Steven Siro Vai

Steven Siro Vai is a Grammy Award winning guitarist, composer and record producer. Steve showed up at Joe Satriani’s door as a teenage with a guitar and a pack of strings. Under Joe’s teaching, Steve became addicted to guitar and music. Steve’s first “gig” happened when he mailed transcriptions of Frank Zappa's guitar solos to him, Frank was so impressed with the abilities of the young Mr. Vai that he hired him to do work transcribing his seemingly endless array of experimental symphonic rock. Steve joined the Frank Zappa band when he was 19. A few years later, in 1982 and he moved to California where he recorded his first of several landmark guitar albums Flex-Able. His 2nd solo cd “Passion and Warfare” is widely considered to be one of the best and most influential instrumental CDs of all-time.

Steve Vai is also world famous from replacing Yngwie Malmsteen as the guitarist for Alcatrazz. And he more that filled Eddie Van Halen’s shoes when David Lee Roth left VH and joined forces with Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan for 2 albums and 2 mega wold tours in the mid-80s. He has also recorded with Ozzy Osbourne, Public Image Ltd., Alice Cooper, John5 and many, many others.

Steve’s music has been featured in the Sony Playstation game titled Formula One and on Xbox's Halo 2 Volume 1 soundtrack. Steve's music has also been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. Steve appeared onscreen in the 1986 movie Crossroads as Jack Butler.
He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions to the score for John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars performing on the tracks "Ghosts of Mars" and "Ghost Poppin".

Steve’s solo music has been said to be quirky and angular, and showing his deep knowledge of music theory. Vai has also been credited with the recent revival of the 7-string guitar. He helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars which feature a hand grip cut into the top of the body of the guitar, as well as an elaborate and extensive "Vine of Life" inlay down the neck. He has used many different styles through out his career and even had his DNA put into the swirl paintjob on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood.

Aside from music Via also owns Favored Nations which is a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. He is married to Pia Maiocco former bass player of Vixen, and has two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.

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Steven Siro Vai