| Birth name | Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Yngwie J. Malmsteen |
| Born | June 30, 1963 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Genre(s) | Neo-classical metal, power metal |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, Composer, Vocalist |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, sitar, cello |
| Years active | 1978 - present |
| Label(s) | Polydor, Polygram, Elektra |
| Associated acts | Steeler, Alcatrazz |
| Website | Official website |
Biography
Early lifeMalmsteen was born on June 30, 1963, as the first child of a musically talented family in Stockholm, Sweden. At age seven, he saw a television news report on the death of Jimi Hendrix. To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Malmsteen was born". At the age of 10 he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, slightly changed it to Malmsteen, and Anglicised his given name Yngve to "Yngwie". Malmsteen was a teenager when he first encountered the music of the 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical music influence.
Through his emulation of Paganini concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical fluency. Malmsteen's guitar style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen also cites Brian May of Queen, Steve Hackett of Genesis, Uli Jon Roth, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple as influences.
1980sIn late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the U.S. by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N' Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising Force in 1984, which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums. His album was really meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of Rising Force.
Rising Force won the Guitar Player Magazine's award for Best Rock Album and was also nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Rock Instrumental', achieving #60 on the Billboard album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released Marching Out (1985). Jeff Scott Soto filled vocal duties on these initial albums. His third album, Trilogy, featuring the vocals of Mark Boals, was released in 1986. In 1987, another singer, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar XKE into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During his time in the hospital, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer. In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad. The concert in Leningrad was the largest ever by a western artist in the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
Malmsteen's "Neo-classical" style of metal became moderately popular during the mid 1980s, with contemporaries such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore becoming prominent. MacAlpine came to the neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arrived at a similar style because he shared Malmsteen's major influences. In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature Fender StratocasterEric Clapton the first artists to be honored by Fender. guitar was released, making him and
1990s
In the early 1990s Malmsteen released the albums Eclipse (1990), The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh Sign (1994). Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s 1980s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and lengthy, virtuoso shred guitar solos had become unfashionable in the US.
In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following from some fans in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague. In 1993, Malmsteen's mother-in-law, who was opposed to his engagement with her daughter, had him arrested for threatening her with a shotgun and holding her daughter against her will [1]. The charges against Malmsteen were dropped when he denied the incident.
2000s
After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Malmsteen went on tour with former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour, Jorn left before the recording of Malmsteen's next album, Attack!!. He was replaced by former RainbowDoogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's albums Black Utopia (2003), and Blood of the Snake (2006) where Malmsteen is heard on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and Zakk Wylde. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law- possibly alluded to his status as a guitarist. vocalist
Malmsteen released Unleash the Fury in 2005. He is married to April and has a son named Antonio after Antonio Vivaldi, and they live in Miami, Florida. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, he owned a black 1985 308 GTS[2] for 18 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO.[3] In the mid-2000s, he gave up smoking and drinking alcohol (date: April 2007). In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession.[4] February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens was to be released in July 2008, but has been pushed back to August 6th, 2008.
Equipment
Guitars
Malmsteen uses Fender Stratocasters, especially vintage instruments from 1968 through 1972. His Strats tend to feature scalloped fingerboards and DiMarzio HS-3 pickups, and (more recently) the staggered-polepiece HS-3 released as the Dimarzio YJM. He routinely disconnects the middle pickup and tone controls on his guitars. Malmsteen briefly used Schecter Guitars in the 1980s, who built him Stratocaster-style guitars similar to his Fenders. While in Alcatrazz, he also used Aria Pro II.
Live equipment
Malmsteen uses vintage 1972 Marshall amplifiers for his live performances, sometimes performing with a "wall" of up to 27 vintage Marshall 4x12 Cabinets with Celestion G12T-75 (75 watt) speakers. All of the 24 heads on the cabinets are Vintage 1972 Mark II Marshall 50 Watt heads. Floor effect pedals consist of a BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer, Roland DC-10 analog echo pedal, vintage Dunlop Cry-Baby Wah Pedal, Moog Taurus Bass Pedals, BOSS OC-2 Octave, DOD 250 Overdrive Pre-Amp pedal, BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor and a Custom Audio Electronics switching system for his effects rack.
Malmsteen's guitars onstage are 1968-1972 Fender Stratocasters. For his acoustic sets, Malmsteen uses a nylon strung electro-acoustic black or white Ovation Viper. Prior to the Ovations, Malmsteen used Aria, Alvarez & Gibson classical acoustics on stage. Malmsteen regularly performs onstage with a custom light top, heavy bottom string gauge ranging from 0.08 through 0.48 gauge, which are considered by most guitarists to be very thin, especially with the downtuning used. Malmsteen's picks are Jim Dunlop 1.5 white.
YJM308 Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive
Malmsteen has used the DOD250 overdrive pedal exclusively, and assisted DOD in re-creating the tonal qualities of the original, gray DOD250 pedal as his signature model YJM308 overdrive. Yngwie's signature overdrive pedal was first removed from guitar sites and stores at the end of April but was released again a week later, but has now been taken off of shelves for good. [5] He now often uses the re-creation, named YJM308 after Malmsteen's initials and the name of his favorite car, the Ferrari 308.[6] [7]
Current members
- Tim "Ripper" Owens - lead vocals (2008-present)
- Yngwie Malmsteen - guitars (1978-present)
- Michael Troy - keyboards (2007-present)
- Bjorn Englen - bass (2008-present)
- Patrick Johansson - drums, percussion (2001-present)
