From: letostak@netcom.com (Judy Letostak) letostak@netcom.com taken from the Yngwie Malmsteen Fan Club Malmsteen's Militia P.O. Box 5032 Tallahassee, FL 32301, USA ===================Yngwie Malmsteen BIO============================== as of 3/95 Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on the last day of June, 1963. That same year, the Beatles had just emerged from Liverpool. England, soon to make their mark on music history. But it would be another twenty years before a lanky, tousel-haired Swede with hungry eyes would stand the music world on its head once again. The intervening years before the day in February 1983 when Yngwie J. Malmsteen stepped off the plane in Los Angeles provided an environment ripe for the development of a musical prodigy. The marriage between Yngwie's army captain father and artistic free spirit mother ended in divorce not long after Yngwie was born. The youngest child in a permissive household that included his mother Rigmor, sister Ann Louise, and brother Bjorn, Yngwie (named, his mother claimed, for an old boyfriend) was wild and unruly, and delighted in "anything that had a lot of violence in it". Music, especially guitar playing, was reserved for wimps, and young Yngwie would have none of it. Early attempts at piano and trumpet lessons failed to take hold, and the acoustic guitar his mother bought him at age 5 hung untouched on the wall. It wasn't until September 18, 1970 when Yngwie saw a TV special on the death of guitar iconoclast Jimi Hendrix, that a flame ignited in his mind. Seven year old Yngwie watched with awe as Hendrix blasted the audience with torrents of feedback and sacrificed his guitar in flames. The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born. Applying his intense curiosity and tenacity to first an old Mosrite and then a cheap Stratocaster, Yngwie immersed himself in the music of such bands as Deep Purple and spend long hours unlocking the secrets of both the instrument and the music. His admiration for Ritchie Blackmore's classically influenced playing led him, through his sister's direction, back to the source: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mozart. As Yngwie absorbed the classical structures of the masters, his prodigious style began to take shape and with Band-Aids covering his sore fingers, he continued playing for hours each day. By age 10, he had taken his mother's maiden name of Malmsteen, focused all his energies into music, and largely stopped going to school. At school he was often branded a trouble-maker, getting into frequent fights with people "who behaved stupidly", and excelling in the two classes that interested him, English and Art. His mother, who recognized his unique musical gifts, allowed him to stay home with his records and his guitar, where his mastery of the instrument progressed unobstructed. The missing link, however, between the formal structures of classical music and the flamboyant performance of Hendrix was supplied by the music of another virtuoso, 19th century violinist Nicolo Paganini. Watching a Russian violinist perform Paganini's 24 Caprices on television. Yngwie understood at last how to marry his love of classical music with his burgeoning guitar skills and onstage charisma. By age 15, pulling off such antics as riding his motorbike through the school hallway, it was clear that school had no place for him, and he left for good. He worked for a time as a luthier in a guitar repair shop, putting his woodworking skills to good use. It was here that he encountered a scalloped neck for the first time when a 17th century lute came into the shop. The wood of the neck was carved out so that the peaks formed the frets. Intrigued, Yngwie scalloped the neck of an old guitar in similar fashion and was impressed enough with the results to try it on his better guitars. The scalloped fretboard was somewhat more difficult to play than a normal neck, but his control over the strings was so improved that Yngwie immediately adopted i as a permanent alteration to his equipment. About this time, Malmsteen began playing in a number of bands built around his explosive guitar style, with long instrumental explorations that tried both the ears and the patience of a Swedish listening public more used to the pop anthems of ABBA. When he turned 18, the army tried to recruit him as officer material, based on his high intelligence test scores. Appearing possessed as only Yngwie can do, he held a gun to his temple and vowed he'd rather die than serve in the military. Convinced, the recruiters sent him packing. Yngwie returned to his music in earnest. In an early incarnation of Rising Force, Yngwie and several friends recorded a demo set of three songs for Swedish CBS, but the cuts were never released. Frustrated, Yngwie knew he would have to leave Sweden to get anywhere, and he began sending demo tapes to record companies and music contacts abroad. One such tape found its way into the hands of Guitar Player contributor and Shrapnel Music founder Mike Varney. Yngwie was invited to Los Angeles to join Shrapnel's new band Steeler--and the rest, as they say, is history. Built around Ron Keel, Steeler's debut album proved to be a typical heavy metal slugfest memorable mainly for Yngwie's now-legendary unaccompanied solo intro to "Hot On Your Heels". By the time the album became a cult favorite, Yngwie had already moved on to Alcatrazz, a Rainbow-style band founded by singer Graham Bonnett. Although Alcatrazz produced some of Yngwie's most incendiary solo flights, including "Kree Nakoorie", Jet to Jet" and "Hiroshima, Mon Amour", it also proved to be too limiting, and the only clear course was to go solo. Yngwie's first solo album, Rising Force (now considered the bible for neoclassical rock) made it to #60 on the Billboard charts, an impressive feat for a mostly instrumental guitar album with no commercial airplay. The album also gained Yngwie a Grammy nomination for best rock instrumental performance. Soon the honors came rolling in: He was voted Best New Talent in several reader's polls. Best Rock Guitarist the year after, and Rising Force became Album of the Year. Powered by the jaw-dropping guitar/keyboard duals of Yngwie and longtime friend Jens Johansson, the band Rising Force blazed a trail on the concert circuit that established Yngwie as one of rock guitar's brightest new stars and added a new genre to the music lexicon: neoclassical rock. Yngwie's neoclassical compositions reached new heights in the 1986 album Trilogy. To this day, it remains one of his favorites, both in lyrical content and musical performance. At this point, Yngwie's influence on guitar technique and composition was undeniable, although hoards of clones and Malmsteen wannabes tried to copy his style without understanding his unique musical vision. Lacking Yngwie's musicality, the clones merely sounded like proficient typists, ultimately casting a negative light on the neoclassical approach. In the following year, on June 22, 1987, just shy of his 24th birthday, Yngwie wrapped his Jaguar around a tree, breaking the steering wheel with his head. The resulting concussion caused a blood clot in his brain that damaged the nerves running to his right hand. After lying unconscious in a coma for nearly a week, Yngwie pulled through, only to find his picking hand totally useless. Afraid that his career might be over, he painfully began therapy to bring the hand back to life, impatiently waiting for the damaged nerves to regenerate. Not long out of danger himself, he learned that his mother, the main inspiration of his life, had died in Sweden of cancer. To further complicate things, a duplicitous manager had squandered Yngwie's earnings, leaving him virtually penniless in the face of mounting medical bills. Rather than completely giving up as many people would have done, Yngwie pulled himself together and turned once again to music for his salvation. The result was Odyssey, not one of Yngwie's favorites, but highly acclaimed for its accessibility and broader audience appeal. The hit single and video "Heaven Tonight" gave Yngwie his first taste of heavy rotation airplay and pushed album sales just short of gold status in the U.S. With ex-Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner as frontman, the Odyssey tour brought Yngwie in contact with a new audience not made up exclusively of aspiring guitarists. By February 1989, the show rolled into the Soviet Union for a groundbreaking series of sold-out concerts in both Moscow and Leningrad (preceding Bon Jovi's Moscow Peace Festival by nearly six months). After the final performance, which resulted in the gold-selling home video Live in Leningrad / Trial By Fire, the band members went their separate ways and the name Rising Force was retired for good. Beginning a new phase of his career, Yngwie moved to Miami, Florida, and recruited a new band consisting of fellow Swedes. Anchoring the lead vocalist slot was ex-John Norum singer Goran Edman, whose versatile tenor adapted easily to Yngwie's demanding melodies. Other positions were filled with musicians who were not well known outside Sweden but whose musical talents were exceptional: symphony orchestra bassist Svante Henryson, experienced studio keyboarist and arranger Mats Olausson, and drummer Michael von Knorring. The new lineup's first album, Eclipse, recorded and mixed at Miami's Criteria Studios, proved that Yngwie could write radio-ready accessible material without sacrificing his classical style. Poor promotion by troubled record company Polygram stunted sales in the U.S. but gold and platinum status in Japan and Europe vindicated Yngwie's decision to leave Rising Force behind. In mounting frustration, Yngwie made the decision to leave Polygram in what was to be a less than amicable parting. As Yngwie has often said, his life always seems to be "fire and ice, either really good or really bad with no in-between." Once the negative situation with Polygram had been eliminated, things began to look up. New manager Nigel Thomas was hard at work on Yngwie's behalf, and by March of 1991 Yngwie had signed with Elektra Records. On the personal side, he married Swedish pop singer Erika Norberg on May 8, 1991 but the marriage lasted only a year. The couple was divorced in April 1992, just as Yngwie's Fire and Ice World Tour got underway. Yngwie's debut for Elektra, Fire & Ice, reached back to the noncommercial perfection of his best compositions. The album burned with his personal emotions while showcasing the classical structures of the Baroque composers who are his heros. With this album, Yngwie was finally able to accomplish a lifelong desire to record with an orchestra, which appears in his arrangement of Bach's "Badinerie" from Orchestral Suite No.2 and in the solo break for "Cry No More". Critically acclaimed for composition and performance, Fire & Ice debuted in Japan at #1 ("Ichiban") and sold over 100,000 copies on the day of its release. The album reached gold and platinum status across Europe and Asia. By June 1992, Yngwie returned to Miami to rest and eventually begin work on new compositions. Unfortunately. development of the new album was hampered by a devastating series of events. Hurricane Andrew flattened much of Miami in August 1992, then Nigel Thomas, Yngwie's manager for 4 years, died of a heart attack in January, 1993, and in March Yngwie learned that Elektra had dropped him from their roster. In July, 1993, Yngwie broke his right hand in a freak accident, and in August he was the victim of a false arrest which made international news. In September, all charges against Yngwie were dropped, and by October his hand had healed completely. A contract was signed with Japan's Pony Canyon label, and serious recording got underway with new singer Michael Vescera (ex-Loudness), drummer Mike Terrana (ex-Tony McAlpine), keyboardist Mats Olausson, and Yngwie on bass. Barry Sparks from L.A. was later chosen as the tour bassist. On December 26, 1993, Yngwie and Amber Landin of Phoenix, Arizona, were married in Stockholm, Sweden. On Feb 3, the new band lineup began rehearsals for the upcoming world tour. The new album, entitled "The Seventh Sign" was released in Japan on Feb 18 1994. It quickly reached #1 on the International charts and was certified triple platinum in Japan. CMC International Records picked up the distribution rights for Europe and America, and worked vigorously to promote the new album worldwide. Yngwie's 7th Sign tour played to sold out audiences in Japan and Europe, interspersed with club appearances in the U.S. New label CMC worked vigorously to rebuild Yngwie's core audience and get the album played on the airwaves. =========================================================================== Yngwie Malmsteen Born: Sockholm, Sweeden 6/30/63 Current Residence: Miami, Florida Main Influences: J.S. Bach, Niccolo Paganini, Jimi Hendrix Ritchie Blackmore Main Guitars: Fender Stratocasters with scalloped fingerboards, DiMarzio HS3 pickups Outboard Gear: Bob Bradshaw-designed rig that includes two Korg SDD-1000 digital delays, Korg SDD-2000 sampling digital delay, Korg DVP-1 vocoder, Rocktron Hush II-C noise-reduction unit, and Boss Octaver. Moog Taurus bass pedals, CryBaby wah-wah, Samson Broadcast Series wireless. Main Amps: Marshall Mk. II 50-Watt heads and Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Celestion G12 25-watt speakers Strings: Ernie Ball stainless-steel, gauges .008, .011, .014, .026, .036, .046 Picks: Dunlop 1.5mm Yngwie Malmsteen's Setup from 1985 "Marching Out" rehearsals Originally from Guitar Player May 1985 His Stratocasters have been heavily modified, but from a casual glance, you wouldn't know it. Yngwie gets a kick from making his audience think his equipment is stock. He uses authentic Fender pickup covers to disguise the real pickups underneath: stacked humbuckers specially wound for him by DiMarzio. The stock controls are retained and wired in the standard Strat configuration. There is no special shielding. Yngwie prefers the feel of Fender Strats made in Japan to the latest American versions. He says that the Japanese bodies feel more like vintage Fenders made in the early '60's. He adds, however, that the American controls are best. Several of his guitars utilize left-hand necks on right-hand bodies. Like Jimi Hendrix, he strings these guitars the regular way, with the lightest string towards his toes. He likes this configuration because the string tension is different from a standard guitars. Yngwie also has a standard left-hand Japanese-made Strat that's strung like a right-handed guitar; this model combines different string tensions with an opposite bridge pickup angle. He loves scalloped fingerboards, claiming they make it much easier to bend strings (Larry Carlton shares this view). Several of his Strats are modified this way. In addition to Fender Stratocasters, Yngwie has a couple of Aria Pro II custom guitars that he uses for special sounds in certain songs. One of them is shaped like a Gibson Les Paul and has a tremolo unit. The other is a V-Shaped guitar that sounds like a Strat. Yngwie is a Marshall enthusiast, and his amplifier setup at the rehearsal consisted of two 50-watt Marshall stacks. Both heads were purchased in Europe, and because of their 1971 vintage, the transformers in them are quite different from the ones being sold today. One of the heads is modified, and both use GEC KT-77 output tubes. Yngwie has a unique way of wiring his Marshall heads to his speaker cabinets in an "X" stereo pattern (See below). He also has a different control setting for each stack. His speaker cabinets, which are the same ones used on the last Alcatrazz tour, are relatively new and contain Celestion G-65 12" speakers. Malmsteen's effects at the sessions were few, since he enjoys the natural sound of his guitars without extra gizmos. However, he did have a few choice devices, such as a DOD Booster Preamp to add gain and a little bit of an edge. He commented to me that he would like to have that much gain built into his amps. The DOD Booster Preamp also substantially increases hiss, but Yngwie does not mind, as he loves to play loudly. His only signal processor was the Korg SDD-1000 digital delay, used for chorus and echo. He has been experimenting with some Aria and Pearl effects, but hasn't decided to use any of them yet. |-------------| | | from guitar --->DOD Booster --->Korg Digital ---> Amp1 --> Amp2 Preamp Delay Dry Wet Amp1 Amp2 Volume 1 0 0 Volume 2 10 10 Treble 10 10 Middle 10 5 Bass 3 10 Presence1 5 5 Two 1971 Marshall 50-watt lead heads with Marshall slant-front and straight cabinets containing Celestion G-65 12" speakers Yngwie Malmsteen Fan Club Malmsteen's Militia P.O. Box 5032 Tallahassee, FL 32314 $15 Money Orders or cash only (cash in certified letter only)