Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the most popular and famous musicians of our time. The Swedish-American guitarist is considered the founder of neoclassical metal. Yngwie is the "father" of the popular band Rising Force. He is included in Time's "10 Greatest Guitarists" list.
Neo-classical metal is a genre that "mixes" the features of heavy metal and classical music. Musicians playing in this genre perform compositions on electric guitars and other instruments.
Childhood and youth
The musician's date of birth is June 30, 1963. He was born in colorful Stockholm. The real name of the artist sounds like Lars Johan Yngve Lannerback. As a teenager, he decided to take his mother's surname - Malmsteen. After moving to the United States of America, he was known as Yngwie Malmsteen.
He was lucky to be brought up in a creative family, and to some extent, this influenced the choice of profession. The head of the family skillfully played several musical instruments, and my mother sang excellently. Yngwie's older brother and sister were also interested in music.
The youngest representative of a large family, in the person of Yngwie, did not want to play the guitar, and playing the piano did not give absolutely no pleasure. But, parents insisted on getting a musical education.
At first, Yngwie was given a violin. The musical instrument was gathering dust on the shelf for a long time. Everything was resolved when the guy heard the immortal works of Niccolo Paganini. Enchanting music fascinated Yngwie, and he wanted to "learn too."
A year later, the parents encouraged their son with a guitar. The father presented the musical instrument for the birthday of the offspring. Then he listened to the tracks of Jimi Hendrix. On the day of his idol's death, he made a promise to himself to master playing the instrument also professionally.
The young man never took music lessons from professional teachers. Nature endowed the young man with excellent hearing, so he independently mastered the basics of playing the guitar.
At the age of 10, he founded the first musical project. The brainchild of a young man was called Track on Earth. In addition to Yngwie, the team included his school friend, who played the drums cool.
The creative path of Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie, who was a leader by nature, could not exist and create under someone else's guidance. He himself wanted to control absolutely all the processes of creating musical works, from text to arrangement. In one of the interviews he said:
“I am selfish, but at the same time a big workaholic. It is important for me to personally control all processes. I had several attempts to join fairly well-known groups, but there - I would not have the right to vote ... "
When he was invited to the position of a musician in Steeler and Alcatrazz, he accepted, but after a few years he said goodbye to his colleagues. He was "strangled" by the rules established by the leaders of the represented teams. Yngwie had his own opinion on everything, and naturally, this situation did not suit both sides at once.
He began free swimming by presenting a very cool LP, which was eventually nominated for a Grammy. We are talking about the record Rising Force. Actually, from this period a new page of the musician's creative biography starts.
By the way, Yngwie's musical works, surprisingly, were not censored in the Soviet Union. After the release of the Trilogy record, the artist visited Leningrad. One of the concerts in the metropolis formed the basis of the "live" record Trial by Fire.
The consequences of an accident involving a musician
In 1987, the artist was in a serious car accident. He himself got off by a miracle, but the nerve of his right hand, which, among other things, was his “working tool”, suffered the most. But, this was not the only shock of the terrible 87 year. When he left the clinic, he learned that his mother had died of cancer.
He plunged into depression. Previously, in stressful situations, the musician always took up the guitar, but then he could not afford such a luxury. It took him more than a year to restore normal motor activity in his right limb.
Yngwie managed to direct the negative energy in the right direction. Actually, one of the best albums of his discography was born. We are talking about the collection Odyssey. Note that Joe Lynn Turner helped him in recording the collection.
It only took a few years for Yngwie's music to begin to lose its appeal. This is easy to explain, since the 90s saw a decline in the popularity of neoclassical metal. Despite this, the musician continued to create.
In the new century, the artist was presented with the Blue Lightning LP. Recall that the collection, released in 2019, became the 21st full-length album in his discography.
Yngwie Malmsteen: details of his personal life
Yngwie was married several times. At the beginning of his creative career, he, like most rockers, broke the hearts of the fairer sex. The artist had an unrealistic number of partners.
In the early 90s, he married a charming performer named Erika Norberg. They parted, never getting to know each other better. It seemed to Yngwie that the woman had an incredibly complex character. The couple divorced in 1992.
A year later, he led the musician down the aisle of Amber Dawn Lundin. For 5 whole years, the couple worked on relationships, but in the end the marriage broke up. Young people divorced.
At the end of the 90s, the artist met the one who won his heart at first sight. He went to great lengths to get her to say yes. Today, April Malmsteen (Yngwie's wife) is known as the owner of the cosmetic brand Medusa Cosmetics. In addition, she is also listed as the manager of her husband. In this marriage, a son was born, whom the happy parents named Antonio.
Yngwie Malmsteen: interesting facts
- One of Yngwie's most famous guitars is the 1972 Stratocaster.
- Despite the fact that he loves creativity Jimi Hendrix – his style is not similar to the tracks of a cult musician.
- The artist is not a very big fan of rock bands. Sometimes he listens to tracks Metallica.
- He believes that filming clips is an order of magnitude "fresher" than recording from concerts.
Yngwie Malmsteen: Today
In 2019, the Blue Lightning LP premiered in America. The following year, the musicians ran in almost all of Mexico, where he was greeted with joy by fans. The artist commented that he had to cancel some of the scheduled concerts for 2020. It's all because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On July 23, 2021, the Swedish-American virtuoso guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer delighted the “fans” with the release of a new collection. The artist's album was called Parabellum. It was released by Music Theories Recordings.
“I always push myself to record a new album. When I work on tracks, I try to make them even more extreme. When working on a new studio album, it helped me that I did not go on tour due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new compilation turned out to be special, because I spent an unrealistically long time in the recording studio ... ".
