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Lynch, George Bio

Lynch, George
Band members
George Lynch

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Lynch was born in Spokane, Washington and raised near Sacramento, California. He is a highly respected modern guitarist often compared with other guitar heroes such as Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Andy Timmons, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Lynch is well known for his famous legato technique and common use of the scale he calls the 'Gothic Octave'. Twice Lynch auditioned for the position of Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist, once in 1979 – losing to Randy Rhoads – and another time in 1982 to replace Brad Gillis. According to Lynch, he was hired for three days before Ozzy changed his mind and decided to go with Jake E. Lee. Lee, however claims that Lynch "got the gig, but only went on the road for two weeks to watch the show, and never actually played with Ozzy." Lynch looks back on the situation positively though, he has said "I won the consolation prize, Randy got to tour with Ozzy...and I got to teach at his mom's school."

Lynch came to fame in the 1980s through his work as the lead guitarist in the band Dokken (of which he had been a member since 1980). Dokken had a string of successful platinum albums such as "Under Lock And Key" and "Back For The Attack", that prominently featured Lynch's inventive lead guitar work and cemented his reputation as a bonafide guitar hero. The instrumental track "Mr. Scary" on Back For The Attack contributed to his popularity among guitar players. The band earned a grammy nomination for the "best rock instrumental" in 1989.

In spite of the band's popularity, the group parted ways in March of 1989 due to internal tensions with lead vocalist Don Dokken. Lynch formed his own hard rock band Lynch Mob which differed from Dokken in lyrical complexity, subject matter, song structure, guitar complexity and tuning, and a notably different approach to vocal harmony than Dokken's soaring harmonies. In 1993, Lynch released his first solo album, Sacred Groove.

By 1994, after Don Dokken, Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown reunited, they decided to try and bring Lynch back into the fold as well for a true reunion of Dokken. Lynch would cave and agreed to put all differences aside to give it a go once more. After releasing a few albums on an independent label, the band was signed to a mainstream company. Dokken released two albums and a video during this period but Lynch still found time appear at guitar clinics for ESP guitars and attend the annual NAMM Show. By 1997, tensions had again flared between Don and Lynch that the band agreed to "take a break" from one another and do their own side projects then return to the studio together. The following year, after Lynch released an EP, Dokken returned to the studio, but Lynch was not present. After failed communications, Lynch was fired from Dokken, giving him the freedom to continue to pursue other projects. Lynch was replaced by Reb Beach and Dokken continued.

The radically new look, influenced by modern sounding bands, with an interesting new approach attracted a younger audience. In 1999 the new look band released "Smoke this". After touring in support of "Smoke this" Lynch decided to put Lynch Mob on hold for a few years. Then in late 2002 George Lynch decided to reform Lynch Mob with original bassist Anthony Esposito and singer Robert Mason. Lynch Mob then recorded an album of re-recorded classic lynch songs from Dokken and Lynch Mob albums, updated to a more contemporary (post-2000) approach and sound.

He also formed a project with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson called 'Lynch/Pilson'- Wicked Underground. In 2003 Lynch formed the 'The George Lynch Group' in which he has continued to record and regularly tour. The George Lynch Group performed a marathon, 26 shows in 30 days, including a much talked about feature on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The line-up is: George Lynch - Guitars, Andrew Freeman - Vocals, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath/Dio) - Drums, Marten Andersson (Lizzy Borden/Starwood/Legacy) - Bass. The 2005's "Furious George" album is a cover album, including classic rock tunes from ZZ top, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Ac/DC or Led Zeppelin. A new, long awaited, all-instrumental album is currently in progress.

George currently lives near Los Angeles, and aside from embracing body building, created an instructional guitar website named the Guitar Dojo.



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