Vlad De Briansky ( uk, Влад Дебрянський, born Volodymyr DeBriansky; 3 January 1972),Руслана – Биография
known professionally as Vlad, is an American guitarist, composer and educator. He is also an actor, record producer and a television producer. He plays blues, jazz, rock, and classical music

Music biography

Vlad is known for his virtuosity on a guitar. He had developed a unique technique playing guitar with his fingernails rather than a pick or attachable flat picks. He is also known for using his Fender Telecaster guitar combined with an overdone reverb effect. Critics compared him to

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

. In his youth Vlad was a member of popular Ukrainian bands Forte, Tea Fan Club (Клуб Шанувальників Чаю) and Loony Pelen gaining popularity in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Born in Ukraine, but he moved to the United States to attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston, Massachusetts in 1996 by the invitation of the college. While at Berklee Vlad studied guitar with

Jon Finn Jonathan M. Finn (born 1958) is an American rock musician and guitarist. He is the founder and leader of the Jon Finn Group, and is a professor at the Berklee College of Music; he joined the guitar faculty there in 1988. He is also the author o ...

and Norman Zocher. Soon after Vlad moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he studied with

Mike Stern Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, re ...

and John Abercrombie. During his New York period Vlad gets a job as an assistant producer at Hush Productions, where his guitar playing caught attention of one of the company's executives Beau Huggins who immediately offered Vlad a recording contract. During that time Vlad also gets a management proposal from a seasoned music manager Ken Greengrass. During his New York period Vlad gets offers from

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

and

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...

but eventually signing with Orpheus Music. Collaboration with Orpheus lasted for 10 years. During this period Vlad makes

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

his home and in 2004 he releases his debut album 'Vladosphere" on Orpheus Music label. The album became a commercial and critical success with its single "Little Star" climbing to #4 place on Adult Contemporary radio chart bypassing

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

and

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

making him the only instrumental artist in AC top 40 radio chart in the US. His second solo album ''Sun In Capricorn'' released in 2007 aired mostly on classical music radio stations around the US and received a praise from critics earning a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nomination. A move to Los Angeles brings Vlad a new collaboration with an esteemed songwriter

Holly Knight ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

with whom he cowrote many songs and produced several artists. He also introduced

Antonia Bennett Antonia Bennett (born April 7, 1974) is an American singer of adult alternative music, standards, and jazz. She is the daughter of singer Tony Bennett and actress Sandra Grant. Biography Bennett trained as an actor at the Lee Strasberg Theatre ...

to Holly which resulted in two albums of Antonia produced by Holly Knight. Vlad had also worked in a role of a producer, songwriter or a guitarist with such notable artists as:

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 198 ...

and Pat Mastelloto (

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

Orianthi Orianthi Penny Panagaris (born 22 January 1985), known mononymously as Orianthi, is an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter who rehearsed in 2009 with Michael Jackson in preparation for his '' This Is It'' concert series, and performed wi ...

Skyler Jett Commodores are an American funk and Soul music, soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed wit ...

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

Joey DeFrancesco Joey DeFrancesco (April 10, 1971August 25, 2022) was an American jazz organist, trumpeter, saxophonist, and occasional singer. He released more than 30 albums under his own name, and recorded extensively as a sideman with such leading jazz perfo ...

, Rahni Song,

Murali Coryell Murali Coryell (born October 27, 1969) is an American blues guitarist and singer. Best known for performing live in small venues in New York State, Coryell has also opened for George Thorogood, Gregg Allman, B.B. King and Wilson Pickett. While t ...

Arno Lucas Lester Abrams (born 1945) is a singer, songwriter, musician and producer who has played with such artists as B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Peabo Bryson, Quincy Jones, Manfred Mann, Brian Auger, The Average White Band, The Doobie Brothers, Rufus and m ...

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Ruslana Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding ...

and many others. In 2010 Vlad meets and collaborates with a Hollywood actor

Patrick Bergin Patrick Connolly Bergin (born 4 February 1951) is an Irish actor and singer perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts in ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' (1991), the title character in Robin Hood (1991 film), terrorist Kevin O ...

whom he invites to his project "Jacks Last Dollar". (see 2018) In 2014 Vlad releases "Jacks Last Dollar" and its "Part I" debuted as #14 on iTunes blues charts in the US. Subsequentially second album "II" was released gaining praises from critics and gets a moderate success. In August 2016 Vlad releases a digital download-only album simply called "Blues". "Blues" reaches the top 10 downloads on iTunes Blues charts in Japan, United States and in Russia, reaching #1 in the Russia in September 2016 and #1 in US in May 2017. A single "For You" was released on May 15 2018th. A new single "Dead Without You" is scheduled to be released on June 26 of 2018th. His latest album "Dreamland" under his full name as an artist Vlad De Briansky was released on February 14th, 2020 and it reached #1 on iTunes blues charts in Russia. Vlad owns a Ukrainian record (official) and a World record on performing a guitar solo along with 100 guitarists on a song "Loner" by Gary Moore held on August 24, 2019 in Kalush, Ukraine.

Film and TV

In the fall of 2009 History Channel aired a series " Nostradamus Effect:

Da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's Armageddon" - where Vlad plays Leonardo da Vinci. In 2013 he co-produced a popular TV music talent show "Boyuk Sehne" (Böyük Səhnə) aired in Baku, Azerbaijan, where Vlad as Jack Spade was also one of the judges.

Electric cars

Vlad is a spokesperson for the electric automobile company ZAP Automobiles.

Music education involvement

As an ambassador of the Berklee College of Music, Vlad founded the « American Music Academy» to bring legendary Berklee program to Eastern Europe. The school offers contemporary music education and music production. Among professors and advisors of the academy are

Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, Reginald Love, Adam Joseph, Frank Parker, Rahni Song, and

Gerry Brown Gerry “The Gov.” Brown is a recording engineer, mixer and music producer based in Los Angeles, best known for his work with artists including Whitney Houston, John Legend, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, Sting, Prince, Phil Collins, Marcu ...

. Vlad holds a position in Artistic Board at Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (YPHIL) in New York City at Carnegie Hall.

Discography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Official Vlad's website

Official Vlad's Facebook page

Official Vlad's myspace.com webpage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlad 1972 births Living people People from Kalush, Ukraine American people of Ukrainian descent American jazz guitarists American rock guitarists American male guitarists Ukrainian jazz guitarists Ukrainian rock guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Ukrainian emigrants to the United States