Orianthi

It was November 2005, when Orianthi stepped off a plane from Japan where she had been performing for PRS Guitars. She received a call that one of her all-time idols, Carlos Santana had spoken about her during an interview on Australian television earlier that morning. She had to hop on another waiting plane to her hometown, Adelaide before she could see the footage. It was the longest two hour flight. "It's not cute any more. It's seriously ass-whupping. If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice." - Carlos Santana Orianthi was both stunned and humbled by these words. She had worked hard, and dedicated herself to practicing guitar but still to hear Carlos say this was such a huge and unexpected compliment that made it all worthwhile. Although Orianthi is now only 23 years old, she has been studying music for twenty of them. "I started piano when I was 3, and classical guitar when I was about 6," she recalls, "my Dad's guitars were around the house and I was hearing his guitar driven records on the stereo and wanted to change from piano to guitar. I started playing Roy Orbison and Carlos Santana songs at school assemblies. One day I didn't bring my guitar to school, so I made one out of a milk carton and rubber bands." Like most other 6 year olds she listened to Peter Coombe's, Juicy, Juicy Green Grass, but unlike them she also listened Roy Orbison, Presley, Hendrix, Clapton, B.B. King and the Shadows. At 10, she studied her AMEB one day a week at Adelaide TAFE - a tertiary institute, she performed in the pit orchestra for a production of Oklahoma, she kept up her study in Year 5 at school and played on the school basketball team. At 11 she saw Carlos Santana in concert and was immediately drawn to his tone and asked her parents for a PRS guitar like his and that's when she made the move from acoustic to electric guitar. In her high school years, she was in two school bands, The Mercs and Vamoose and entered talent competitions with both. She managed to keep up both her study and guitar obsession until 15 when she left regular school to be home-schooled. Orianthi had recorded her first CD, Under the Influence, which was a tribute to those guitarists who had influenced her and also included a song she wrote for Carlos Santana when she was 14. She posted the CD and covering introduction letter to industry people all over the world, including PRS Guitars and guitar magazines in Australia, the US and the UK. She was reviewed and her song included on the cover the UK magazine, Guitarist. She also sent it out to radio stations and even one to Santana Management. She obtained her first management team and played the support for another of her idols, Steve Vai at 14 and by 15, she played the support for ZZ Top. But she wanted to also reach the audience with her words and by 16, she decided to study singing and found a leading Adelaide vocal coach to train her. She put the same dedication into this and by 18, after hard work she was fronting a cover band, DropD as the vocalist and guitarist around Adelaide venues. Orianthi was happy to have family support in her musical career. "What's really great is that they agreed to my doing this. They basically said, 'We can see you're completely dedicated to playing guitar. That's your path in life,' and they totally backed me up." "Carlos came to Adelaide when I was 18, and my CD was delivered to him. He invited me to a sound-check. We wound up jamming, and then he invited me to join him onstage that night. It was pretty surreal. I showed up, he called me to the stage and I plugged in-in front of 15,000 people-and he started a song I hadn't heard before. I had learned all his songs. But that night he decided to play classic covers and a new instrumental! That really got my heart pumping. At some point, Carlos turns to me and says, 'OK, you take a solo now.' It was great; he kept me up there for 45 minutes. We've been in contact ever since. I was invited to his home to meet his family on a trip to San Francisco in 2005." Carlos took video footage of the Adelaide concert back to PRS Guitars and in 2004 Paul Smith invited Orianthi to LA to play at NAMM, the convention of musical-instrument manufacturers. Over the next four years, Orianthi performed in Japan, the US and Australian cities by invitation of PRS Guitars. At NAMM in the US, she played with Santana and PRS founder Paul Reed Smith. She was also in contact with Steve Vai over the years since her support gig and received so much support and encouragement from him. She also independently released her second CD, Violet Journey, in 2005, composing all the material, contributing guitar, vocals and also drums on most cuts, and producing and mixing the final product at her home studio. Performing at NAMM in Los Angeles led to her music being shown to industry people and in turn a meeting with Geffen Records president/producer Ron Fair (Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Pussycat Dolls) and signing with the label in late 2006 when she relocated to Los Angeles to take the next steps along her career path. She has spent the last 20 months writing songs with a host of top-name composers from the US and Australia and laying down tracks for inclusion on her first US release. She has been to Nashville to song-write, she met and jammed with Prince, played the Eric Clapton Crossroads Festival, played a 6 night support with Steve Vai in California and also managed a month at home in Australia to catch up with family and friends. Orianthi is excited to be recording her album with leading producer Howard Benson. She wants her album to be a rock/pop album that appeals to all ages. She hopes to inspire more people, female and male to pick up the guitar. "If I can inspire them to pick up a guitar, the drums or a paint brush, something, it will be worth it. Inspiring females to get up and play is something I especially would like to do. It's always been such a guy thing, so that when guys see someone like me step onstage, there's always the vibe of 'Oh, here's a chick. What's she gonna play?' It's like you have to prove yourself to them. Hopefully, I can change that a little bit so more guys can look at women playing the guitar and take them seriously. Anyone can do anything if they really have a passion for it."