Three-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist, producer, songwriter, and composer Steve Vai has spent decades playing solo and in some of the most influential rock groups of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Ranked among the 20 best guitarists of the decade by Guitar World magazine in 2019, Vai has played with rock legends like Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake and more, and sold more than 15 million records. He has also recorded with a wide range of artists such as Public Image Ltd, Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap, and Alice Cooper, and toured with live-only acts like G3, Zappa Plays Zappa and the Experience Hendrix tour.
Born in Carle Place, New York, in 1960, Vai began playing guitar as a child and spent his high school years playing in local bands. He attended Berklee College Of Music and worked for Frank Zappa as a transcriptionist. Relocating to Los Angeles, Vai toured with Zappa, who nicknamed Vai "Stunt Guitarist" and "Little Italian Virtuoso," and played on Zappa albums such as 1981's Tinsel Town Rebellion and You Are What You Is, 1982's Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, 1983's The Man From Utopia, and 1984's Them or Us and Thing-Fish.
In the mid-'80s, Vai set out on his own, recording two solo albums: 1984's Flex-Able and Flex-Able Leftovers. Also in the 1980s, Vai joined the Van Halen-inspired rock outfit Alcatrazz and made a cameo appearance in the movie Crossroads, where he played the Devil's guitarist. Soon, he landed a gig as the guitarist in David Lee Roth's newly formed solo band and played on the group's 1986 debut album Eat 'Em And Smile. Vai also played on the group's follow-up album, Skyscraper (1988). In 1988, Vai released his own line of guitars via Ibanez: the Jam 777 series.
After Skyscraper, Vai left Roth's band to work on another solo album (Passion And Warfare) and joined Whitesnake, with whom he recorded 1989's Slip Of The Tongue. He also released a seven-string guitar that eventually caught on with late-'90s nu-metal acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit.
In the early '90s, Vai formed a new band, VAI, and hired Devin Townsend on vocals, T.M. Stevens on bass, and Terry Bozzio on drums. The group released one album in 1993 called Sex & Religion. Two years later, he released an all-instrumental EP, Alien Love Secrets. Additional '90s solo projects included 1996's Fire Garden, 1998's Flex-Able Leftovers (a re-release of his out-of-print sophomore solo album with added tracks), and 1999's The Ultra Zone.
In the early 2000s, Vai released the compilation instrumental album The 7th Song: Enchanting Guitar Melodies - Archives Vol. 1 and a live record, Alive In An Ultra World. In 2001, Vai also released his career-spanning box set: the 10-disc The Secret Jewel Box. In 2002, Vai compiled a series of compositions he'd done for films such as Crossroads and the theme to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and put them together on a 40-track collection dubbed The Elusive Light and Sound, Vol. 1.
In 2005, Vai returned after a hiatus with Real Illusions: Reflections and toured with the Metropole Orchestra, releasing a double live album, Sound Theories, Vols. 1 & 2 (2007). In 2010, Vai teamed with the North Netherlands Orchestra, marrying rock compositions with orchestral arrangements. He called the partnership his "Evo Era."
Also in 2010, Vai did a number of televised performances with contemporary artists like Mary J. Blige, Orianthi, Travis Barker, Ron Fair, and Randy Jackson. Two years later, he dropped his eighth studio album, The Story Of Light, which notably featured a duet with Aimee Mann.
In 2015, Vai released a recording of an October 2012 show, Stillness In Motion: Vai Live In L.A. He later released 2016's Modern Primitive, which featured updated material from the 1980s. In 2022, Vai released his 10th studio album, Inviolate, which debuted at No. 1 on the Current Hard Rock Albums chart.
Catch legendary guitar Steve Vai on tour when he comes to a city near you.
