Alexander Nathan Skolnick (born September 29, 1968, born and raised in Berkeley, California) is an American jazz and metal guitarist. He was a member of the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament from 1983 until his departure in 1993. He returned briefly to re-record some old material for the band's First Strike is Still Deadly release, as well as the "Thrash of the Titans" all-star performance in 2001, before returning full-time four years later.
Alex Skolnick began to play guitar at 9, he was influenced by Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen. He was a student of Joe Satriani and was one of many guitarists (Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan) to achieve fame. His parents, Jerome and Arlene, are both professors of sociology at New York University and have previously taught at UC Berkeley. Skolnick has an older brother, Michael (b. 1962).
He joined the band Savatage for the recording of Handful of Rain, as well as its follow-up live album and home video release Japan Live '94. He has also recorded and briefly toured with the Stu Hamm band, and played with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In 2004, Skolnick made a guest appearance on Lamb of God's Ashes of the Wake album, recording a solo for the album's instrumental title track. He also briefly played guitar for Ozzy Osbourne in 1995.
Michael Sweet (born 4 July 1963) is a singer from Whittier, California, United States. Sweet is best known as co-founder, writer, lead guitarist, lead vocalist and front man of the Rock band Stryper. He was also one of the two lead vocalists and one of three guitarists for Boston until August 2011.
He began his musical career at age five playing guitar, and at age 12 he began to singing professionally. Sweet is known for his four octave range and his accomplished abilities on the guitar as well. Sweet also learned to play the drums, piano and bass guitar. His interest in Christianity began when he attended church during his childhood.
In the early 1980s, Sweet and his brother started a band called Roxx Regime and played in small venues. They we're a trio for a period of time with Sweet being the only guitar player in the band. This band would later become Stryper. The band challenged the stereotype of heavy metal being satanic and took Christian rock into mainstream.
With the band, Sweet was not only the lead vocalist and lead guitarist, but Sweet also wrote most all of the music for the band as well as co-produced and arranged the music as well. Sweet, along with Stryper, recorded five successful studio albums that reached gold and multi platinum status (over 10 million sales to date) that won him many awards and worldwide fame. However, in the early 1990s, popular rock music was facing shifts in styles and the band's reputation declined.
Joseph "Joe" Satriani (born July 15, 1956) is an American instrumental rock guitarist of Italian origin, multi-instrumentalist and multiple Grammy Award nominee. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, and some of his former students have achieved fame such as Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan and Alex Skolnick. Satriani has been a driving force in music credited to other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the G3 tour, as well as performing in various positions with other musicians.
In 1988, Satriani was recruited by Mick Jagger as lead guitarist for Jagger's first solo tour. In 1994, Satriani was the lead guitarist for Deep Purple. Satriani worked with a range of guitarists, including Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Larry LaLonde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, Patrick Rondat, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, Adrian Legg, and Robert Fripp through the annual G3 Jam Concerts. He is currently the lead guitarist for the supergroup Chickenfoot. Since 1988, Satriani has been using his own signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Series, which is sold in music stores worldwide.
Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. Despite his short career, Rhoads is a major influence on neo-classical metal, and is cited as an influence by many guitarists and is included in several "Greatest Guitarist" lists.
At age 14, Rhoads formed a cover band called Violet Fox (after his mother's middle name, Violet), with his older brother Kelle on drums. Violet Fox staged several performances in the "Grand Salon" at Musonia, Delores Rhoads' music school. Among their setlist was "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain, and songs from The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper and David Bowie. After the dissolution of Violet Fox, Rhoads taught his best friend Kelly Garni how to play bass, and together they formed a band called The Whore (rehearsing during the day at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, a 1970s Hollywood nightspot), spending several months playing at backyard parties around Los Angeles.