Mike Varney is an American musician, record producer, music publisher and impresario. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Records, a New York-based label.Amazon.com currently lists over 790 albums as being released by record labels founded or owned by Mike Varney. He is often credited with being the individual most responsible for popularizing the mid-1980s shred guitar boom, and has continuously specialized in producing highly acclaimed musicians within the genres of instrumental rock, hard rock, jazz, jazz fusion, blues, blues-rock, progressive metal and speed metal.

Some of the most recognized artists that have been produced by Varney, or have featured on his labels, include Yngwie Malmsteen, David Lee Roth, Kansas, Shawn Lane, Victor Wooten, Frank Gambale, Eric Johnson, John Scofield, Dennis Chambers, Warren Haynes, Scott Henderson, Stuart Hamm, Tony MacAlpine, Eric Gales, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Steve Smith, Greg Howe, Liquid Tension Experiment, Doug Pinnick, Mike Portnoy, Great White, Paul Gilbert, Nicole Couch, Michelle Meldrum, Phantom Blue, Michael Landau, Mike Stern, Winger, W.A.S.P., Steeler and Racer X.

Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988. Cacophony broke up in 1989 and Becker began doing solo work, having released his first album Perpetual Burn in 1988. He later joined David Lee Roth's band and recorded one album with him. However, Becker's success was hampered by his then-diagnosed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and he was given three to five years to live. In 1996, Becker eventually lost the ability to speak and now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. Despite his disability, he continues composing by using a computer and has since released Collection, a "best of" album of his favorite songs and three new songs.

Becker was born and raised in the city, Richmond, California by his parents, Gary and Pat Becker. He was born on 23rd Street in Richmond Hospital in 1969. He graduated from Kennedy High School where he performed Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star with his band at a talent show. [1] In high school, Becker met his friend Marty Friedman. He was exposed to the guitar at an early age because both his father and his uncle were guitar players. He absorbed all kinds of music from around the world, and melded different aspects of each style into his playing. He practiced to Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, and many others. [2]

Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966 in Illinois, USA) is an American guitarist. He is well known for his technical guitar work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums and numerous collaborations and guest appearances with other musicians.

He has been voted number 4 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time", as well as a spot in Guitar World's 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time list.

Gilbert was raised in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Around 1981-82, he first contacted Mike Varney, founder of Shrapnel Records, asking for a gig with Ozzy Osbourne. At the time, Varney couldn't think why Osbourne would want a 15 year old guitarist, but after listening to his demo he changed his mind. Gilbert was featured in Guitar Player magazine at the age of fifteen. They talked for the next 3 years, until Paul went to L.A. for the GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology), and then was ready to record Racer X's debut album Street Lethal.

Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the lead singer for the group Talisman from 1990 till the end of Talisman in 2007, the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and for stepping up to the job of lead vocalist for Journey on their 2006-2007 tours after Steve Augeri had to leave the band because of an acute throat infection. His style is typical of heavy metal vocalists of the 1980s, but he is also influenced by classic soul music singers such as Sam Cooke as well as Journey vocalist Steve Perry, and Freddie Mercury from Queen.

Soto came to prominence in the early 1980s via his involvement with several Yngwie Malmsteen records. The bands Soto has been involved in included Panther, Axel Rudi Pell, Eyes, Talisman, Takara, Humanimal, Human Clay, Kryst The Conqueror, Redlist, The Boogie Knights and Soul Sirkus.

Soto has sung background vocals on several albums by artists such as Lita Ford, Steelheart, Fergie Frederiksen, Glass Tiger, House Of Lords, Stryper, Saigon Kick, and many others.

Stoney Curtis is an American pornographic actor, director and producer. He founded the adult film companies Celestial Productions in 1998, and Lethal Hardcore in 2004. In 2010 he was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.