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A virtuosic American guitarist, composer, and producer,
John Petrucci is a founding member of progressive metal icons
Dream Theater and
Liquid Tension Experiment, as well as an accomplished solo artist. One of the most revered and inventive heavy metal guitarists of his time,
Petrucci is a fixture of
Joe Satriani's G3 concerts, where he has performed alongside stalwart six-stringers like
Steve Vai,
Eric Johnson,
Paul Gilbert,
Steve Morse, and
Steve Lukather. He issued his solo debut,
Suspended Animation, in 2005, with
Terminal Velocity arriving in 2020.
Born on July 12, 1967, and raised in Kings Park (a town located in the suburb of Long Island, New York),
Petrucci got serious about guitar at the age of 12, and developed a liking for prog rock and heavy metal (
Rush,
Iron Maiden,
Yes, and later,
Metallica and
Queensrÿche). But it was the technically demanding guitarists, like
Yngwie Malmsteen,
Allan Holdsworth, and especially,
Steve Morse, who inspired
Petrucci the most. Enrolling at Boston's Berklee College of Music,
Petrucci befriended such fellow classmates as bassist
John Myung and drummer
Mike Portnoy, who would serve as the core for what would eventually be known as
Dream Theater. Enlisting keyboardist Kevin Moore and singer Chris Collins, the quintet began playing and recording under the name of "Majesty" until they realized another group owned the rights to it. Hence, by the late '80s, "Majesty" had changed their name to
Dream Theater, and Collins was replaced by
Charlie Dominici. The
Dominici-led version of the group lasted for a single album, 1989's
When Dream and Day Unite, before his exit early in the new decade. Despite building a sizeable following in the New York area,
Petrucci and his bandmates were little known elsewhere, but this all changed with the arrival of new singer
James LaBrie and their sophomore effort, 1992's
Images and Words. Despite rock music fans' pivot toward Seattle's grunge scene, the album proved to be a breakthrough commercial success (as the song "Pull Me Under" became a surprise hit on both MTV and rock radio). Arguably, nobody in
Dream Theater benefited the most from the sudden wave of success than
Petrucci, who was instantly recognized as one of the most technically accomplished guitarists in all of hard rock -- winning polls in guitar publications the world over, as well as being mentioned in the same breath as such six-string masters as
Steve Vai and
Joe Satriani. Like
Vai and
Satriani (who also hailed from Long Island, as well),
Petrucci became affiliated with the Ibanez guitar company (even lending his name to his own signature series), before switching to the Ernie Ball company later on, and once more, launching his own signature series.
Dream Theater continued to issue albums on a regular basis throughout the '90s and into the early 21st century. 2000 saw the release of a collaboration between
Petrucci and
Rudess, An Evening with John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, while
Petrucci joined forces with
Vai and
Satriani on tour as part of their annual G3 tour during the summer of 2001. In 2005,
Petrucci released his first solo effort, the all-instrumental
Suspended Animation, via his own Sound Mind Music imprint. In addition to his
Dream Theater duties,
Petrucci has played with a variety of other projects (all in the prog metal mold), including
Explorer's Club,
Liquid Tension Experiment (which also included
Portnoy, bass master
Tony Levin, and eventual
Dream Theater keyboardist
Jordan Rudess), as well as supplying music to the Sega Saturn video game called Necronomicon. 2020 saw
Petrucci release his sophomore solo outing,
Terminal Velocity. ~ Greg Prato & James Christopher Monger