Some people are so talented they've shared the stage with music legends like Steve Vai, Santana, and Michael Jackson before the age of 24 AND still have a blossoming music career of their very own own. Such is Orianthi, an Australian by birth and half Greek by descent. She learned to play guitar at age 6 and never looked back. By the time she was in her mid-teens, she was opening for guitar god Steve Vai and jamming on stage with Carlos Santana. Her most recent accomplishment was being asked to play guitar for Michael Jackson on his comeback This Is It tour. Orianthi told the Boston Herald, "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." Always a rock fan at heart, Orianthi's own music has a strong backbone of rock inspired by her idols and mentors. With producer Howard Benson (All American Rejects, Daughtry, My Chemical Romance), she and her band recorded the album Believe. People have compared Orianthi to other female acts in contemporary rock such as Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, though there is something unique about her talent and her already-impressive accomplishments. While Orianthi's music is hooky and infectious, don't expect her to fade like young pop stars with an expiration date; she's a true musician at heart, and we expect her success to continue as long as there is music! You can play along with Orianthi's musical genius on JamLegend, where her song "According to You" is almost up to 100,000 plays. For more info, please visit the official Orianthi website or her MySpace page.
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