Pete Friesen (born Peter Menno Friesen; 19 November 1965) is a Canadian guitarist who has recorded with such acts as

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, The Almighty and Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

Biography

Pete Friesen was born in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. While still playing under the name "Pete Freezin'", he was a member of VO5 with a pre-

Skid Row A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and ha ...

. He was a member of

's band from 1989–1991, 1998–2000 and 2002. He played on both the ''Trash'' and ''Hey Stoopid'' tours, and also appears in the film ''Wayne's World'' alongside Cooper, where he memorably asked the question "In fact, isn't Milwaukee an Indian name?" Friesen left Cooper's band in 1992 and moved to the UK to join Scottish rock band The Almighty. He recorded and toured with the band from 1992 until 1996. The band recorded the top 5 album ''Powertrippin'' for Polydor, and ''Crank'' and ''Just Add Life'' for Chrysalis/EMI records. They opened up Donington festival in 1992 and the following year supported Metallica at Milton Keynes Bowl. They did several headline tours through the UK, as well as tours in Europe, Japan, Australia, U.S.A., and South America. They disbanded in 1996, but the lineup featuring Friesen reformed in January 2006 to play two shows to raise money for

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

research. These were followed by a couple of short UK tours in 2007 and 2008. A live DVD of the London show from the 2008 and tour has been released. In 2002, Friesen also did a short stint playing guitar for Iron Maiden's vocalist Bruce Dickinson's solo band; they did a string of summer festival dates throughout Europe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friesen, Pete 1965 births Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists 20th-century Canadian guitarists 21st-century Canadian guitarists Living people Musicians from Saskatoon Alice Cooper (band) members Canadian Mennonites Mennonite musicians