Vinnie Moore
Vinnie Moore | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Vincent Moore |
Born | New Castle, Delaware, United States | April 14, 1964
Genres | Neoclassical metal, hard rock, heavy metal, Progressive rock, Progressive metal, instrumental rock[1] |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals, keyboard |
Years active | 1986–present |
Labels | Shrapnel |
Website | vinniemoore |
Vincent "Vinnie" Moore (born April 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and a member of the British hard rock band UFO.[2] Moore is one of the most influential and important guitarists to emerge from the virtuoso boom in the mid to late eighties.[1]
Biography
Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware, only a couple of miles from fellow musicians George Thorogood (and The Delaware Destroyers). He began his professional career at age 12 after receiving a guitar as a Christmas present. During a 2018 interview, Moore stated, "I got my first guitar for Christmas when I was like 12, basically just because I saw a picture of a guitar in a catalog, a JCPenney's catalog. I thought, 'Hey that looks pretty cool. I want that.' That was my motivation at the time, and I got it for Christmas, and really didn't bother with it a whole lot. Then, I started taking lessons for the next year. Then I really started to get obsessed with it."R.Y.A.N. - Season 2, Episode 5: Vinnie Moore During that same interview, Moore was asked who his earliest teachers were, and he stated, "The first teacher was Mary Biddle, and I studied for a year with her, just some basic lessons at the local music shop. After about a year, I had advanced, and she referred me to another guy named Nick Bucci, who was a great player in my local area. He was studying jazz guitar with Pat Martino, and was also a rock guy, and he just taught me a lot of stuff; theory, and exercises, and all different kinds of stuff to make me become a better player and musician."R.Y.A.N. - Season 2, Episode 5: Vinnie Moore Moore played clubs and bars until Shrapnel executive Mike Varney discovered him via a demo and bio that Vinnie submitted to the Spotlight column, which Varney headed for Guitar Player Magazine. His connection to Varney led to an opportunity to appear in a Pepsi commercial in 1985[3] (only Vinnie's hands appeared in the commercial as his guitar playing is heard).[2][4] Following this, Moore recorded his first solo album, Mind's Eye (1986), released on Shrapnel Records and featuring Tony MacAlpine on keyboards. The album received several awards from guitar magazines and sold over 100,000 copies.[citation needed]
Vinnie Moore played lead guitar with the heavy metal band Vicious Rumors on their debut album, Soldiers of the Night (1985). The album features Moore's solo-song "Invader", which was in the style of Van Halen's "Eruption". The shred guitar craze of the late eighties led to more releases for Shrapnel.[citation needed] Moore also began performing with other hard rock and heavy metal bands.[citation needed]
Moore joined Alice Cooper's band for a tour and then appeared on the Hey Stoopid (1991) album.[5] Moore released two instructional videos on guitar playing.[6][7]
Moore has been the lead guitarist for UFO since June 2003, releasing his first studio album with them You Are Here the following year in 2004. This has been followed by The Monkey Puzzle (2006), The Visitor (2009), Seven Deadly (2012) and A Conspiracy of Stars (2015).
On August 5, 2013, Moore came on stage to perform live with Peter Frampton on Frampton's Guitar Circus concert at Musikfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Moore is playing guitar on Red Zone Rider's debut album Red Zone Rider released September 16, 2014.[2]
Equipment
Moore is currently endorsed by Dean guitars, with whom he has several signature models. Prior to his endorsement with Dean, he used guitars made by various other brands over the years including Ibanez and Fender, most notably the Talon model that was manufactured by Heartfield, one of Fender's sub brands. Moore also currently uses ENGL amplifiers and DiMarzio pickups.
Discography
Discography
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||||||
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US [8] | |||||||||
Mind's Eye |
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– |
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Time Odyssey |
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147 |
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Meltdown |
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– |
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Out of Nowhere |
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– |
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The Maze |
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– |
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Defying Gravity |
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– | |||||||
To the Core |
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– | |||||||
Aerial Visions |
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– | |||||||
Soul Shifter |
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– | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Compilation albums
Title | Album details |
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Collection: The Shrapnel Years |
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Live albums
Title | Album details |
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Live! |
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Instructional videos
Title | Album details |
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Advanced Lead Guitar Techniques |
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Speed, Accuracy, & Articulation |
|
Other appearances
Title | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|
Vicious Rumors – Soldiers of the Night | 1985 | band member |
Alice Cooper – Hey Stoopid | 1991 | band member |
UFO – You Are Here | 2004 | band member |
Jordan Rudess – Rhythm of Time | 2004 | guest |
UFO – Showtime | 2005 | band member |
UFO – The Monkey Puzzle | 2006 | band member |
Destruction – D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. | 2008 | guest |
Michael Angelo Batio – Hands Without Shadows 2 – Voices | 2009 | guest |
UFO – The Visitor | 2009 | band member |
Glen Drover – Metalusion | 2011 | guest |
UFO – Seven Deadly | 2012 | band member |
Red Zone Rider – Red Zone Rider | 2014 | band member |
UFO – A Conspiracy of Stars | 2015 | band member |
References
- ^ a b Vinnie Moore. "Vinnie Moore | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Vinnie Moore Interview". Guitarhoo!. Guitarhoo.com. December 15, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
- ^ "80's Pepsi Commercial". YouTube. April 6, 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived March 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ "Vinnie Moore". Vinnie Moore. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ "Vinnie Moore - Chart history | Billboard". billboard.com. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
- ^ "Mind's Eye by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Sludge Scan As of January 16, 2000". www.metalsludge.tv. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- ^ "The Maze by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.
- ^ "Defying Gravity by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.
- ^ "To the Core by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.
- ^ "The Shrapnel Years by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.
- ^ "Vinnie Moore (Live) by Vinnie Moore" – via music.apple.com.