Allan Holdsworth was a British jazz and rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and Bruford, in addition to solo work.
John Peter Farnham is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed until then as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist, although he replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band from 1982 to 1985.
Shawn Lane was an American musician who released two studio albums and collaborated with a variety of musicians including Ringo Starr, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Reggie Young, Joe Walsh, Jonas Hellborg, Anders Johansson, Jens Johansson and many others. After studying the piano, he learned to play the guitar, which he played with exceptional speed.
Derek Sherinian is an American keyboardist of Armenian descent who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X and also one of the founding members of Black Country Communion, Sons of Apollo, and Whom Gods Destroy. He has released nine solo albums that have featured a variety of prominent guest musicians, including guitarists Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Michael Schenker, Steve Vai and Al Di Meola, and extensively drummer Simon Phillips.
Virgil Donati is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Donati formed Planet X with Derek Sherinian and was the band's principal composer on all their albums. He also performed in Melbourne with Jack Jones in a Van Halen tribute band known as Hans Valen before inviting Jones into Donati's own bands The State and Southern Sons. Donati is widely regarded as one of the most technically advanced drummers of all time.
Planet X was an instrumental rock supergroup, founded by keyboardist Derek Sherinian and drummer Virgil Donati. They were active for a decade, releasing three studio albums and a live album, each with a variety of guest musicians and oft-changing lineups.
Frank Gambale is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.
Ty Tabor is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the hard rock band King's X. Tabor has a wide-ranging guitar style, from big guitar riffs to middling melodic passages. His use of volume swells and ambient passages add an elemental texture to his compositions. He names his main influences as the Beatles, Allan Holdsworth, Johnny Winter, Ace Frehley, Mel Galley, Brian May, Alex Lifeson, Phil Keaggy, and the original Alice Cooper band. In 2008, Tabor was added to the guitar show "Chop Shop's" list of "Top 100 Most Complete Guitar Players of All Time" at number 84.
Todd Joseph “T. J.” Helmerich is an American musician and audio engineer.
Anthony James Franklin is an English rock musician, best known for his work on the fretless bass guitar with Roy Harper, The Firm, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, John Sykes' Blue Murder, David Gilmour, Kate Bush, Whitesnake, Lou Gramm, Gary Hoey and most recently with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Planet X is the first studio album by keyboardist Derek Sherinian, released on July 13, 1999 through Magna Carta Records. The album was devised after Sherinian left progressive metal band Dream Theater in January 1999. He then joined drummer Virgil Donati in forming a band also named Planet X, which released their own first album Universe in 2000. Guitarist Brett Garsed, who plays on Planet X, would later return on the band Planet X's album Quantum in 2007.
Universe is the first studio album by the instrumental rock/progressive metal band Planet X, released on June 6, 2000 through Inside Out Music. The album is essentially a continuation of keyboardist Derek Sherinian's 1999 debut solo release Planet X, but this time as a full band effort featuring guitarist Tony MacAlpine and drummer Virgil Donati.
Alex Machacek is an Austrian jazz fusion guitarist.
Paul Mirkovich is an American musician from Los Angeles. He has been the band leader, keyboardist and duet singing partner for Cher for the last 16 years. He has also been the band director for Janet Jackson and Anastacia and a member of the multi-platinum bands Whitesnake and Nelson. Mirkovich played a role in Brett Garsed and T. J. Helmerich's albums Quid pro quo (1992) and Exempt (1993). Paul has also performed and recorded with Peter Gabriel and Shawn Colvin, among many others. Paul and the House Band toured the United States with Paul Stanley in October/November 2006 as well as Australia in April 2007.
Whispering Jack is the twelfth studio album by Australian adult contemporary pop singer John Farnham. It was produced by Ross Fraser and released on 29 September 1986, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart. Whispering Jack became the second-best-selling album in Australia, behind only Meat Loaf's album Bat Out of Hell, and the highest-selling album in Australia by an Australian artist―24× platinum, indicating over 1.68 million copies sold; it remains the third-best-selling album of all time in Australia, as Shania Twain's Come On Over eventually eclipsed it. It spent 25 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the albums chart during 1986–1987, it was awarded the 1987 ARIA Award for Album of the Year, and it was the best-charting album for the decade of the 1980s in Australia. It was the first Australian-made album to be released on compact disc within Australia. One of Farnham's biggest hits, "You're the Voice", was issued as the lead single from the album and peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report singles chart.
David Hirschfelder is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for many films, including Strictly Ballroom, Australia, The Railway Man, The Water Diviner and The Dressmaker. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his scores for Shine and Elizabeth.
Chris Brooks is an Australian author, rock, metal and fusion guitarist most noted for his debut instrumental album The Master Plan and his subsequent work with members of Yngwie Malmsteen, Black Sabbath, Lana Lane, and fellow Australians LORD.
Chain Reaction is the 14th studio album by Australian singer John Farnham. It was released in Australia on 24 September 1990, becoming the highest selling album in Australia for that year, which debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA albums chart. By the end of the following year it was accredited 7× platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 490,000 units.
Mark Varney Project (MVP) was a short-lived collaborative project put together by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney.
