended hiatus from recording solo albums and worked with a variety of other musicians and bands, most notably with supergroups CAB and Ring of Fire. Nearly a decade later, in June 2011, he released his self-titled eleventh studio album through guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label.
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