Everybody wants to be a Jimi Hendrix or an Eric Clapton, but June 6th, 1960 saw the birth of one of those great America guitarists that can combine the skill of a true guitar player, possessing a depth of understanding of his instrument that few rock guitarists have, and the zest of a heavy metal rock star that can stand on the same stage as the best of them.

Steve Vai was born to Johnny and Theresa Vai, and his life, like that of many of the famous, began in his teens when he revered guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Or that is what you read, but it really started when he was twelve and he informed his dad that the accordion was not for him, and that his future lay with the guitar: which is just as well since Steve Vai, accordionist, does not have the same ring.

One his parents realized that this was not just an adolescent phase, born of puberty and a desire to impress the girls; they purchased him a real instrument and sent him off to the Boston Barklee School of Music. When he was nineteen, he wrote his own music and recorded a piece he named Flax-Able in a home studio. Although he wrote it as an experiment so that he could learn more about recording studios, and recording methods, it was so good that it was released and sold a quarter of a million copies on the Relativity label.

What is amazing is that this recording sold itself, with no promotion whatsoever, and a star was born. After impressing Frank Zappa with a transcription of one of Zappa’s pieces, Black Rock, he was invited into Zappa’s band, and toured the world, being given the nickname ‘Stunt Guitarist’. Although this was a great opportunity for a young guitarist, Vai slipped into a period of depression for about eighteen months, until he decided that it had to stop. He read a book titled ‘The Magic in Your Mind’, and something in it connected with him.

He quit smoking, and became a vegetarian, and from then on his life was on an upward spiral. He recorded several albums with Zappa, and then joined a band called Alcatrazz, fronted by Graham Bonnett, formerly of Rainbow. At that time Van Halen was very popular, and when Dave Lee Roth left Van Halen to start up his own solo band, his friend bassist Billy Sheehan, who he was later to team up with, invited him to audition for the guitar job, which he eventually landed.

He amazed fans with his reproduction of some of Eddie Van Halen’s best solos, and he went on to record ‘Eat Em and Smile’ one of the most successful hard rock releases of 1986. That brought Steve Vai guitar stardom in all the guitar magazines, and he was suddenly one of the hottest guitar players around. He continued until 1988, when his friend Sheehan left the band, and Steve quickly followed, accepting an invite to join UK band Whitesnake, a band in the same mould as Van Halen and Alcatrazz that had success with a combination of metal and pop. He got his chance because lead guitarist Adrian Vandenberg broke an wrist skateboarding.

His only album with Whitesnake was ‘Slip of the Tongue’, recorded in 1989, and just before this he had recorded his third solo album, ‘Passion & Warfare’. This album displayed every one of Steve’s talents, showing both the spiritual and hard rock side, both of his playing and his nature. His 1991 Grammy award was a highlight in his career which had been well earned.

He left Whitesnake and formed his own band, VAI, after a period of inactivity. When their first and only album, ‘Sex & Religion’ flopped, Steve went back to instrumental and solo work such as the all instrumental ‘Alien Love Secrets’ in 1995, and ‘Fire Garden’ in 1996. He continued in this vein until the end of the 1990s, although he toured for a while with his friend Joe Satriani on the G3 tours which he continues to do.

Steve Vai’s music has appeared in several movies, including Crossroads, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey and Ghosts of Mars. He now focuses on instrumentals such as the Secret Jewel Box, a ten disc box set that covers his entire career.

He now owns a recording and publishing company and keeps bees with his wife Pia and his two children. He sells his honey for his charity every year from his website, and believe me, that sure is popular honey, and he has launched his own guitar, the Ibanez JEM with his own unique design.

Steve Vai is one of the guitar greats and still stands up there in anybody’s top 10 guitarists of all time, along with Clapton, Hendrix, Satriani and Peter Green, and he always shall do. He might never have received the same degree of fame and exposure as Hendrix or Clapton, but he was up there beside them in his ability as a player, and that is what matters.

That he was unable to truly contribute to the music of others due to the constraints of the heavy metal and pop music of the age indicates that he was an artist and mystic with too much vision to conform as the others did. This is why he had few options but to revert to solo performances where he could show his true ability without conforming, which is a mark of a great musician.

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