" Yngwie Malmsteen "Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (
pronounced /ˈɪŋveɪ ˈmɑːlmstiːn/ in English) (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30, 1963 in
Stockholm, Sweden) is a
Swedish guitarist,
composer and
bandleader. Widely recognised for his expert guitar skills, Malmsteen achieved widespread acclaim in the 1980s for his technical fluency and his use of the
shred guitar technique, and
neo-classical metal genre.
Early life
Malmsteen was born on June 30, 1963 into a musically talented family in
Stockholm, Sweden. Malmsteen was the youngest child in the family. On September 18, 1970, at age seven, he saw a television news broadcast reporting on the death of
Jimi Hendrix which caused him to become obsessed with the guitar. The news segment showed only a clip of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar, but no actual songs. 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 Malmsteen as his surname, 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 also cites Jimi Hendrix,
Brian May of
Queen,
Steve Hackett of
Genesis,
Uli Jon Roth, and
Ritchie Blackmore of
Deep Purple as influences. His nickname at the time in Stockholm was 'Ritchie Blackmore'.
Malmsteen broke new ground and contributed to the evolution of modern rock guitar, particularly with his embracing of modal progressions and classically-influenced techniques that are less common in rock music. He is often credited, along with
Randy Rhoads, with increasing the popularity of the neoclassical heavy metal genre and inspiring a new generation of electric guitarists including
Paul Gilbert,
Michael Romeo,
Jason Becker,
Chris Impellitteri, and
Tony MacAlpine.
1980s
In 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. It was a success; it was the winner of
Guitar Player Magazine's 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, yet 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. In a tragic twist of fate, 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]
In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature
Fender Stratocaster guitar was released, making him and
Eric Clapton the first artists to be honoured by
Fender.
Malmsteen's "
Neo-classical" style of metal became moderately popular during the mid 1980s, with notable contemporaries such as
Jason Becker,
Paul Gilbert,
Marty Friedman,
Tony MacAlpine and
Vinnie Moore all reaching prominence following Malmsteen. Of that group only Paul Gilbert and Jason Becker claimed Malmsteen as an influence.[
citation needed] MacAlpine coming to the neoclassical/
shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arriving at a similar style because he shared Malmsteen's major influences,
Ritchie Blackmore of
Deep Purple and
Al Di Meola.
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 stylings of 1980s heavy metal had become unfashionable in the USA. It was quickly displaced by the
Seattle grunge movement, where songs that showcased instrumental technical ability were largely shunned.
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. The charges against Malmsteen were quickly dropped when he denied that the incident ever occurred.
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
Rainbow vocalist
Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans, and to date he remains a member of the band.
In 2003, Malmsteen joined
Joe Satriani and
Steve Vai as part of the
G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two rare 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.
Malmsteen released
Unleash the Fury in 2005. As stated in an issue of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after the infamous 'airline incident', which occurred in a flight to Japan for the 'Odyssey' tour. He was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, until he fell asleep and was roused by a woman pouring a jug of iced water on him. Enraged, he shouted, "You released the fucking fury!" The audio from this incident was caught on tape by a fellow band member.
He is married to April and has a son named Antonio after
Antonio Vivaldi. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, he owned a black 1985 308 GTS for 18 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO. In recent years, Yngwie has given up both smoking and drinking alcohol (date: April 2007). The Malmsteen family lives in Miami, Florida.
In 2007, Malmsteen was honoured in the
Xbox 360 version of
Guitar Hero II. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession.
Currently, Malmsteen is working on his next studio album slated for an Autumn 2007 or an early 2008 release.
