Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on the last day of June, 1963 as Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback to
an army captain father and artistic free spirit mother, was the youngest child in a
permissive household that included his mother Rigmor, sister Ann Louise, and brother Bjorn.
As a child Yngwie had no interest in music. Early attempts at piano and trumpet lessons failed
until 1971, when Yngwie saw a TV special on the death of guitar iconoclast Jimi Hendrix.
Seven-year-old Yngwie watched with awe as Hendrix blasted the audience with torrents of feedback
and sacrificed his guitar in flames. Yngwie immersed himself in the music of such bands as Deep Purple,
unlocking the secrets of both the instrument and the music. His admiration for Ritchie
Blackmore's classically influenced playing led him to: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart.
His prodigious style began to take shape, and by age 10, he had taken his
mother's maiden name of Malmsteen, focused all his energies into music. His mastery of
the guitar progressed unobstructed. Between the formal structures of
classical music and the flamboyant performance of Hendrix and the music of another
virtuoso, 19th century violinist Niccolo Paganini, Yngwie understood at last how to marry
his love of classical music with his burgeoning guitar skills and onstage charisma.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on the last day of June, 1963 as Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback to
an army captain father and artistic free spirit mother, was the youngest child in a
permissive household that included his mother Rigmor, sister Ann Louise, and brother Bjorn.
As a child Yngwie had no interest in music. Early attempts at piano and trumpet lessons failed
until 1971, when Yngwie saw a TV special on the death of guitar iconoclast Jimi Hendrix.
Seven-year-old Yngwie watched with awe as Hendrix blasted the audience with torrents of feedback
and sacrificed his guitar in flames. Yngwie immersed himself in the music of such bands as Deep Purple,
unlocking the secrets of both the instrument and the music. His admiration for Ritchie
Blackmore's classically influenced playing led him to: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart.
His prodigious style began to take shape, and by age 10, he had taken his
mother's maiden name of Malmsteen, focused all his energies into music. His mastery of
the guitar progressed unobstructed. Between the formal structures of
classical music and the flamboyant performance of Hendrix and the music of another
virtuoso, 19th century violinist Niccolo Paganini, Yngwie understood at last how to marry
his love of classical music with his burgeoning guitar skills and onstage charisma.