Yngwie Johan Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal playing style in heavy metal, and has released 20 studio albums in a career spanning almost 40 years. In 2009, Time magazine rated Malmsteen as among the 10 greatest electric guitar players of all time.
Joseph Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, with many of his former students achieving fame, such as Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan, and Alex Skolnick; he then went on to have a successful solo music career. He is a 15-time Grammy Award nominee and has sold over 10 million albums, making him the biggest-selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.
Saul Hudson, better known by his stage name Slash, is a British–American musician and songwriter. He is the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in rock history.
Carlos Santanaaudio (help·info) is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Christopher Cross is the self-titled debut album by Christopher Cross, released in December 1979. Recorded in mid-1979, the album was one of the early digitally recorded albums, utilizing the 3M Digital Recording System. In 1981, it won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, famously beating Pink Floyd's The Wall. It has been noted for being one of the most influential soft rock albums of the early 1980s.
John Clayton Mayer is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but disenrolled and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook. Together, they formed a short-lived two-man band called Lo-Fi Masters. After their split, Mayer continued to play local clubs, refining his skills and gaining a following. After his appearance at the 2001 South by Southwest Festival, he was signed to Aware Records, and then Columbia Records, which released his first EP, Inside Wants Out. His following two full-length albums—Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003)—did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
Two Against Nature is the eighth studio album by Steely Dan. The album was released on February 29, 2000, by Giant Records. The album won the group four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It marked the first Steely Dan studio album in 20 years, following 1980's Gaucho. It has been certified platinum in the United States.
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group is best known for a string of (mainly) mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock radio, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band’s contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love and more. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schecter, Jerry Jones Guitars, Burns London and many other companies have produced electric baritone guitars since the 1960s, although always in small numbers due to low popularity. Tacoma, Santa Cruz, Taylor, Martin, Alvarez Guitars and others have made acoustic baritone guitars.
Elton John is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, released on 10 April 1970 by DJM Records. It was released by Uni Records as John's debut album in the United States; many people there assumed it was his first album, as Empty Sky was not released in that country until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough single "Your Song", and helped to establish his career during what was considered the "singer-songwriter" era of popular music. In the US, it was certified gold in February 1971 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In the same year, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Madman Across the Water is the fourth studio album by Elton John, released in 1971 through DJM and Uni Records.
Can't Slow Down is the second solo studio album by American recording artist Lionel Richie. It was released on October 11, 1983 by Motown Records. It has sold over 20 million copies, and is Richie's best-selling album of all time. Five singles were released from Can't Slow Down, all of which hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including two that reached #1: "All Night Long " and "Hello". The album also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1985.
Trio is the first collaborative studio album by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album sold over 4 million copies worldwide and also received several awards, including two Grammy Awards. Parton, Ronstadt, and Harris released a second album, Trio II, in 1999 and a third, The Complete Trio Collection, in 2016.
Paul Stanley is a 1978 solo album from Paul Stanley, the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of American hard rock band Kiss. It was one of four solo albums released by the members of Kiss on September 18, 1978. It is the only album of the four Kiss solo albums to feature all original songs, as Simmons, Criss and Frehley each recorded one cover song on their albums.
Unchained, also known as American II: Unchained, is the second album in Johnny Cash's American Recordings series. It was released on November 5, 1996, by American Recordings. Like all of Cash's albums for American Recordings, Unchained was produced by Rick Rubin. The album received a Grammy for Best Country Album and Cash was nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his version of "Rusty Cage".
Welcome is the fifth studio album by Santana, released in 1973. It followed the jazz-fusion formula that the preceding Caravanserai had inaugurated, but with an expanded and different lineup this time. Gregg Rolie had left the band along with Neal Schon to form Journey, and they were replaced by Tom Coster, Richard Kermode and Leon Thomas, along with guest John McLaughlin, who had collaborated with Carlos Santana on Love Devotion Surrender. Welcome also featured John Coltrane's widow, Alice, as a pianist on the album's opening track, "Going Home" and Flora Purim on vocals. This album was far more experimental than the first four albums, and Welcome did not produce any hit singles.
The Bradley Barn Sessions is a duet album released in 1994 by American country music artist George Jones.
The Pious Bird of Good Omen is a compilation album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1969. It consists of their first four non-album UK singles and their B-sides, two other tracks from their previous two albums, and two tracks by blues artist Eddie Boyd with backing by members of Fleetwood Mac. These two tracks came from Boyd's album 7936 South Rhodes.
16 Biggest Hits is a 1998 Merle Haggard compilation album. It is part of a series of similar 16 Biggest Hits albums released by Legacy Recordings.
Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes is an album produced by T Bone Burnett featuring a collective of musicians recording under the moniker The New Basement Tapes—Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford.
