The same year, Vai issued his own line of snazzy guitars, the Jem 777 series, via the Ibanez company. Although the album was more pop-based than its predecessor, it became another sizable hit - with Vai earning a co-producing credit on the album along with Roth.

Both Vai and Sheehan were catapulted to superstardom due to their instrumental talents, as they took top honors in numerous guitar magazines for years afterward.īut although the quartet showed great promise, Sheehan jumped ship just after their sophomore album, Skyscraper, was issued in 1988. The debut release from Roth and his stellar solo band, Eat 'Em and Smile, arrived in 1986 and went on to become one of the year's top hard rock releases. The same year, Vai made a cameo appearance in the movie Crossroads (playing the Devil's guitarist and shredding away in a guitar duel with Ralph Macchio) and got an invitation from his friend/bass master Billy Sheehan to try out for the guitar spot in singer David Lee Roth's solo band (Roth had just split from Van Halen), and eventually landed the gig. With Van Halen all the rage by the mid-'80s due to their massive hard rock/pop crossover success, Vai replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in a similarly styled outfit called Alcatrazz (which featured former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnett), playing on their overlooked 1985 release Disturbing the Peace.

First off was a pair of self-financed, recorded, and released solo albums in 1984, Flex-Able and Flex-Able Leftovers, both of which showcased Vai's guitar playing and songwriting talents, yet were still heavily influenced by Zappa. Subsequently, Vai toured the world with Zappa (giving Vai the nicknames 'Stunt Guitarist' and 'Little Italian Virtuoso') and played on such albums as 1981's Tinsel Town Rebellion and You Are What You Is, 1982's Ship Arriving Too Late, 1983's Man from Utopia, plus 1984's Them or Us and Thing-Fish, before leaving to set out on his own. Zappa was so impressed with the young guitarist that upon meeting him, he invited Vai to join his band. As a student there, Vai transcribed several of Frank Zappa's most technically demanding compositions for guitar, and even sent a copy of one such transcription, 'Black Page,' to Zappa himself. Playing in several local bands, Vai quickly picked up on the instrument, and by the age of 18 was attending the renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston. Born on June 6, 1960, and raised in Carle Place, New York, Vai became interested in the guitar via such legendary artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Alice Cooper as a teenager and, upon starting high school, took lessons with an older player from the school, Joe Satriani. Six-string wizard Steve Vai, along with his onetime teacher Joe Satriani, set the standard for rock guitar virtuosity in the '80s.

Steve vai passion and warfare album art