Orianthi

Australian-born Orianthi is an absolute guitar sensation and has been labeled a prodigy.http://www.orianthi.com/bio/ In the music industry she might be referred to as a "shredder."

Orianthi has played alongside Carlos Santana with whom she traded solos, and has opened for guitar legend Steve Vai. She also performed with American Idol star Carrie Underwood at the 2009 Grammy Awards.http://www.orianthi.com/bio/

She was scheduled to play with Michael Jackson. He had contacted Orianthi to be the lead guitarist in his live band. In doing so, she would have been next in a succession of guitarist superstars who performed with Jackson - Eddie Van Halen, Santana, Slash, and Larry Carlton, among others. This would have been in the 50-concert comeback tour in London, which was in rehearsal when several days later, the late pop music megastar met his untimely and sudden death.

She has a solo debut album, Believe and a hit single, According to You.http://www.orianthi.com/splash/

Orianthi became interested in her father's record collection when she was six years old. In looking back, she says she gravitated toward artists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream, Santana an more. “He was into guitar players that are real songwriters," Orianthi says of her dad’s taste in music.

A budding singer-songwriter in the 80s, Orianthi also listened to a lot of Whitesnake, Van Halen and Def Leppard. There were plenty of musical instruments around the house. Mastering the six-string acoustic guitar came naturally to Orianthi.

"When I was 11, Carlos Santana came to play Adelaide and that show really affected me," Orianthi remembers. After begging for an electric guitar, she constantly rewound VHS tapes of Santana’s solos, trying to master each one.