The #71 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Michael Schenker

We've saluted 29 of the Top Guitarists of the Rock Era*.  It's time for #71.  He's a veteran player of several groups:

#71:  Michael Schenker, Scorpions, UFO, the Michael Schenker Group

44 years as an active guitarist
(some of Schenker's best solos)

Michael Schenker was  born January 10, 1955 in Sarstedt, Lower Saxony.  He was a founding member of the Scorpions and then became he lead guitarist for UFO in the mid-1970's and started the Michael Schenker Group in 1978. 

Like most people that excel at something, Schenker began playing guitar at an early age after his brother Rudolf (still with the Scorpions) brought home a Gibson Flying V guitar.  This fascinated Michael and he played his first show with Rudy and the Scorpions at age 11 in a nightclub.  At the time of the Scorpions' debut album Lonesome Crow, Michael was 17 years old.

The Scorpions opened on tour for the British group UFO in Germany.  UFO offered Schenker the position of lead guitarist and with his brother's blessing, Schenker accepted.  When UFO signed a recording contract with Chrysalis Records, Schenker wrote the most for their first album with Chrysalis (Phenomenon).  Critics began noticing Schenker's guitar playing, as did other guitarists.  UFO released several successful albums, but Schenker left the group in October, 1978.

Schenker briefly rejoined the Scorpions for the album Lovedrive and he toured with the group in support of the album.  But he left three months later.  He auditioned for Aerosmith after Joe Perry left in 1979 and was contacted about joining Ozzy Osbourne's band but his better judgement told him to decline. 

In 1979, Schenker founded the Michael Schenker Group, and there have been several variations of the group since that time.  In 1995, Schenker briefly rejoined UFO and toured with them briefly.  He then brought in all new members for the Michael Schenker group and released three albums before rejoining UFO again for the albums Covenant and Sharks.

The next we heard from Michael was his solo album Arachnophobiac, which he supported by two years of touring.  In 2004, Dean Guitars began producing a Schenker signature Dean V with the split black and white trademark Schenker finish.  In 2005, Michael marked the 25th anniversary of the Michael Schenker Group by enlisting the different lead singers from each iteration of the group to sing on Tales of Rock'n'Roll, an album of new songs.

In 2008, Schenker toured the U.K. as Michael Schenker & Friends and released the album In the Midst of Beauty under the name Michael Schenker Group in May.  His 2009 tour of the United States, the U.K. and Russia drew rave reviews.

Schenker has always preferred the Gibson Flying V, which he usually played through a wah-wah pedal.  Schenker's midrange tone was listed among the 50 greatest tones of all-time by Guitar Player magazine.  Recently, Schenker switched to a signature Dean V guitar.

Guitar World included Schenker on its list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists.  Countless guitarists list Schenker as an influence, including Slash of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver, Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield of Metallica, Michael Wilton of Queensryche Warren DeMartini of Ratt, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden  and Marty Friedman of Megadeth.

At #71 for the Rock Era*...Michael Schenker.