Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In 2009, ''Time'' magazine rated Malmsteen as number 9 among the 11 greatest

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

players of all time.

Early life

Malmsteen was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, the third child of a musical family. At age 10, Malmsteen created his first band, Track on Earth, consisting of himself and a friend from school playing the drums. At age 12, he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, then slightly changed it to Malmsteen and altered his third given name Yngve to "Yngwie". As a teenager he was heavily influenced by classical music, particularly 19th century Italian virtuoso violinist and composer

Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices f ...

as well as

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. During this time, he also discovered his most important guitar influence,

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

. Malmsteen has stated that

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

had no musical impact on him and did not contribute to his style. However watching the TV news reports on 18 September 1970 of Hendrix's death, which included footage of Hendrix smashing and burning his guitar at the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967, made Malmsteen think, "This is really cool."

Career

1980s

In early 1982,

Mike Varney Mike Varney is an American record producer and music publisher. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records, and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Recor ...

of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing from the 1978 demo titled Powerhouse, brought Malmsteen to the United States. He played briefly with the band Steeler on its 1983 self-titled album. He then appeared with

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri. ...

in the band

Alcatrazz Alcatrazz is a heavy metal band formed in 1983 by Graham Bonnet, Jimmy Waldo, and Gary Shea. Following an internal disagreement and split in 2020, there are currently two separate and distinct Alcatrazz line-ups, one featuring Bonnet, and an ...

, playing on its 1983 debut ''

No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll ''No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll'' is the first album by American heavy metal band Alcatrazz led by veteran singer Graham Bonnet, released in 1983. It spent seven weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, peaking at No. 128. The album preci ...

'' and the 1984 live album ''

Live Sentence ''Live Sentence'' (1984) is the only live album released by the American heavy metal band Alcatrazz featuring the band's original line-up. The live concert recorded for the album was performed on 28 January 1984 at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo. In ...

''. Bonnet and Malmsteen clashed about who was the frontman and had a fight during a show.
Malmsteen was fired on the spot from Alcatrazz and replaced by

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...

. Vai had one day to learn the songs for the ongoing tour. In 1984, Malmsteen released his first solo album ''

Rising Force ''Rising Force'' is the first studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in late 1984 through Polydor Records.Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums and keyboard player

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist who currently plays in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed neoclas ...

. His album was meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it ended up featuring vocals by

Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and (briefly) the lead vocalist for Journey in 2006–2007. Soto also ...

and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of ''Rising Force''. ''Rising Force'' won the ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and politica ...

s award for Best Rock Album and was nominated for a

Grammy Award 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 pres ...

for 'Best Rock Instrumental', reaching no. 60 on the '' Billboard'' album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released ''

Marching Out ''Marching Out'' is the second studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released on 30 September 1985 through Polydor Records. Then he recruited Jens Johansson's brother

Anders Anders is a male name in Scandinavian languages and Fering North Frisian, an equivalent of the Greek Andreas ("manly") and the English Andrew. It originated from Andres via metathesis. In Sweden, Anders has been one of the most common names fo ...

to play drums and bassist

Marcel Jacob Marcel Karl Jacob (30 January 1964 – 21 July 2009), professionally known as Marcel Jacob, was a Swedish musician, best known as the founder, chief songwriter, and bassist of the hard rock band Talisman. For a brief period, he also played in th ...

to record and tour with the band. Jacob left in the middle of a tour and was replaced by

Wally Voss Wally Voss was a North-American bass player born on July 25, 1958. He was the bass player of Ft. Lauderdale local bands Pearl and later Front Runner, then played live with Yngwie Malmsteen on the Trilogy tour. Later in 1987, he played the bass p ...

. Malmsteen's third album, ''

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

'', featuring the vocals of

Mark Boals Mark Robert Boals (born December 5, 1958) is an American heavy metal vocalist and occasional bassist, best known for his vocals with Yngwie Malmsteen. He is currently a member of the band Foundry. Boals' first album with Malmsteen, 1986's '' ...

(and Malmsteen on both guitar and bass), was released in 1986. Boals left the band in the middle of the tour and was replaced by the former singer Jeff Scott Soto. The tour was cancelled after Malmsteen was involved in a serious car accident, smashing his V12 Jaguar E-Type into a tree, which put him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During this time, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer. New line-up changes for the next album with former

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

vocalist

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Deep Purple. During his career, Turner fronted and played guitar with pop rock ...

joined the band, along with session bassist

Bob Daisley Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is a retired Australian bass guitarist. He has collaborated on several occasions with Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, backing vocals, co-production and songwriting. He has also worked wi ...

, who was hired to record some bass parts and help with the lyrics. In April 1988, he released his fourth album ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

''. ''Odyssey'' was his most successful album, in part due to the success of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

during the Odyssey tour were recorded and released in 1989 as a fifth album '' Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad''. The classic Rising Force line-up with Malmsteen and the Johansson brothers was dissolved in 1989 when both Anders and Jens left. That year later, Jens joined Dio replacing keyboardist Claude Schnell. Malmsteen's neoclassical style of metal became popular among hordes of guitarists during the mid-1980s, with contemporaries such as

Jason Becker Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

, Paul Gilbert,

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

, and

Vinnie Moore Vincent Moore (born April 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and a member of the British hard rock band UFO. Biography Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware. He began his professional career at age 12 after receiving a guitar as a Chris ...

becoming prominent. In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

guitar was released, making him and

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 ...

the first artists to be honored by Fender.

1990s

In the early 1990s, Malmsteen released two albums, '' Eclipse'' (1990) and '' Fire & Ice'' (1992), with the singer Göran Edman, followed by ''

The Seventh Sign ''The Seventh Sign'' is a 1988 American apocalyptic drama horror film written by Clifford and Ellen Green and directed by Carl Schultz. The title and plot reference the seven seals described in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New ...

'' (1994) and ''

Magnum Opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' (1995) with former Loudness singer Mike Vescera. Despite his early and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and shredding had gone out of fashion in the US. Around 1993, Malmsteen's future mother-in-law – who opposed his engagement to her daughter – had him arrested for allegedly holding her daughter hostage with a gun. The charges were later dropped. Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

and maintained a devoted following with fans in Europe and Japan and to a lesser extent in the US. In the mid 1990s, Malmsteen released the albums '' Inspiration'' (1996) featuring three of his former singers Soto, Boals and Turner, ''

Facing the Animal ''Facing the Animal'' is the tenth studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in 1997 through Pony Canyon (Japan) and Mercury Records (United States). The album reached No. 20 on the Finnish albums chart and No. 39 on the Swedish albums ...

'' (1997) featuring Mats Levén on vocals and Cozy Powell on drums, followed by a live record ''

Double Live! ''Live!!'' is a live album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in 1998 through Dreamcatcher Records; it was reissued in 2000 as ''Double Live'' in the United States through Spitfire Records. The album was recorded live in Brazil on 5–6 May 1 ...

'' (1998) and another studio recording ''

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

'' (1999) featuring once again Mark Boals on vocals.

Special guest appearances and side projects

In 1996, Malmsteen joined forces with former band members

and

on the "Human Clay" album where he played lead guitar on the track "Jealousy". In the same year, Yngwie recorded guitar solos for two different Deep Purple tribute albums, "Smoke on the Water" and "Black Night – Deep Purple Tribute According to New York" on the last one using the alias "Lars Y. Loudamp" to avoid contractual conflicts. He also guested with

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

on the song Denim And Leather on their live album '' The Eagle Has Landed – Part II'' (released in 1997). Later that year, Yngwie recorded the tracks "Enigma suite" and "All opposable thumbs" with his former band members

and Anders Johansson on their album ''Johansson/Sonic Winter''.

2000s

In 2000, he signed a contract with the US record label Spitfire and released his 1990s catalog on the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, '' Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra'', recorded with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague. After the release of ''

War to End All Wars "The war to end war" (also "The war to end all wars"; originally from the 1914 book '' The War That Will End War'' by H. G. Wells) is a term for the First World War of 1914–1918. Originally an idealistic slogan, it is now mainly used sardonic ...

'' in 2000, singer

left the band. He was replaced by former

vocalist Doogie White, whose vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". '' AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

and

as part of the G3 supergroup, a tour showcasing guitar performances. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist

Derek Sherinian Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X and ...

's albums ''

Black Utopia ''Black Utopia'' is the third solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. In addition to the returning members Zakk Wylde, Simon Phillips and Steve Lukather, three new musicians joined Sherinian: bass guitarist Billy Sheehan and guitarists ...

'' (2003), and ''

Blood of the Snake ''Blood of the Snake'' is the fifth solo album by keyboard player Derek Sherinian. It has contributions from Billy Idol, Zakk Wylde, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash (musician), Slash, John Petrucci of Dream Theater, in addition to previous collabor ...

'' (2006) where Malmsteen plays on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and

Zakk Wylde Zachary Phillip Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy meta ...

. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law ''Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law'' is an American adult animated television sitcom created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. A spin-off of ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', the ...

. In 2005 '' Unleash the Fury'' was released through Spitfire Records. As stated in an issue of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after an infamous 'airline incident', which occurred on a flight to Japan during a 1988 tour. He was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, until he fell asleep and was roused by a woman pouring a jug of iced water on him. Enraged, he shouted, "You've released the fucking fury!" The audio from this incident was caught on tape by a fellow band member. Malmsteen says that the name of the album refers to both the energy of the album and the incident. The release of ''Unleash the Fury'' was followed by a DVD release of ''Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra in E Flat Minor, Op. 1 – With The New Japan Philharmonic Live''. The DVD chronicles Malmsteen's first time playing in front of a live audience with an orchestra, an experience that he describes as "fun but also extremely scary". In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

version of ''

Guitar Hero II ''Guitar Hero II'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the second main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series and is the sequel to 2005 ...

''. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former

Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...

and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer

Tim "Ripper" Owens Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens (born September 13, 1967) is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and A New Revenge. He first gained attention as the lead singer of Judas Priest ...

, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

's song "

Mr. Crowley "Mr. Crowley" is a song by British heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, about English occultist Aleister Crowley. Written by Osbourne, guitarist Randy Rhoads and bass guitarist/lyricist Bob Daisley, it was released on Osbourne's debut solo album ...

", for the 2000 Osbourne

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

''Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy''. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled ''

Perpetual Flame ''Perpetual Flame'' is the sixteenth studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and his group Rising Force, released on 13 October 2008 in Europe and on 14 October 2008 in the US and Canada. It was his first album since 2005's ''Unleash the Fury' ...

'' and was released on 4 October. On 25 November 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil", all from this latter album) released as downloadable content for the video games ''Rock Band Rock Band 2 and later

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

''. In 2008, Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". On 10 March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force released ''

Angels of Love ''Angels of Love'' is the seventeenth studio album by Yngwie Malmsteen, released on March 10, 2009. The entirely instrumental album features nine all-new acoustic renditions of previously released material, as well as a previously unreleased trac ...

'', an all-instrumental album, which featured acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads. In August 2009, ''Time'' magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. Malmsteen recently released another album compilation entitled '' High Impact'' on 8 December 2009.

2010–present

On 23 November 2010, ''

Relentless Relentless may refer to: Film * ''Relentless'' (1948 film), an American film directed by George Sherman * ''Relentless'', a 1977 American television film starring Will Sampson * ''Relentless'' (1989 film), an American crime film starring Jud ...

'' was released, the second album to feature

on vocals. The US version featured a remake of "Arpeggios From Hell" as a bonus track. Yngwie appeared on ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...

'' on 3 February 2011 to promote his album. On 6 August 2011, Malmsteen made another appearance in the United States, playing a rendition of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" before a game between the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

at Sun Life Stadium. Although rarely seen in his native country of Sweden, Malmsteen played one gig there in 2012. On 7 July, he ended the Getaway Rock Festival in Gävle, which he was headlining with Nightwish and Manowar. On 5 December 2012, Malmsteen released the album '' Spellbound''. 2013 saw the release of Yngwie's official autobiography ''Relentless''. On 12 June 2014, Malmsteen kicked off his "Guitar Gods 2014 Tour" at the

F.M. Kirby Center The F.M. Kirby Center (formerly known as the Comerford Theatre and Paramount Theatre) is a historic Art Deco- Moderne style movie theater located at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. H ...

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

, Pennsylvania alongside ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Bumblefoot and guitarist

Gary Hoey Gary Hoey (born August 23, 1960) is an American hard rock and latterly blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has recorded over 20 albums and had five Top 20 ''Billboard'' hits. Early life and early career Hoey was born in Lowell, Ma ...

. In February 2015, it was announced that Malmsteen was in the studio working on a new album. In April and May 2016, Malmsteen was one of five guitarists featured on the Generation Axe tour. In 2018, it was announced that Malmsteen had signed with Mascot Records, with a new studio album expected the following year. In 2019, Malmsteen released ''Blue Lightning'', featuring

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

songs – mainly covers – with Malmsteen's virtuoso playing. As Malmsteen was quoted: On 8 May 2021, Yngwie Malmsteen was reported to have launched the ''Parabellum'' album and video for the "Paganini-referencing" track "Wolves at the Door". Since COVID-19 restrictions prevented touring, Malmsteen had more time to record the album, and was "clearly delighted with the results."

Personal life

Malmsteen was married to Swedish singer Erika Norberg (1991-1992) and was subsequently married to Amber Dawn Landin (1993-1998). Since 1999 he has been married to April Malmsteen, with whom he has a son named Antonio, after Antonio Vivaldi. The family now resides in

Miami Shores, Florida Miami Shores is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. History By the early 1900s, the area encompassing today's Miami Shores Village was occupied by a starch (coontie) mill, a tomato packing plant, a saw mill, a pineapple planta ...

. A

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

enthusiast, Malmsteen owned a black 1983 308 GTS for 24 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO. In a 2005 issue of ''Guitar Player'' magazine, Malmsteen discussed his often-ridiculed behaviour, saying that, "I've probably made more mistakes than anybody. But I don't dwell on them. I don't expect people to understand me, because I'm pretty complex, and I think outside the box with everything I do. I've always taken the untraveled path. Obviously, people have their opinions, but I can't get too wrapped up in that, because I know what I can do and I know what kind of person I am. And I have no control over what anybody says about me. Back in Sweden, I'm 'Mr Personality' in the tabloids, but obviously I can't take that seriously. I know in my heart that if I do the absolute best I can do, maybe ten years from now people may turn around and say 'he wasn't that bad'."

Equipment

Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster

Malmsteen has been a longtime user of

s with DiMarzio HS3

single-coil pickup A single coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. Single coil pickups are one of the two most po ...

s "for playing at blistering volume with no hum or screechiness". His most famous Stratocaster is his 1972 blonde Stratocaster, nicknamed "The Duck" because of its yellow finish and the

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

stickers on the headstock. An alternative nickname for this guitar is "Play Loud" due to a sticker that Anders Johansson put on the upper horn of the guitar in Rockshire studios in 1984. Fender made 100 replica copies of this guitar and marketed it as the "Play Loud Guitar". He also has a Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster since 1986. It comes in a Vintage White finish with a maple neck, either a maple or rosewood fretboard with

scalloped Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...

frets and, from 2010,

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan found ...

STK-S10 YJM "Fury" Model pickups. There is also a signature YJM100 Marshall amplifier, based on the "1959" amplifier range.

Other guitars

Besides Stratocasters, Malmsteen has played and appeared in ads for non-Fender guitars (like Aria Pro II and Schecter in the early 1980s) and played non-Strat-shaped guitars (like

Gibson Flying V The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Explorer, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed ...

s), early in his career. Today, for acoustic and nylon string guitars, Malmsteen uses his signature

Ovation The ovation ( la, ovatio from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, p ...

YM68s.

Band members

Current members *Yngwie Malmsteen – guitars, vocals (1978–1982, 1984–present) *Nick Marino – keyboards, vocals (2005–2006, 2010–present) *Emilio Martinez – bass, vocals (2017–present) *Brian Wilson – drums (2018–present)

Discography

Steeler

Alcatrazz

Studio albums

Live albums

Videos

* ''Metallic Live'' (1984, VHS) * ''Alcatrazz Live Sentence 1984'' (2010, DVD Reissue)

G3

Live albums

Videos

*'' G3: Live in Denver'' (2004)

Solo

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

EP

Videos

Music videos

*Island in the Sun (1983) (with Alcatrazz) *Hiroshima Mon Amour (1983) (with Alcatrazz) *I'll See the Light Tonight (1985) *We're Stars (1986) (with Hear 'N Aid) *You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget (1986) *Heaven Tonight (1988) *Making Love (1990) *Save Our Love (1990) *Bedroom Eyes (1990) *Teaser (1992) *Dragonfly (1992) *Forever One (1994) *The Only One (1995) *Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas Cover) (1996) *Alone in Paradise (1997) *Like an Angel (1997) *Hanger 18, Area 51 (1999) *Crucify (2000)

Guest appearances

References

External links

*
Audio interview with Yngwie // Metalpaths.com 2010

Audio Interview with Yngwie on GuitarJamDaily.com

NAMM Oral History Interview
18 January 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Malmsteen, Yngwie 1963 births Living people Swedish expatriates in the United States American people of Swedish descent Swedish bandleaders Alcatrazz members G3 (tour) Generation Axe members Steeler (American band) members Swedish male guitarists Lead guitarists Swedish heavy metal guitarists Swedish rock guitarists Swedish male composers Swedish record producers Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force members

Early life

Career

1980s

1990s

Special guest appearances and side projects

2000s

2010–present

Personal life

Equipment

Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster

Other guitars

Band members

Discography

Steeler

Alcatrazz

Studio albums

Live albums

Videos

G3

Live albums

Videos

Solo

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

EP

Videos

Music videos

Guest appearances

See also

References

Further reading

External links