Italian American guitar hero Steve Vai was born in New York. He says that when he was six he saw a boy playing a guitar at his school and knew at that moment he was going to be a guitarist: “When I saw that guitar and I saw this kid playing it, I knew instinctually that I was going to play the guitar someday, and that it would be my instrument. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just knew. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.” Vai started having lessons with Joe Satriani when he was 14. At 19 he sent a notated transcription of a Frank Zappa song to Zappa, who was so impressed he hired the teenager to transcribe all his work. Two years later Vai joined Zappa’s band. He released his first solo album ‘Flex-Able’ in 1984. Recognised as a virtuoso Vai went on to play with David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, and Mary J Blige, while still pursuing his solo career. He has 15 Grammy nominations and was voted ‘10th Greatest Guitarist’ by Guitar World magazine and has sold over 15 million solo records.