On June 30, 1963, in Stockholm, Sweden, Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback was born. The BEATLES had just made a small name for themselves in Liverpool, England that year, and exactly 20 years later, when the grown-up, brunette-haired baby stepped onto the floor of LAX, a brilliant musical path would officially be laid out.
Shortly after Yngwie's birth, his military officer father and artist mother divorced. Yngwie was the youngest member of this single-parent family. His mother Rigmor, sister Ann Louise and brother Bjorn all agreed that as a child, Yngwie (named after one of his mother's old lovers) was wild and unruly, and that "there was a wildness in everything he did".
Music, and especially the guitar, didn't initially appeal to young Yngwie. He'd tried to learn some piano and trumpet earlier, but it was all start and no finish, and the acoustic guitar his mom bought him for his fifth birthday hung on the wall unattended. It wasn't until that day, September 18, 1970, that things radically changed. On that day Yngwie saw a special report on TV about the death of guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and something struck a chord in his heart. Seven-year-old Yngwie's amazement at seeing Hendrix play like a drug addict, rocking the audience with huge reverberations in front of the amps, and then finally torching his guitar, made the young Yngwie find his own path. the day Jimi Hendrix died was the day guitarist Yngwie was born.
Yngwie's first guitar was an old Mosrite, then a cheap Stratocaster, and he practiced songs from bands like DEEP PURPLE to improve both his musicianship and his guitar skills. Deep Purple's guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's classically-influenced playing influenced him. His sister's love of classical music also inspired Yngwie to play the masters: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mozart. As Yngwie began to incorporate these classical structures and patterns into his guitar playing, the beginnings of his unique style were born. He practiced diligently almost every day, often falling asleep on his guitar while playing.
At the age of 10, Yngwie took his mother's name and officially changed it to Yngwie Malmsteen, and at this point he was so focused on practicing that he was skipping school. At school, he was seen as a troublemaker, as he often got into fights with "guys who did stupid things". The only things he excelled in were the two subjects he was interested in, English and art. His mother clearly saw her son's musical talent, so she gave Yngwie permission to skip school and stay home to play the guitar and record player. In this way, his guitar playing skills rapidly improved.
How to find a bridge between the normal patterns of classical music and the improvisation of Hendrix, the 19th-century Russian violinist Nicola Pagorini, seems to be the answer. When Yngwie saw a Russian violinist play Pagorini's 24 Caprices on TV, he began to see how he could graft his love of classical music onto the appeal of stage improvisation.
When Yngwie drove his motorcycle onto the school's main street at age 15, it became clear that the school couldn't tolerate the wild man anymore, and he had to pack up and go home, where he put his carpentry skills to good use at his first job as a tinkerer at a luthier's shop. It was here that he made his first monolithic neck. The cost of this neck was a 17th century pipe organ, and he prepped the neck for the tone pins and then gutted the excess so that the remaining protrusions were in good taste. He fitted it to an old organ and tried it out, and was so pleased with the results that he removed his favorite guitar and replaced it with this monolithic neck. yngwie found the end result to be, shall we say, slightly more difficult to play than a normal guitar, but with considerably more control over the strings. So, the monolithic neck became the standard for Yngwie's equipment.
Yngwie formed a number of bands in the area, all centered around his heavy guitar, which was a huge test of listeners' ears and patience in a country that was awash in ABBA pop. 18-year-old Yngwie was drafted into the army because he scored high on an IQ test, something only Yngwie could do - he took a guitar and played it with his own hands, which he could not have done. Yngwie is perhaps the only one who can do it - he rushes to the recruiting office with a gun in his hand, screaming that he'd rather die than join the army. When the recruiter realized he wasn't kidding, he let him go, and Yngwie defended his right to play guitar.
Yngwie and some friends recorded three demos for the Swedish label CBS, but they were never released. Frustrated, Yngwie decided that Sweden was not the place to fulfill his musical aspirations and decided to pursue his career abroad, where he began sending demos to record labels and bands. One of the demos luckily landed in the hands of guitar scout Mike Varney, founder of Shrapnel Records, who was surprisingly impressed with the young Swedish guitarist. So he invited Yngwie to come to Los Angeles to play in Shrapnel's new band, STEELER, and that's where Yngwie's history really began.
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Published albums
The Ron Keel-centered STEELER's debut album was a typical heavy metal album, with Yngwie leaving a terrific introductory solo on the song Hot On Your Heels.By the time the album began to be well received by fans, Yngwie By the time this album began to gain traction, Yngwie had moved on to ALCATRAZZ, a RAINBOW-inspired band formed by vocalist Graham Bonnett, and Yngwie's time in ALCATRAZZ was, shall we say, pretty good, but with the rest of the band being pretty talented musicians, Yngwie didn't really stand out from the rest of the band, and for the most part, he did his job. work, with only a few songs like Kree Nakoorie, Jet to Jet and Hiroshima featuring his surprising solo performances. This was clearly not enough for the hungry Yngwie, and it seemed the only way to go was to go all out on his solo path. After recording two albums, No Parole From Rock'n'Roll and Live Sentence, Yngwie left ALCATRAZZ.
Yngwie's debut solo album, Rising Force, was an instant success, reaching No. 60 on the U.S. album charts. It was an exciting result for an album that featured mostly guitars and no commercial promotion on the radio. The album even earned Yngwie a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance, and the list of accolades that followed was overwhelming: readers of several magazines voted him Most Talented Newcomer, Rock Guitarist of the Year, and Rock Album of the Year. ...... Many musicians and bands have had the best debut albums of their musical careers, and Yngwie is one of them. While Yngwie's style of music was still to be perfected on this album, there was a passion and hunger on the album that could not be matched by any of the albums to come. The album that is now being hailed as the bible of Neo-Classical rock is undoubtedly the first and truly the best album of this type of music.
Yngwie's neo-classical follow-up reached new musical heights, and the two albums that followed, Trilogy and Marching Out, were both more lyrically and musically masterful than Rising Force. By this time, Yngwie's unique guitar technique and songwriting ability had made a huge impact on the rock world, and many musicians began to experiment with this neo-classical style. A number of Yngwie's imitators, Yngwie II, Yngwie III, etc., tried to copy his techniques rather than grasp the neo-classical style from a unique musical perspective. Lacking Yngwie's musical savvy, these clones always sounded a bit slick and pretentious, casting a negative shadow over the neo-classical rock movement.
Misfortune struck on June 22, 1987, just a few days before his 24th birthday, when the Jaguar Yngwie was driving crashed into a tree, his head hit the steering wheel, breaking it, and he suffered intracranial hemorrhaging forming a blood clot that pressed against a nerve in his right hand. After being in a coma for nearly a week, Yngwie woke up and realized that the hand that held the paddles was completely disabled. Was this the end of the musical road? With deep concern, Yngwie embarked on a long course of physical therapy, during which the nerves in his right hand gradually began to regain function. Shortly after he fully recovered from his injuries, another piece of bad news came, the person who gave him the most strength and inspiration in his life, his mother Rigmor, died of cancer in Sweden. To top it all off, one of Yngwie's agents fell on his sword and swept away all of Yngwie's belongings, leaving him with a thick stack of medical bills - all of which would have been a fatal blow if it had happened to an ordinary person. Yngwie, on the other hand, didn't give up, and he quickly turned his spirit away from grief and pain and back to music again, the only way to save himself.
Odyssey, Yngwie's first album after his comeback, wasn't very satisfying to him, but it brought him a much wider audience and a mainstream market. A single and its musical movie Heaven Tonight became Yngwie's first attempt at shifting his style to something suitable for rolling, and it propelled the album to sell nearly half a million copies in the United States. With the support of original RAINBOW frontman Joe Lynn, a successful Odyssey tour expanded Yngwie's audience beyond guitar aficionados, and by February 1989, the tour was playing to sold-out crowds in the former Soviet Union, with shows in Moscow and Leningrad being particularly successful. (It was only six months after Yngwie that bands such as BON JOVI made their first appearance in the USSR). The last show in Leningrad was recorded and released as a live video called Trial By Fire - Live In Leningrad.
After the tour, the band, known as Rising Force, finally broke up, with the band members going their separate ways and Yngwie having to start looking for a new partner.
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Band development
Yngwie traveled to Miami to develop his new band, and he quickly recruited an all-Swedish outfit. The lead vocal spot went to former John Norum frontman Goran Edman, whose high-pitched voice fit right in with Yngwie's classical melodies. The other members of the band were unknown Swedish musicians who later proved to be musically talented: bassist and string player Svante Henryson, keyboardist Mats Olausson, and drummer Michael Von Knorring. Recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, the album featured Yngwie making accessible pop-oriented music without sacrificing his classical style. The album didn't sell well in the U.S. due to poor promotion by Polygram Records, but Eclipse went gold and platinum in Japan and Europe, and Yngwie was able to put aside the concerns that had been looming in his mind since the breakup of Rising Force.
He decided to leave Polygram out of frustration with a label that couldn't take him seriously. As Yngwie himself used to say, his life was like "fire and ice, it's either really good or really bad, there's no middle ground." Once the negative influences from the record company were over, everything seemed so promising. A new manager, Nigel Thomas, struggled to find Yngwie a new home, and it wasn't until March 1991 that Yngwie signed with Elektra Records.
On his Elektra debut Fire And Ice, Yngwie eliminated the overly commercial elements of his previous albums and returned to the classical styles he was best known for. The album, like its cover, burns with Yngwie's fiery passion. The album is heavily influenced by the baroque style, full of intricate arrangements and elaborate embellishments, and Yngwie was finally able to fulfill a longtime wish of his: to record strings on this album. On No Mercy, Yngwie reworked the Badinerie from Bach's Ochestral Suite No. 2 and recorded it to great effect. Fire & Ice went straight to number one in Japan, selling over 100,000 copies on the day of its release, and it went gold in Europe and platinum in Asia. The album went gold in Europe and platinum in Asia.
Yngwie's life was literally like fire and ice, and as he returned to Miami to work on his new album, a series of misfortunes struck again: Typhoon Andrew swept through Miami in August 1992; in January 1993, his manager of four years, Nigel Thomas, died of a heart attack; and in March 1993, Elektra decided not to work with him anymore. In March 1993, Elektra decided not to renew Yngwie's contract; in July of that year, Yngwie broke his right arm in an accident; and in August, Yngwie was arrested by the police, creating international news, but in the end it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
By September 1993, all the forces arrayed against Yngwie had weakened, and in October, when his arm had fully recovered, Yngwie signed with Japan's Pony Canyon Records. The new lineup was Michael Vescera (ex-LOUDNESS) on vocals, Mike Terrana (ex-Tony McAlpine) on drums, Mats Olausson on keyboards, and Yngwie himself on bass (with Barry Sparks from Los Angeles taking on bass duties on future tours). (Barry Sparks from Los Angeles would play bass on later tours).
On February 3, 1994, the band began rehearsals for their upcoming world tour. A new album, The Seventh Sign, was released on February 8, 1994 in Japan. The album returned to the aggressive style of Yngwie's earlier albums, heavier than their previous albums, with similarities to early Marching Out.The Seventh Sign quickly reached the top of the international charts in Japan and went triple platinum in Japan alone.CMC International bought the rights to distribute the album in Europe and the United States. CMC bought the rights to distribute the album in Europe and the United States, and with CMC's aggressive promotion, Yngwie fans around the world were able to get their hands on the album, and while Yngwie was still unable to sell well in the United States, The Seventh Sign, along with Yngwie's previous albums, sold out in Europe and Asia.
In September and October 1994, Pony Canyon released two slimmer albums, Power And Glory (the title track of which was written by Yngwie for Japanese judo champion Takada) and I Can't Wait (which consisted of two unreleased tracks and a couple of live versions of tracks recorded at the Budokan Theater in Tokyo). (including two unreleased tracks and several live versions of tracks recorded at the Budokan Theater in Tokyo). The live performance at the Budokan was also recorded and released on a Japanese language tape, which CMC promoted worldwide. During this time, Yngwie toured the world until November 1994, when the band returned home to Miami, having been on the road for most of the year and really needing a break.
In December 1994, work began on Yngwie's own recording studio in Miami, with laminate floors, recording equipment, controls, and everything in order. At the same time, preparations began for Yngwie's new album, Magnum Opus. As Yngwie and his manager agreed that there were problems with CMC's record distribution mechanism, they decided to disassociate themselves from CMC, and in June 1995, while the master tapes for Magnum Opus were being sent to Japan, Yngwie and his manager began to look for a new European and American distributor.
The Magnum Opus tour began in Japan in September 1995, and after completing a 17-city run in Japan, the band traveled to the UK and Europe for a two-month tour. There was a slight hiccup in the middle of the tour, as vocalist Michael Vescera had a cold that developed into bronchitis and missed a few shows. The shows went on as usual, with Yngwie himself on vocals, but some of the planned songs were canceled due to the pitch being out of Yngwie's vocal range. Michael recovered from his illness and rejoined the band in Germany, just in time for a festival there that featured four other bands, including the legendary metal warriors SAXON. At the end of the year, Yngwie and the band returned to the U.S. for a vacation from touring.
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Yngwie's Studio 308
Yngwie's Studio 308 was put to good use at the start of the new year, as Yngwie brought in some old friends, including Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Scott Soto, David Rosenthal. Marcel Jacob and Mark Boals to work on the new album. For a long time, Yngwie's heart has longed to record an album of covers that would pay tribute to those who have influenced his guitar playing and songwriting style, including DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW, U.K., KANSAS, SCORPIONS, RUSH, and Jimi Hendrix. with the support of longtime friends the Johansson Brothers on drums and keyboards, Inspiration is the perfect way for him to get back on the road. With the support of old friends the Johansson brothers on drums and keyboards, the Inspiration album began to take shape. in mid-April, the mixing of the album was completed and the artwork for the cover was finalized, designed by Japanese artist Asari Yoda, who composited a certain element of the bands being covered on the album into a single drawing, from which we can vaguely distinguish the names or pictures of the bands.
After the release of the album Inspiration, Yngwie started planning a new tour. The band lineup for this tour is arguably the strongest yet, and it includes bassist Barry Bunaway from the Live In Leningrad album, vocalist Mark Boals from the Trilogy album, longtime collaborator, keyboardist Mats Olausson, and an unusual drummer, Tommy Aldridge (who has been in OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE, PAT TRAVERS BAND, etc.). The first stop on the tour was South America, where Yngwie played to sold-out crowds in Brazil and Argentina. The band then traveled to the U.S., Japan, and Europe, and while grunge swept the world, Yngwie's shows still maintained large crowds, proving that hard rock/heavy metal, with its speed, power, and melody, isn't dead, and that it's still very much alive and kicking.
The '96 tour continued through the end of the year, a tour that saw Yngwie break 12 guitars. The audience response was so enthusiastic that Yngwie went into the studio with renewed confidence. This time the album will be very special.
After months of hard work, Yngwie finally wrote his first classical work, Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar And Orchestra in Eb Minor, Op. 1, at Studio 308 in Miami. In January 1997, Yngwie traveled to Prague to begin official recording sessions. The orchestra was the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which had just celebrated its 100th birthday. After three days of recording work, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's conductor Yoel Levi, Yngwie's dream of many years was finally realized.
For some reason, anxious fans had to wait until 1998 to hear this extraordinary album, and the wait was nothing - many fans had been waiting since 1984, when Yngwie's debut album was released.
Without waiting to celebrate the release of Strings, Yngwie returned to Miami to record Facing the Animal, scheduled for release in '98. The new album features veteran Cozy Powell on drums. The album, with its dark moods and heavy rhythms, is an outstanding album in the eyes of both critics and fans, and is considered to be Yngwie's strongest work in the last decade. Promoted by Mercury Records, Yngwie's European and American distribution agent, Yngwie finally received considerable attention in the U.S., with interviews and reviews of the album popping up in various European and American magazines.
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Yngwie's life
In April of '98, the Yngwie's weren't available to take on their new roles as parents, as they were on the road touring together. The show wasn't delayed by the birth of little Antonio, so it wasn't until three weeks after the baby was born that he got his ID. In April, Yngwie, like all fathers, was in high spirits, cracking jokes on airplanes, trains and automobiles.
As Yngwie celebrated the birth of his son, he also had to deal with a tragic loss for the entire rock-music community: the senseless loss of Cozy Powell in a horrific car crash in England. Shaken, Yngwie decided to continue Facing the Animal's touring program, and he recruited new drummer Jonas Ostman to join him on the road. The band went on to play shows in Japan, South America, and Europe, and a successful show in Brazil was recorded and released as a live album simply titled Yngwie Malmsteen Live!
After the tour, Yngwie returned home to Miami and began to adjust to being a father.
Fatherhood made Yngwie challenging again, and his enthusiasm and ambition began to return to the levels of fifteen years earlier. The new album Alchemy, released in 1999, was almost a return to the hard-edged style of Rising Force, and the sound was a bit more European than the previous Facing the Animal. This return to his roots has boosted Yngwie's standing with critics and fans alike, and many long-lost fans have returned to Yngwie's music. At a time when Rap Metal and Hardcore are so prevalent in the US, Yngwie brings us a fresh breeze of the most straightforward Heavy Metal, and it can be said that Alchemy is European music produced in the US, and this kind of music always excites us.
Yngwie Malmsteen has been through all kinds of ups and downs in his 20 years of music, and his debut, Rising Force, has certainly been immortalized. Although he has released a number of musically uncharacteristic albums in those 20 years, his latest work gives us hope. Let's look forward to Yngwie continuing to bring us true heavy metal in the new century.