The term 'virtuoso' has existed for many years, long before there was anything called the music "industry" and years before there was recorded music. Usually reserved for only the most brilliant musicians in classical music, such as Paganini and Stravinsky, the term was later adopted by the jazz community when musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane were simply not done justice by any other title. Still it is a term held very close to the heart for schooled and unschooled music lovers alike, regarded as too great an honor to bestow upon anyone less than the highest order. In the world of rock music, a genre still only 50 years old, virtuoso are few and far between. Jimi Hendrix may have been the first, paving the way for the likes of Edward Van Halen and Michael Hedges, musicians whose vision and unfiltered expression on their instruments did not hearken to their musical ancestry but instead cleared a new musical path and in doing so, changed the way we understand music. Steve Vai is part of that tradition, one of few generally accepted as true virtuosi in an age when there are more incredible musicians alive and making music than ever before. With a professional musical career that is stunning in its diversity and history, Vai is a unique and interesting character who refuses to stop growing, unable to be confined to one style or stereotype. Because like most other virtuosi, he doesn't know how.

Steven Siro Vai was born June 6, 1960 at Nassau County Hospital in New York, the fourth of five children born to John and Theresa Vai. Growing up in Carle Place (Long Island, NY) and influenced at an early age by his sister's love of music, Steve started playing organ at age 6 (the first melody he ever played was the theme from the Bette Davis movie "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte"), and at 10 years old started playing accordion. "I never got into music, I was just always into music from as early as I can remember", Steve recalls, recounting "Yogi Bear & Friends", "The Partridge Family Picture Album", Frank Zappa's "Freak Out!" and Deep Purple's "Machinehead" as the albums that were most important to him at that age. When Steve was about 13 years old however, he picked up a guitar, and he hasn't been quite the same since.

Knowing that he wanted to play guitar like Jimmy Page but not knowing how, Steve turned to local guitar hero Joe Satriani. Satriani was also young, only four years older than Steve, but he already had a local reputation as a great guitarist and Steve started taking guitar lessons from Joe at $5 each. In the beginning, in fact, Steve and another friend both took lessons from Joe at the same time so they could better afford it at $2.50 each. Steve continued to take lessons from Joe for about three years, and Joe Satriani was an undeniably massive influence on a young Steve Vai in the mid 70's.
Steve played with several different bands during these years, including performances at Carle Place High School and with his bands Circus and Rayge, and also teaching guitar to students of his own. In 1978 Steve packed up and left Long Island for Boston's Berklee School Of Music, where he would form the bands Morning Thunder with Randy Coven and Axis Bold As Love with Stu Hamm, meet his future wife Pia Maiocco, and record a demo cassette for one Mr Frank Zappa.

The Zappa demo included Steve's recordings of Zappa's "The Black Page No. 1", a ferociously difficult piece of music played at regular tempo, and then played again at nearly twice the speed. Vai's transcriptionist talents were also obvious to Frank, and an invitation to try out for Frank's band was extended. Steve moved to Los Angeles the next year and at 19 years of age became the youngest musician ever to join the Zappa ranks.

Steve toured and recorded with Frank Zappa from 1980 through 1983 (click here to view the discography, complete with memoirs), and achieved a number of milestones while with Zappa. In October 1981, Zappa's Halloween show from New York's Palladium was the first live music video to be aired on television, and in 1982 the band was the first rock band to ever play in Sicily. They were also the last

Leaving Zappa's band in 1983, Steve soon recorded his first two solo albums, the LP "Flex-Able" and "Flex-Able Leftovers", a 10" record of material that didn't make it on "Flex-Able" which was released in extremely limited quantities (1000). Both records were a testament to Steve's artistic playfulness, with three different covers being designed for "Flex-Able" and two for "Flex-Able Leftovers". While both albums enjoyed popularity among Zappa fans and Steve's growing fan base, it was one track in particular from "Flex-Able" called 'The Attitude Song' that helped catapult Steve Vai into the guitar world.

'The Attitude Song' was released as a 7" flexi-disc soundpage in a 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine and nothing would ever be the same again. The guitar community was up in arms about this new kid in LA whose chops were unlike anything they had heard, and it was that song which landed Steve his role in the movie "Crossroads". Local LA club shows started selling out quickly, and soon Steve was enlisted to replace Yngwie Malmsteen in the band Alcatrazz. Steve would record all of the guitars on the "Disturbing The Peace" album in 1985, and the following tour would spawn a home video called "Power Live". The 80's spawned a number of other albums with Steve Vai on guitar as well.

Soon after the Alcatrazz tour, Steve joined with David Lee Roth to record the 1986 Warner Bros multiplatinum record "Eat 'Em & Smile", and so began one of the biggest chapters yet in the story of Steve Vai. The timing could not have been better and his alliance with Roth threw Vai into the global spotlight like never before. Music videos for 'Yankee Rose' and 'Going Crazy!' were in heavy rotation on MTV and music channels all over the world, and Steve found himself on the cover of countless music magazines. It was during this time that designed and developed a line of guitars with Ibanez, called Jem guitars, which were instantly popular and continue to sell very well worldwide. His partnership with Roth would include another multiplatinum album "Skyscraper" and its following worldwide tour (as well as several more videos, Top 20 singles, and magazine covers) before Steve finally left in December 1988 to marry his longtime love Pia, and pursue a solo career.

What came next was as much a surprise to Steve Vai as anyone else. While preparing to record his long awaited solo album, Steve was asked to join the rock band Whitesnake. Though Steve wanted to concentrate on his own album first and foremost, the Whitesnake situation was too good to pass up. Steve joined the band, recorded all of the guitars on "Slip Of The Tongue" (Whitesnake's guitarist Adrian Vandenberg could not record due to injuries), did a successful world tour, and cross promoted his solo album, the epic "Passion And Warfare".

"Passion And Warfare" is considered by many to be Vai's finest work and one of the greatest instrumental guitar albums of all time. Recorded immediately after the Whitesnake recording but before the Whitesnake tour, it was an album many years in the making and is an incredibly diverse and colorful work, utilizing 7-string electric guitars (designed by Steve with Ibanez, these guitars were instantly popular and Steve is considered by many to be responsible for the advent of the 7-string guitar). With its rich musical tapestries and exploratory studio experimentation, it was a favorite of fans and critics alike, and generated three videos, 'The Audience Is Listening', 'I Would Love To', and 'For The Love Of God'. The album received a Grammy nomination and netted countless awards from various music magazines.

It was also during this period, on March 1 1989, that Steve & Pia Vai had their first child, a son named Julian Angel Vai. Later in 1991, Steve Vai would participate in the "Zappa's Universe" tribute performances in New York, bringing Steve a Grammy Award for "Sofa".

In 1991, after leaving Whitesnake, Steve put on his Producer hat for the band Bad4Good, featuring young guitar prodigy Thomas McRocklin. The Bad4Good album "Refugee" was released in 1992. On March 1 1992 Steve & Pia had their second son, Fire Vai, born on the same day that his brother Julian was born three years prior. Soon after that, Steve went to work on his new project tentatively titled Light Without Heat.

Light Without Heat eventually became VAI, an incredible ensemble featuring Steve on guitar, Devin Townsend on vocals, TM Stevens on bass and Terry Bozzio on drums. The album, "Sex & Religion", took everyone by surprise. When everybody expected a safe & bankable sequel to "Passion And Warfare", Vai took a sharp left turn and did the completely unexpected. It was a savage and unrestrained record that blended explosive aggression with beautifully moving instrumentals, and which was met with mixed reviews. It is the "sleeper" Vai album, one that long time fans are still coming around to, and many fans consider it their favorite. A world tour followed, starting in September 1993 and ending in January 1994.

1995 was another busy year for Vai. Intensive work was underway on a new album tentatively titled "Fire Coma", and it was turning into a massive undertaking. To tide over his fans for a while as he finished the album, he quickly wrote, recorded and released a 34-minute EP called "Alien Love Secrets". It met with great reviews, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and Bon Jovi asked Vai to open for them on their 1995 US summer tour. Amidst much press and the touring, Steve continued to work diligently on the "Fire Coma" project (which was released in 1996, called "Fire Garden", but more on that later).

1996 was another huge year. Steve played with Chick Corea on RCA's "Songs Of West Side Story" CD, which was a dream realized, as Steve listened to the original soundtrack endlessly while growing up. The Hendrix album Steve plays on, "In From The Storm", gained popularity worldwide, and a Steve Vai signature model wah-wah pedal was developed by Morley. The biggest happenings of '96, however, were certainly the release of Vai's long-awaited "Fire Garden", a 74-minute collection of music that marked Steve's real debut as a vocalist, and Vai's involvement in the G3 concert tours featuring Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson & Steve Vai. The G3 tours brought the three guitarists to sold-out venues nationwide, and produced a live CD & video (three songs of which, including Steve Vai's "For The Love Of God", were nominated for Grammy Awards).

With 4 Grammy nominations and 1 Grammy Award under his belt and millions and millions of records sold worldwide, Steve Vai shows no signs of slowing down. To the contrary, he is busier than ever working on a number of projects more diverse and exciting than anything he's done yet