Yngwie Malmsteen (band)
| Yngwie Malmsteen | |
|---|---|
Malmsteen performing in Barcelona, 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck |
| Also known as |
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| Born |
30 June 1963 , Sweden |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | yngwiemalmsteen.com |
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (/ˈɪŋveɪ ˈmɑːlmstiːn/ ING-vay MAHLM-steen; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck; 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal playing style in heavy metal. In 2009, Time magazine rated Malmsteen as among the 10 greatest electric guitar players of all time.
Malmsteen was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck in , Sweden, the third child of a musical family. At the age of ten Malmsteen created his first band, "Track on Earth", consisting of himself and a friend from school playing the drums. At the age of twelve he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, then slightly changed it to Malmsteen and altered his third given name Yngve to "Yngwie." As a teenager he was heavily influenced by classical music, particularly 19th century violinist composer Niccolò Paganini, and also discovered his most important guitar influence, Ritchie Blackmore. He also cites Uli Jon Roth and Brian May as significant influences. Malmsteen has stated that Jimi Hendrix had no musical impact on him and did not contribute to his style, but watching the 18 September 1970 TV special, where Hendrix smashed and burned his guitar, made Malmsteen think "this is really cool".
In early 1982 (at the age of 18), Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing from the 1978 titled Demo Powerhouse, brought Malmsteen to the United States. He played briefly with Steeler on part of their 1983 self-titled album, then appeared with Graham Bonnet in the band Alcatrazz, their 1983 debut No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. In 1984, Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising Force, which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums and keyboard player Jens Johansson. His album was meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it ended up featuring vocals and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of Rising Force.
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