Tommy Emmanuel (The Southern Star Band)

Name: Tommy Emmanuel
Born: 31st May, 1955 (Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia)

Profile: He is an Australian multi-talented musician, composer and guitarist. He is well known for his works as the lead guitarist of "The Southern Star Band" and "Dragon". Throughout his career he has played with many notable artists including Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin, Air Supply, John Denver, Les Paul and Doc Watson.

History: He received his first guitar at the age of 4 - being taught by his mother to accompany her playing lap steel guitar. At the age of 7 he heard Chet Atkins on the radio. He vividly remembers this moment and says it greatly inspired him.

By the age of 9, he was a working professional musician. Recognizing the musical talents of Tommy and his brother Phil, their father created a family band, sold the family home and took his family on the road. With the family living in two station wagons, much of Emmanuel's childhood was spent touring Australia with his family, playing rhythm guitar.

After his father died in 1966, the family settled in Parkes. Tommy eventually moved to Sydney where he came to be noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years. By the late 70's, he was playing drums with his brother Phil in the group "Goldrush" as well doing session work on numerous albums and jingles. He gained further prominence in the late 1970's as the lead guitarist in "The Southern Star Band", the backing group for vocalist Doug Parkinson. During the early 80's, he joined the reformed lineup of leading 70's rock group "Dragon", touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner. He left the group to embark on a solo career.

In 1994, he became a member of the "John Farnham Band". Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play guitar next to Stuart Fraser from "Noiseworks" for the Concert For Rwanda.

In 2000, Tommy and his brother Phil performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics Games. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion viewers. When performing together the pair will sometimes share and play just one guitar with each having one hand free.

Recently, having been deeply touched by the tragic 2010 Haiti earthquake, Emmanuel announced that he would be auctioning off three guitars, that he personally played and owned, on eBay, in order to raise money to donate to UNICEF in Haiti.

While Emmanuel has never had formal music training, his playing ability has won him fans from all over the world. He is known to play percussion parts on the body of his guitar. As a solo performer he never plays to a set list and uses a minimum of effects. He usually completes recordings in one take.

Influences: Chet Atkins

Axology: Maton EBG808 custom (fitted with a pickup and an internal condenser microphone - named Mouse) and TE1 Maton dreadnought acoustic guitar

Signature song(s): Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag - Tommy Emmanuel (The Mystery, 2006) and Sukiyaki - Tommy Emmanuel (Center Stage, 2008)

Link(s):

http://www.tommyemmanuel.com (Official website)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lbvSBNLLoo

- Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, and Joe Satriani all say that he is the best they have ever heard which is a testament to his extraordinary abilities.

Malcolm Young (AC/DC)

Name: Malcolm Mitchell Young
Born: 6th January, 1953 (Glasgow, Scotland)

Profile: He is a musician, best known as a founding member, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He has been with them since he co-founded the band in November 1973, apart from a brief absence in 1988. Malcolm has been described as the business and brains behind AC/DC. As the rhythm guitarist, he is responsible for the broad sweep of AC/DC's sound, developing many of the band's guitar riffs and co-writing the band's material.

History: Malcolm started learning guitar in an early age (back in those days, Melcolm's guitar was always played by his brother Angus without him knowing), he first played with a New South Wales band called "The Velvet Underground" playing cover versions of "T. Rex" and "The Rolling Stones" songs. After playing gigs with "The Velvet Underground" in most clubs, he and Angus formed AC/DC in 1973 and toured with singer Dave Evans a year later.

Guitar Player magazine has stated that the secret to Malcolm Young's guitar technique is playing open chords through a series of medium-sized amplifiers set to low volume with little or no gain. This is contrary to a common belief of rock guitarists that rhythm guitar should involve loud and overdriven power chords through large amplifiers.

Influences: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and B.B King

Axology: Gretsch 1963 Jet Firebird, Gretsch 1959 White Falcon and Marshall 100watt amplifiers

Signature song(s): Can I Sit Next To You Girl and You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC - Back in Black)

Link(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJOpcMlyno

Angus Young (AC/DC)

Name: Angus McKinnon Young
Born: 31st March, 1955 (Glasgow, Scotland)

Profile: He is a Scottish-born Australian musician and the lead guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the rock and roll band "AC/DC". He is known for his wild, energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and the duck walk.

History: Angus first started playing on banjos but re-strung them with six strings. By the time he was 11, Angus had flirted with a tutorial course, but he preferred to learn by himself and most of his musical education was pure trial and error. In the beginning, Angus messed around with Malcolm Young's (brother) guitars for years before his mother finally bought him his own, a cheap little acoustic. At 16, a year prior to leaving school Angus had been practicing guitar almost constantly, jamming around with friends and playing at school dances.

As a teenager, he played in a band called 'Kantuckee'. He was 18 when he and his Malcolm formed AC/DC in 1973 with Angus on lead guitar, Malcolm on rhythm guitar, Colin Burgess on drums, Rob Bailey on bass guitar and Dave Evans on vocals (later replaced by Bon Scott). Angus tried a number of stage costumes, such as Spider-Man, Zorro, a gorilla, and a parody of Superman, named Super-Ang, before settling on his signature schoolboy look.

While AC/DC never strayed far from their original musical path, record and ticket sales continued to increase with each successive album and tour. With massive global success beckoning, AC/DC overcame a career-threatening tragedy in 1980 when Scott died from alcohol poisoning. But his replacement, Brian Johnson, fit in perfectly, as the group immediately issued their biggest hit of their entire career, the classic "Back in Black".

Most rock fans would agree that AC/DC guitarist Angus Young is one of the genre's most energetic and entertaining performers. It's impossible to imagine an AC/DC show without Angus bobbing his head up and down in time to the music, playing Chuck Berry's licks on his Gibson SG guitar, shirtless and drenched in sweat. And in addition to his manic stage persona, he's one of the best rock guitarists of all time.

Influences: Malcolm Young (brother), Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) and The Kinks

Axology: Gibson SG, Jaydee SG, Gibson Firebirds, Gibson ES-335 and Marshall model 1959 amplifiers

Signature song(s): Can I Sit Next To You Girl and You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC - Back in Black)

Link(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biaGJ_4rEzE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en7EKL1pX5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89PNBNb_7N4

"We've been accused of making the same album over and over 12 times. But it's a dirty lie. The truth is, we've made the same album over and over 15 times"- Angus Young

Orianthi

Name: Orianthi Panagaris
Born: 22nd January, 1985 (Adelaide, South Australia)

Profile: An Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is best known for being Michael Jackson's guitarist for his comeback concert series, This Is It. Her debut single "According to You" has peaked at #6 in Australia and #17 in the US, and her debut album Believe was released throughout the last three months of 2009 worldwide.

History: She learned to play acoustic guitar at 6 because of her father, started electric when she was 11 and left school at 15 to focus on writing songs and performing. She has been playing in different friends' bands since she was 14 in England and in France. Her first support show was for Steve Vai at age 15. Orianthi had the opportunity to meet and jam with Carlos Santana when she was 18. He invited Orianthi to get up and jam with him at soundcheck then later asked if she would join him on stage that night to jam. She signed with Geffen Records in late 2006 and struck a management deal with 19 Entertainment. As of 2010, she lives in the United States and in Asia.

She has also played with Prince, had a song featured in Bratz: The Movie, played at the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival, appeared in The New York Times business section promoting Eco-friendly acoustic guitars and was named in the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists. She also appeared at the 51st annual Grammy Awards as Carrie Underwood's lead guitarist. A guitar solo by Orianthi is featured on the song "Sleepwalker" on Adam Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment.

Orianthi was Michael Jackson's lead guitarist and was present on all rehearsals for his "This Is It" concerts before his death. In regards to being handpicked by Jackson, she stated: "I don’t know exactly why he picked me, but he watched my YouTube videos and loved them. He had his choice of guitar players, but I came in and played the 'Beat It' solo for him. Afterward he was so happy he got up and grabbed my arm and started walking up and down the stage area with me. He said, 'Can you play once for me?' He hired me that night. I wish he was still around. He made me believe in myself more, and I learned so much. Going into it, I thought it would be all about playing guitar solos. But the majority of it was playing chords and funky rhythms".

Influences: Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen and Def Leppard

Axology: PRS guitars

Link(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7oAteGa55g&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjl9U-B1R4