Junior Brown (born 1953) is an American country guitarist and singer from Kirksville, Indiana. He first learned to play piano from his father "before I could talk". His music career began in the 1960s, and he worked through that decade and the next developing his astonishing guitar skills. By the mid-80s he was teaching guitar at the Hank Thompson School of Country Music at Rogers State University, in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Taken from their web-pages (www.fabulousthunderbirds.com)
For the past 30 years, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been the quintessential American band. The group's distinctive and powerful sound, influenced by a diversity of musical styles, manifested itself into a unique musical hybrid via such barnburners as "Tuff Enuff" and "Wrap It Up". Co-founder Kim Wilson, the sole original member, still spearheads the group as it evolves into its newest incarnation.
Michael Landau is a jazz/blues/rock/fusion guitarist based out of Los Angeles. His unique style features an ability to master incredibly difficult technique while demonstrating a wealth of harmonic and tonal ingenuity. His songwriting ability is astounding and underrated, as such masterful compositions such as "Johnny Swing" and "Me/Five Storks" show that Landau is not just a soloist and guru, but a true genius of blues/rock compositions.
Al Di Meola's highly celebrated career has spanned a wide range of emotions into a unique style embodying the artists world inspired influences. From the velocity and heat of his early solo efforts to the challenge and triumph of the "Di Meola / McLaughlin / De Lucia (Guitar Trio)", from the Brazilian explorations of "Cielo e Terra" and "Soaring Through A Dream" to the global romanticism and Tango inflection of Al's acoustic group "World Synfonia" (self titled debut) and the 2nd "World Sinfonia" recording Heart of the Immigrants.
Van Halen is a hard rock band which formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, United States. The band was originally called Mammoth and changed their name to Van Halen by 1974. The band's first studio album, "Van Halen", released in 1978, is widely regarded as a milestone in rock music. With this first release, the band, featuring David Lee Roth on vocals, Michael Anthony on bass, and Dutch-born Edward Van Halen on guitars (and also keyboards later) and brother Alex Van Halen on drums, established itself as a leader in the emerging and commercially successful U.
The band debuted in 2006 with shows in Europe, Canada and the United States during May and June (the tour was also known as Zappa Plays Zappa - Tour de Frank'). The shows presented a collection of Frank Zappa's rock-oriented compositions from 1960s to 1980s. Apart from Dweezil Zappa on lead guitar, the band consisted of a mix of relatively unknown young musicians and older musicians who previously played with Frank Zappa.
Lakshminarayanan Shankar (born April 26, 1950), also known as L. Shankar, Shankar or Shenkar, is a violinist, vocalist and composer. Early life
L. Shankar was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu. Growing up in Jaffna, Ceylon, where his father V. Lakshminarayan was a professor at the Jaffna College of Music, Shankar was exposed to Carnatic music and other styles from an early age. His father was an esteemed violinist, his mother L.
Michael Joseph Keneally (Born December 20, 1961) is an American musician.
Born in Long Island, New York, he moved to San Diego, California at an early age and has been a fixture on the local music scene there since 1985 when he formed the local cult band, Drop Control.
Although a well established musician in his own right, Keneally is probably most well known as former Frank Zappa "stunt guitarist" and a Zappa 1988 tour band member.
Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerb
While most bluesy hard rock acts of the '70s and '80s hailed from the United States (the south, to be exact), there were several exceptions to the rule, such as Canadian singer/guitarist Pat Travers. Born in Toronto on April 12, 1954, Travers first picked up the guitar just prior to entering his teens, after witnessing a local performance by the great Jimi Hendrix. It wasn't long before Travers was studying the other top rock guitarists of the day (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, etc.), and paying his dues by playing in bar bands in the Quebec area.
